Welcome to WonderGrove S.O.A.R. (Social Skills, Organization, Adaptive Behavior, and Resources). We have redesigned our product specifically with your students in mind! You can improve your behavior management system and classroom behaviors in just 4 weeks when you use WonderGrove S.O.A.R. animations and extension lessons.
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My first day of teaching was a rude awakening. My apple whiteboard borders and color-coordinated dollar store bins were the icing on a non-existent cake. I was supposed to be teaching reading in a charter school designed for students with disabilities ranging from schizophrenia to mild ADD, but it was clear I was not going to ever get to teach reading if I couldn’t change my students’ behaviors and gain some of their fleeting attention. I felt so prepared when I got my diploma, but I didn’t have a clue how to handle the issues in my classroom. The classroom where I ducked a desk and a child who was attempting to bite me, where bathroom breaks took 20 minutes because kids had to go one at a time, where the theoretical tools we were being given weren’t making a difference in the day-to-day.
I knew that if I ever wanted to get to the teaching, I’d have to learn REAL tools and techniques that worked in the REAL world. Everything from de-escalation techniques to classroom structure and predictability was discussed. Each week I went into my classroom with a new tool that aligned with educational theory and research.
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses. IT. WAS. WORK. I’m talking behavior sheets, video clipping, timers, calm down areas, call logs, task sheets, stamps, visual schedules, custom lesson plans, and token economies that had me buying fake coins constantly. But you know what? It was so rewarding because everyone noticed that certain kids behaved differently around me. I was soon was being called on at IAT/RTI meetings, pulled aside in hallways, and speaking at neighboring schools. The behavior modification system I developed through mushing all my education theory and behavioral classes and obsessive article reading about tier 2 and 3 interventions was working and allowing me to get non-readers up THREE grade levels in a single year! My AYP scores in math were beyond what anyone expected, and most importantly, my students loved coming to my class…but I was getting worn out. I started searching for programs that were pre-made that I could put into my system. The most difficult part of my system was the social stories. Creating our own took a week minimum. Creating them from scratch took me all night. The pictures in existing books looked like stick figures or quickly drawn doodles, and my kids knew it wasn’t the same quality as the books their peers were reading. I started leaning on read-alouds and cartoons and movie clips on YouTube. I had shelves and shelves of labeled books and lots of tagged YouTube videos with “start/stop” times written in a word document. This worked. You can totally do it…but it’s not ideal and takes a lot of time and organization. Not just to get your videos, read-alouds, and discussions together, but to come up with activities or switch lessons at a moment’s notice because of a teachable moment or issue that has come up.
In 2014, a friend of mine introduced me to Terry Thoren. She told me the “Rugrats guy” (he is the former CEO of the company that produced Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, etc.) was getting into education and needed a teacher to write lesson plans to go with short cartoons he was making for social skills.
OMG…EXACTLY what I was looking for!
I was SOLD on the idea of a digital library of social skills animations with activities and lessons!
Over the next six years, I would use this digital library of animations, WonderGrove, multiple times per day in my resource room and in my inclusive classrooms. It allowed me to continue my system with far less planning and helped me focus on data, custom behavior sheets, and academic lessons for my students.
Once I had WonderGrove I never used another boring social story, and I never wondered what I would teach next!
After you complete our 4-week Quick Start Guide, you’ll be able to:
Meet behavior and adaptive goals using engaging animated social stories.
Stop the power struggle and gain control using cartoons to reference desired behavior.
Enhance current behavior plans and checklists into the world of WonderGrove daily.
Wow parents and administrators with your systematic daily behavior instruction.
Always have an answer for how you prevent, teach, and respond to behavioral expectations.
“Custom social skill books took too long, I needed something immediate. Read-alouds were great but often took too long for students to get the point. This is a digital library of short lessons at my fingertips and it’s exactly what I needed!”
“I teach in a cross-categorical unit. I have a whole-group lesson once a day virtually where I need to teach social and adaptive behavior. For my kiddos to get it, it needs to be super explicit, so WonderGrove is perfect and the kids love it!”
“The kids really love the characters. Instead of saying, ‘This is how YOU should act...’ we can look at the characters. Some kids just don’t want to do what adults say. WonderGrove just makes it more likely that they’ll make good choices in the future.”
“WonderGrove explicitly models proper social skills which is EXACTLY what my kids need!”
Let’s Get STARTED!
For a limited time, when you purchase A WonderGrove S.O.A.R. digital library 12-month subscription, you will receive…
250+ cartoon social stories!
2000+ adapted CCSS-aligned extension lessons!
Academic printables and flashcards!
BONUS holiday digital library featuring our lovable characters and bonus holiday printables!
BONUS alphabet, number, and sight word animations featuring our characters!
BONUS health and nutrition library!
An additional 6 MONTHS FREE!
Worth $490…now available for $110/year, PLUS an additional 6 months FREE!
