It’s OK Not to be First Social Story
- Grades
- Not Grade Specific
- File type
- Preparation
- Print ready
- Subject
- Special Resources, Social Skills
- Topic
- social story, its OK not to be first
- Preparation
- Print ready
About this resource
What's inside this resource
Social stories use a patient and reassuring tone to teach children about social situations in a way that can be easily understood. Social stories are particularly useful for children on the autistic spectrum for whom social cues can be challenging and who often suffer anxiety if they do not know what to expect from a situation however social stories can also be useful for any child who is struggling to understand a situation or concept or needs help to understand a social skill or social cue, expectations, perspectives, common responses or is troubled about an upcoming event.
This social story is about coping with not always being first and understanding that it is fair to let other people go first sometimes as well.
These books should be used over and over to reinforce the point so I would suggest either putting the pages into a display book or laminating and binding them.
Clipart images courtesy of Kari Bolt.
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In the classroom
Teaching tips & learning objectives
Learning objectives
Recognize that letting classmates go first sometimes is fair, because everyone wants a turn.
Practice waiting patiently through common routines such as lining up, handing out materials, or answering a question.
Connect patient waiting to being kind toward classmates and teachers.
Teaching tips
Read the story aloud during a calm moment before a real turn-taking situation comes up, since the text rehearses a response in advance rather than in the heat of the moment.
Point out the repeated phrase pattern on pages 9–12 (‘it does not matter if...’) so a child can reuse that exact wording as a coping phrase later.
Revisit the closing pages (13–15) on their own once the earlier scenario pages are familiar, to focus specifically on the patience-equals-kindness idea.
Skills covered
Turn-taking recognition — the student follows scenarios where someone else is chosen first for handing out supplies, lining up, or playing games (pages 2–6).
Coping self-talk — the student rehearses the repeated phrase ‘it does not matter if...’ as a calming response across pages 9–12.
Perspective-taking — the student considers that classmates also want a chance to go first, and that waiting is fair (pages 7–8).
Good to know
Questions teachers ask about this resource
How is the story built for repeat reading?
Each classroom scenario follows the same first-person pattern — noticing disappointment, then the repeated phrase ‘it does not matter if...’ — so the 16 pages work as a short routine to revisit rather than a one-time story.
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Resource details
Concepts & topics
Core concepts
Core concepts
turn-taking
patience
self-regulation
perspective-taking
Topics
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