Two New Social Stories About Virtual Learning - With WIGGLES!

I'm excited to tell you about TWO little social stories I came up with to help teach students some of the important rules about virtual learning, as well as how to be READY for class, all with the help of our favorite pup, WIGGLES the dog!

These books are meant to be shared online for remote learning, so it has already been uploaded to Google Slides! Wiggles Gets Ready for Zoom (or Google Meets) teaches kids what to do BEFORE an online meeting starts in order to be ready to learn, and Wiggles Learns the Rules for Zoom (or Google Meets) teaches them what to do DURING the meeting

In these stories, Wiggles first gets everything wrong, and the children always correct him with “No, no, Wiggles!” Then they all repeat the rule for Wiggles. For example, when Wiggles starts running all over the house during a lesson, the children all say, “No, No, Wiggles! Stay in your seat!” I always encourage the children to say the words along with me as much as they can. The idea is to read this book to them many times in a row, so that they memorize it and the rules. I always uses a dog puppet to act out the story, and then chat with Wiggles about why he should follow certain rules. The kids LOVE this for in person learning in our Wiggles Learns... books. And so far, they love it for online learning, too! :)

You may or may not wish to display every single slide for every rule that I have included. To hide a slide, first select it, then go to the menu. Tap “Slide,” and then select “skip.” Please note that this product is NOT EDITABLE beyond the ability to skip the slides you do not wish to display.

Teaching through stories is an excellent way to get the point across to all children. Wiggles the Dog is very relatable to them, and children love to correct him! They love that they know what he should be doing, and can tell him so. Using a puppet is optional, but does enhance the activity! You can purchase the same puppet that I use here.

Here's a video example of how I do it! This is one of my students from last year. :)

Wiggles Gets Ready for Zoom includes the following rules/concepts: 

1. Be on time. (Alarm clock suggested.)
2. Sit at a table or desk. (Not in bed, and a lamp is suggested.)
3. Eat breakfast before school starts. (Eat before, not during class.)
4. Wear school clothes. (Clothing is required!)
5. Have school supplies ready. (Suggests keeping school supplies in one box just for school.)

Wiggles Learns the Rules for Zoom includes the following rules: 

1. Save toys for after school.
2. Turn off the TV during school to help you listen.
3. Mute yourself when it’s not your turn.
4. Raise your hand to talk.
5. Stay in your seat unless told to get up.
6. Know that everyone can see and hear everything!

These rules are presented very simply. It is assumed that the teacher will elaborate on his or her own expectations after reading the book.

I hope you find these useful!! As a reminder: always practice accessing resources before school starts, (Take it from me! LOL) and practice sharing your screen from the Google Drive. Sometimes there are hiccups to solve! If you are on Zoom and the product doesn’t show up under an option to screen share, contact your district tech help to make sure that your permissions are set correctly within Google Drive for you to display it to your students. Or, download it and share from your desktop! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

P.S. Don't forget all our videos are available to STREAM on UScreen, FREE for the first 30 days!   It's an awesome way to bring some EASY, active learning to your students during this time, and they can always cancel right before they are ever charged, like on day 29! Check out the info page on our website for more info!