News

The spring is a very busy time of year filled with milestone events and celebrations. After a three-year hiatus, the Social Thinking Luncheon for Landmark's elementary students is back and better than ever! The event provides students with an opportunity to practice social skills including making a reservation at EMS's Social Star Restaurant, engaging in conversation with friends and newcomers at a lunch table, taking turns, sharing, using proper table manners, and so much more. Students in Landmark's High School expressive language program joined the fun and participated as mentors and lunch companions.  

Faculty members served a fan-favorite meal featuring chicken tenders, french toast sticks, bacon, hash browns, ceasar salad, and ice cream or Italian ice for dessert.

The Social Thinking Curriculum in the elementary program has been thriving for eight years. The purpose of this program is to teach students how to interact in a group and become more aware of how their interactions with people can affect how others feel about them. Social Thinking helps us to interpret a situation and figure out how to respond (or not to respond) through our social behaviors. Social Thinking also relates to the ability to take perspective, our own and others, and adjust our social skills according to the situation. Our goal is to help our students become strong social thinkers.

The social vocabulary used in the curriculum is adapted from Social Thinking methodology created by Michelle Garcia Winner. Various social topics include Role of the Teacher/Role of the Student, Thoughts and Feelings, Thinking With Your Eyes, the Group Plan, Body and Brain in the Group, and Conversation, to name a few. The students are taught lessons via Google Slides, teacher and student role plays, models, short video clips, team building activities, and games.

Special thank you to Wendy Ellis, Beth Mahoney, and Laura Polvinen for your leadership in stewarding the Social Thinking curriculum at the EMS.