It is circle time, and the teacher is about to say no to a request. A boy in the front row has heard the word before, and last time it ended in tears and a trip to the calm-down corner. This time the teacher reads a story first — two pages, eight pictures, simple sentences about a child who hears no, feels upset, and chooses what to do next. The boy listens. When the teacher says no, he takes a breath, and the moment passes. Nothing dramatic happened. That is the point. A story heard three times is stronger than a rule said once, and the child who has heard the story has a picture in his head of what to do next.
The 50 Social Narratives is fifty of those stories, written in simple sentences with pictures, to hear again and again. Every story is 2 pages with 8 pictures, followed by a Think About It page where students circle the good choice, answer talk questions, write an "I can" plan and draw themselves. The stories explain the why behind each choice: accepting no, keeping hands to myself, waiting, sharing, fire drills, riding the bus and many more. The pages are black and white on US Letter paper, the listing states 168 pages, and the whole set is one PDF, so there are no zip files to unpack and nothing to color-print. The grade range is kindergarten through 2nd grade, from the description; the listing's Highlights field says Not Specific. The description lists an answer key among the contents; the listing's Highlights section has no Answer Key row.
What a Social Narrative Is
A social narrative is a short story that shows a child what a situation looks like and what the good choice is, in simple sentences and pictures. It is not a rule, and it is not a lecture. A rule says "keep your hands to yourself." A story shows a child keeping their hands to themselves, says why it matters, and shows what happens next. The child hears the story and builds a picture of the behavior before they need it, and when the moment comes, the picture is there.
The stories in this set are written to be heard again and again. The first reading introduces the situation and the choice. The second reading lets the child hear the why again — why waiting is hard and why it matters, why hands stay to ourselves, why a fire drill means walking quietly. The third reading is the one where the child starts to say the lines along with the teacher, and that is when the story has become the child's own. A story a child can say from memory is a story a child can use.
The pictures matter as much as the words. Each story has eight pictures across its two pages, and the pictures carry the sequence: what happened, what the child did, how it turned out. A child who cannot yet read the sentences can still follow the pictures, and a child who can read them can point to the picture that shows the choice. The pictures are the part the child remembers when the words fade.
Self-Control Stories
The self-control stories are the heart of the set, because self-control is the skill that makes every other skill possible. Accepting no. Keeping hands to myself. Waiting. These are the moments that go wrong most often in a young classroom, and they go wrong because the child has no picture of what to do instead. The story gives them the picture: the child hears no, feels upset, and chooses a calm thing to do.
Accepting no is the hardest of the three, and it is worth teaching first. A child who cannot accept no will fight every limit, and every limit fought is a lesson lost. The story shows the feeling — upset, angry, unfair — and then shows the choice: take a breath, say okay, and do the next thing. The story does not pretend the feeling goes away. It shows the child feeling it and choosing anyway, and that honesty is what makes the story believable to a child who feels the same thing.
Waiting is the story that gets read the most, because waiting is the thing children do all day: wait for a turn, wait in line, wait for the teacher. The waiting story shows the child waiting and what to do while waiting — look at a book, count, hold hands still — and the Think About It page asks the child to name their own waiting plan. A child with a waiting plan waits better than a child without one, and the plan is the part that transfers out of the story and into the hallway.
Kindness and School Routines
The kindness stories teach the other side of self-control: what to do for someone else. Sharing is the first of these, and it is the one that causes the most arguments on the carpet. The sharing story shows two children and one toy, and the choice to take turns, and the feeling of the child who waits for their turn. The story explains the why: sharing means everyone gets a turn, and a turn is coming. A child who has heard the sharing story has a sentence to reach for — "you can have it after me" — and the sentence is the skill.
The school routine stories cover the moments that need a script: fire drills, riding the bus, lining up, sitting in assembly. A fire drill is frightening the first time, and a child who has heard the fire drill story knows what the sound means, where to walk, and why walking quietly matters. The story turns a frightening surprise into a known sequence, and a known sequence is something a child can do. Read the fire drill story before the first drill, not after it, and the drill will go better.
The routine stories are also the ones to use with a new student, or at the start of the year. A child who is new to the school has no picture of how the bus works or how lunch works, and the story gives them one before they have to live it. Read the bus story on the first day, and the first bus ride is a story the child has already heard. Lining up and sitting in assembly work the same way: the story shows the child where to stand, what to do with their hands, and how long to wait, and the first time they do it for real they are following a picture they already know instead of guessing what the teacher wants.
The Think About It Page
Every story is followed by a Think About It page, and the page is where the story becomes the child's own work. The child circles the good choice, answers two talk questions, writes an "I can" plan, draws it, and checks their feelings. Five small moves, and each one does something different. Circling the choice makes the child name it. The talk questions make the child say it. The "I can" plan makes the child own it. The drawing makes the child picture it. The feelings check makes the child notice how they feel.
Do the Think About It page right after the story, while the story is still in the child's ears. The page is not homework. It is the second half of the lesson, and a child who does it immediately is a child who is still thinking about the story. A child who does it the next day is a child who has to remember the story first, and the remembering gets in the way of the thinking.
The "I can" plan is the part to keep. An "I can" plan is a sentence in the child's own words — "I can wait for my turn" — and a child who has written it has made a promise to themselves. Collect the plans, and read them back to the class the next time the situation comes up. A plan read back at the right moment is a reminder that comes from the child, not from the teacher, and reminders from the child work better.
Cue Cards and the Topic Finder
The 50 visual cue cards in the 50 Social Narratives turn a story into a reminder a child can hold. A cue card is the story in one picture, and the child who carries it carries the reminder into the moment. Put the waiting card on the desk of the child who struggles to wait, and the card does the reminding so the teacher does not have to. The 4 blank cards are for the stories the set does not have — a situation in your classroom that needs its own card, drawn by the teacher or by the child.
The Topic Finder is the index that makes the set usable. Fifty stories is a lot to search through in the middle of a morning, and the Finder matches a behavior to the right stories. A child is struggling with sharing at the blocks: the Finder points to the sharing stories, and the teacher reads the one that fits. The Finder is the difference between a set that sits on the shelf and a set that gets used, because the set that gets used is the one the teacher can find the right story in, fast.
Teach the children to use the cue cards themselves. A child who can walk to the card box, find the card for the situation they are in, and hold it up is a child who is managing their own behavior, and that is the goal the whole set is pointed at. The cards are not a reward and not a punishment. They are a tool, and a tool the child reaches for on their own is a tool that works.
Reading Them Again and Again
A social narrative works because it is read more than once, and the repetition is the teaching. Read a story on Monday, and the child has heard it. Read it again on Wednesday, and the child remembers it. Read it again on Friday, and the child can say it. The repetition is not boring to a young child — it is comforting, and the comfort is part of the learning. A child who knows what comes next in the story is a child who is not anxious about what comes next in the situation.
Build the stories into the routine, not on top of it. A story at morning meeting, a story before lunch, a story at the end of the day — three readings a day is too many, but one reading a day, at the same time, is a routine the children will expect. The Stories I Have Read tracker keeps the reading visible, and a child who colors in a box for each story heard has a record of their learning. Put the tracker where the children can see it, and let them mark it themselves. Morning meeting is the best time for the reading, because the day has not started yet and the story can set the tone: read the waiting story on a day with a long assembly, read the sharing story before free play, and the children walk into the situation with the story fresh in their ears.
The Social Skills Star certificate closes the set, and it is worth giving out for the reading, not for the behavior. A child who has heard fifty stories has done fifty lessons, and the certificate says so. A certificate for the behavior is a reward for being good. A certificate for the reading is a record of the work, and the work is what the child controls.
Using the Stories for Behavior Plans
The stories are built for behavior plans, because a behavior plan needs a teaching part and the stories are the teaching part. A plan that says "the child will keep hands to self" without teaching the child how is a plan that will fail, and the story is the how. Read the hands-to-self story every morning for a week, do the Think About It page, give the child the cue card, and the plan has a teaching routine inside it.
Use the stories in small groups and counseling sessions, where the talk questions can be answered out loud. A child who answers a talk question in a small group is practicing the words they will need in the moment, and the practice is the point. The speech and language sessions are the same: the stories are simple sentences, and simple sentences are the language the child needs.
The stories work at home too. A story read at home, by a parent, before the situation — the bus, the birthday party, the haircut — gives the child the picture before the moment. Send the story home with the cue card, and the home and the school are teaching the same thing. The description lists home and homeschool behavior support among the uses, and the stories are simple enough for a parent to read without a teacher's guide.
What to Watch For
Three things go wrong with social narratives, and all three are easy to prevent. The first is reading the story once and moving on. A story read once is a story heard, not a story learned, and a child who has heard a story once will not remember it when they need it. Read it again. The repetition is the teaching, and the set is built for it.
The second is the story used as a punishment. A child who is sent to hear the sharing story after refusing to share has learned that the story is a consequence, and a story that is a consequence is a story the child will hate. Read the story before the situation, not after the failure, and the story stays a teaching tool. The story is for the morning, not for the incident.
The third is the story without the Think About It page. A story read without the page is a story half-taught, because the page is where the child names the choice, writes the plan and draws the picture. The page takes five minutes, and the five minutes are the difference between a story the child heard and a story the child owns.
Frequently Asked Questions
What grades are the 50 social narratives for?
They are written for kindergarten through 2nd grade, from the description. The listing's Highlights field says Not Specific. They work for special education and autism classrooms, school counseling, small groups and speech and language sessions.
How many stories are there, and what do they cover?
Fifty stories in total. Every story is 2 pages with 8 pictures, followed by a Think About It page. They cover self-control, kindness and school routines: accepting no, keeping hands to myself, waiting, sharing, fire drills, riding the bus and many more.
What happens on the Think About It page?
The child circles the good choice, answers 2 talk questions, writes an "I can" plan, draws it and checks their feelings. Do it right after the story, while the story is still in the child's ears.
Is there an answer key?
The description lists an answer key among the contents. The listing's Highlights section has no Answer Key row.
How many pages is the set?
The listing states 168 pages. The description lists 100 story pages and 50 Think About It pages, plus 54 cue cards and front matter, without stating how many pages the cards take. Both figures as stated, do not reconcile.
How do I find the right story in the moment?
Use the Topic Finder, which matches a behavior to the right stories. A child struggling with sharing at the blocks: the Finder points to the sharing stories, and the teacher reads the one that fits.
