Friendship Skills Sampler: Texting Friends Level A and Data Sheet, High School

This free friendship skills sampler gives teens and young adults 12 calm cards for texting friends: reading how a friend feels from a text and choosing a kind reply.

Why I made this: One morning a student held up her phone, pointed to a text that just said "ok," and asked me if her friend was mad. She had worried all night. Students text all the time, but nobody teaches them to read tone on a screen. These cards are a calm place to start.

What’s included: Six pages, as a PDF plus a Word file you can change:

• A teacher page with exact counts and a short plan

• 12 Level A cards from the Texting Friends box, each with a text from a friend, a line drawn picture, 2 choices in 16 point type, and a self check code

• An answer key with mixed answer letters

• A data sheet with prompt levels and a 10 session graph

• Terms of use

How to use it: Read each text out loud in a friendly voice and a flat voice, and talk about how the friend might feel. Students choose and check with the code. Then have students write a kind reply to a pretend text.

Who it’s for: High school special education teachers, 18 to 21 program teachers, school counselors, and families of teens and young adults. It also works for grades 6 to 8.

Format: PDF, US Letter, 6 pages, plus an editable Word copy. Prints well in black and white.

How this is different: My live Asking for Help, Personal Space, and Talking at Work task boxes teach asking for help, greetings and distance, and talk on the job. The Job Skills Communication scripts are for texting a boss, and the Repair Conversation Cards are for adults after a conflict. This free sampler stays with texts between friends.

Made by Jeremy D. Gooch, special education teacher and transition coordinator. Drafting and layout had AI assistance; every page was checked by me.