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My Summer with the Strong Fast Superhero Squad

8/8/2014

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Those of you who have been checking in on my Facebook page this summer know that I had an absolute blast teaching in the Extended Year Program.  This was my first summer school experience in my new district, and---for the first time ever---I was given a whole class instead of acting as a specialist providing 30-minute lessons to a bunch of classes.  

This made me more than a little nervous.


My assignment was to provide a “social language” program for ten boys entering third and fourth grade, only three of whom were from my own school.  Some were on the autism spectrum.  Others were not; these guys had difficulty negotiating social relationships and/or regulating their emotions.  In other words, it was a very mixed bag of kids. 

I had already been using a superhero theme with some of my groups during the school year, and the kids loved it.  Since it was so popular (and since I already had a lot of themed materials), I decided to stick with it.  
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For summer school I thought I’d change things up to make lessons more relevant to this diverse group, more interesting for me, and more fun for all of us.  I decided I would combine my superhero materials with concepts from Leah Kuyper’s Zones of Regulation and Michelle Garcia Winner’s Superflex Social Thinking program, and wrap the whole thing up into a big fat Social Superhero Training Academy.  
Working with this framework to guide me made designing a curriculum plan much easier than you would think, even for such a varied set of needs.  I chose the five Superflex “Unthinkables” I thought would be most problematic for my trainees, and invented a 6th (Magnifying Man) who would correspond with the Zones concept of the Size of the Problem.  Then I went to Pinterest and got to work.

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I’ll write more separately about the specific activities I found to buy, borrow, or use for inspiration.  I did end up having to create quite a bit from scratch, but I had SO MUCH fun doing it, it didn’t really feel like work.  

I thought I’d share a few photos here though, so you can get an idea of what our four week academy was like.  Hint: the boys were all very sad on the last day, and I wasn’t too happy to say goodbye either.


The end result: happy kids who learned a lot and who talked about what they learned at home, happy parents who were thrilled that their kids were dying to come for their “training” every day, and a very happy counselor who got paid to wear a mask while preparing her trainees for future challenges from the Unthinkables.

Our Summer Social Superheroes Training Academy was a soaring success!  Now comment below with your suggestions on what I can do NEXT summer!


I've dedicated a whole page to giving you some ideas, activities, and printables.  It's still a work-in-progress, so keep checking back for updates.  Enjoy!

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    Laurie P. Mendoza, 
    MA, CAGS

    I've been an elementary school counselor in Massachusetts for almost 20 years, so have a lot of opinions on everything!

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  • Program Planning
  • Counseling Activities
    • Activities for Kids on the Autism Spectrum
    • Anger Management Activities
    • Activities for Anxious Kids
    • Girl Power
    • Zones of Regulation/Emotional Regulation Activities
    • Social Superheroes
    • Individual Counseling
    • General Counseling Activities
    • Mindfulness Activities
  • DATA COLLECTION
  • Communicate
  • Share/Connect
  • Blog