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If you missed out on Part I of my Pre-K Lesson Series, check it out here:

Pre-K Lesson Series Part I: Following Rules & Directions

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To wrap up this 2-part series, I will be sharing one of my favorite lessons that I use with my Pre-K 4 students to teach them about kindness.

I start the lesson by reading One by Kathryn Otoshi. This book {which I included in my “Favorite Books for Elementary Classroom Lessons“ post} is fantastic. One of the main characters, Blue, is teased by another color, Red. The other colors/characters, Purple, Orange, Yellow, and Green, however, do not have the courage to stand up to Red. Then, the character One comes along, tells Red to not pick on Blue, and finds a way to make all of the colors feel included {even Red}. The last line of the book is, “Sometimes it only takes One.”

Needless to say, there are plenty of good lessons in this book. I talk about the story with the class and let them tell me what they think is important about it. Then I ask the students if they want to hear the story one more time {cue a huge roar of  ‘YES!’ by a group of 4 year olds}.

Before the lesson, I ask each Pre-K 4 teacher to provide me with a list of 7 students who they think have been exceptionally kind to others in the past week, and I use that list to pick my helpers for the next part of the lesson.

The 7 “chosen ones” are asked if they want to help me tell the story on the 2nd reading. No one has yet turned me down. Those 7 students are each given a part to act out, either a color character or the character of One.

I made the colors and number 1 pictured above out of construction paper and laminated them for reuse. Student helpers are given their corresponding pieces, and the re-telling of the story begins.

When I read the story the second time, the student helpers act out their parts, and sometimes I cue them to say certain lines that their characters say. The audience is told that they have an EXTREMELY important part to play towards the end of the story. When all of the colors stand up to Red in the book, the students in the “audience” all say “No!” as loud as they can so that they can help the colors stand up to Red.

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The kids really seem to enjoy this story, and they LOVE acting out the different parts. How do you teach kindness to your Pre-K students? Leave a comment below with your favorite lessons!

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This week, I’ll be sharing a few of the classroom lessons I use with my Pre-K students. The first lesson in this series is one I use at the very beginning of the year with my Pre-K 3 students, and it is all about following rules and directions. Enjoy!

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Since this is the first time I am going into these classes and meeting these students, I introduce myself as the counselor and ask the students what they think a counselor does {which always provides some fun answers…}. My main goal when going into the Pre-K classrooms is to make sure they know that I’m a counselor and that I help people. That way, they know who I am, what I do, and that I am someone in the school they can trust.

Once introductions are out of the way, I ask the students to tell me what rules they have to follow in their classroom and why it’s important to have rules at school. Then, I read the book David Goes to School by David Shannon.

When I’m done reading, I let the students tell me their favorites parts of the book, and we talk about the different rules that David had to follow.

I then tell the class that we are going to play a very special game that will test how well they can follow rules and directions, and I show them my “magic wand” {cue oooohs and aaahs from the kiddos}.

This “magic wand,” which is really the Magic Moves Electronic Wand by Educational Insights, is one of the best purchases I’ve made for a lesson. When you press the green button, the wand gives an instruction that the students have to follow, such as, “dive like a dolphin” or “crawl like a crab.” While the kids do their best to follow the direction, music plays from the wand. When the music stops, the students have to freeze {another rule to follow}.

My pre-k students really enjoy this game and ask me throughout the year if I’m ever going to bring my magic wand to their class again. It’s a simple, fun way to hold their little attention spans while giving them a chance to practice following directions.

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Later this week, I will be sharing my pre-k lesson on kindness using the book One, so check back soon for a new post!

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There tends to be a lot of conflict or “drama” in the lives of today’s youth, particularly with middle school girls {although no grade level or gender is truly exempt}. An important task to me as a school counselor is teaching effective conflict resolution skills to my students so they are better equipped to handle problems that may arise between them and their peers. To aid in my mission to squash the drama, I created a board game titled, Driving Through the Drama.

 

Driving Through the Drama Board Game

I have been working on this game for A LONG time, so I am thrilled to finally be able to share it with the world! In today’s post, I will give you an overview of the game and its rules, explain how to assemble the game printables sold in my TPT store, and offer ideas of how to incorporate this game into your school counseling program.

 

Game Overview & Rules

I designed this game to be a fun way for my middle school girls {who are most prone to drama in my school} to learn how to resolve conflicts peacefully and to understand the importance of effective communication.

Players begin by rolling dice to determine the number of spaces they will move. Players could land on 6 different types of spaces, and 4 of those spaces indicate that the player should draw a card from that category. These are the different types of cards:

 

The other 2 spaces players could land on are “Detours” {meaning the player will move ahead 1 space} and “Pit Stops” {meaning the player will skip a turn}.

The game continues until the first player crosses the finish line.

 

Game Assembly

The game board will be in a pdf file that looks like this:

 

For my game board, I printed out 3 of the main road pages {for a total of 6 pieces} and 4 of the corner pieces. You can print more of the road pages to make your game board bigger.

Once I cut out the pieces, I used double sided tape to attach them to a poster board. I added the game title and logo in the center of the board (which are included in the pdf file). I also added a Start/Finish line where I wanted it to be.

 

 

I chose to make my game board a little smaller to allow for a short game, but if I wanted to make the game last longer, I would simply tell the players they have to make it around the game board twice before the game is over.

Once your game board is assembled, print the different game cards double sided so that the text is on one side, and the color is on the other. When you cut out the cards, the back should be the corresponding color.

 

 

Print the game pieces {cars}, and then cut out.

Finally, laminate the game board, game cards, and game pieces. Add a die and some players, and you’re ready to start the game!

 

How I Use This Game

I use this game primarily with my Lunch Bunch groups {read this post for more info on how I run Lunch Bunch}, but I also have it available to use with small groups of students who routinely struggle with peer conflict.

The students seem to enjoy this game, and I’ve seen more of my kiddos step up and implement the conflict resolution skills we discussed during the game.

Head over to my TPT Store to purchase the game! It will be on sale for 4 days following this blog post, so make sure you get it before that deal ends!

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It’s hard to believe that another school year is already underway! To kick things off, I conduct some beginning of the year check-ins with my students.

Lower School Check-Ins

For my lower school kiddos, I make a list of the students I worked with frequently during the previous school year, and I take about 10 minutes to talk to each of those students in my office during the first week of school. Here’s what those 10 minutes consist of:

• They tell me about their summer breaks {usually with lots of energy and excitement}.
• They update me on how things are going since we last talked.
• I remind them that I’m here if they want to talk about anything this school year.

Even though these check-ins are quick and simple, they are a great way for me to connect to students who are likely to use my services in the future {since these are the students who frequented my office in the past}. It also is a great way to remind them they have a safe space to go to at school when they are dealing with negative feelings.

 

Middle School Survey & Check-Ins

This year, I decided to try something new with my Middle School students in hopes of checking in with all 106 of them, not only the ones I worked with last year. Since all of our MS students have Chromebooks, I designed a “Middle School Check-In” Google Form for them to complete.

I went into each MS library class the first week of school to remind the students the different ways they can see me {stopping by, leaving a note, etc.}. This was also a great chance for me to meet the new MS students, and I had some of their classmates explain who I am and what I do at the school.

Once I finished my intro, students completed the Google Form, which has questions ranging from “How was your summer break?” to “What do you think students at our school need to improve on this year?”

The final question on the form asks if they want to set up a meeting with me. From there, I make a list of the students who checked ‘yes,’ and I make sure we talk before the end of the week.

This survey has given me SO much information that I don’t think I would’ve gotten otherwise. For example, a very quiet child who rarely speaks {and who has never been in my office} included in the survey that her grandmother died this summer, and she requested a meeting with me. From what I know about her, I don’t think she would’ve come up to me to talk, so the survey was an excellent tool in giving her the opportunity to ask for help.

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How to you kick off the school year? Do you check-in with your “regulars” from last year? Comment below!

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I am so excited to kick off a new school year! {Even if I’m not quite as psyched to wake up at the crack of dawn every day again.} In honor of the new year, I decided to give my office decor a little face lift. I settled on a mint and gold theme, and I LOVE the way it turned out. Here are some of the changes I made:

 {Click here to see my original Office Tour post}

First, I changed the lettering on the front of my desk, using these free banner letters from Somewhat Simple. I also got some new, fun-colored office supplies, like my stapler and tape dispenser that I found at Big Lots…can you guess what my favorite color is these days??

I also created a new confidentiality sign, which you can download here for free in my TPT store.

My desk makeover wouldn’t be complete without a brand new planner, and I am already loving the one I created this summer! Check out last week’s blog post for more details, or head over to TPT to purchase!

This year, I made a quote wall, complete with tons of inspirational quotes for the kiddos to read while in my office. Click here and here to purchase some of my quote posters on TPT. You can even download this one for FREE!

Another new addition to my office is the “Calm Down Corner”. Stay tuned for a blog post all about this one!

Finally, I reorganized and redecorated my book shelves. I found some containers from the dollar store that match the rest of my office decor {read my post on how I organize my bookshelves to see how I utilize these bins}, and I bought a 3 tier paper tray to organize my construction paper collection {which was a hot mess before}. To keep my clipboards in order, I turned a magazine rack on its side to contain the clipboards.

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Overall, I am thrilled with how my office revamp turned out! I hope this has given you a few more ideas of how you can decorate your office to make it a welcoming, safe, and sometimes fun space for the students at your school to visit.

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Updated May 2017: The 2017-2018 Planner is up on TpT, AND there is a 2nd design to choose from!

Click here for the Black, White, and Marble Themed 2017-2018 Planner

Click here for the Mint and Gold Themed 2017-2018 Planner

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I am seriously so excited about this post! Since the end of last school year, I’ve been working on creating a planner that has everything a school counselor would need, and I think the result is a beautiful, complete planner book for school counselors.

If you’re already sold, head over to my TPT store to purchase the planner! {If you need a little more convincing, keep reading for a tour of the planner and assembly instructions.}

 

 

The planner begins with a cover page, complete with an inspirational quote on the back of the cover {admit it, this is pretty darn cute so far!}

Year-at-a-Glance and Monthly Calendars

 

 

The next section includes a year-at-a-glance calendar, as well as monthly calendars for August 2016-July 2017. Each monthly calendar has space at the bottom for you to record your goals for that month.

Weekly Calendar and To-Do List Pages

 

This is probably the part I’m most excited to use this school year. Each week has the days divided by time {which is perfect for recording/scheduling appointments} as well as to-do list pages. The to-do list page is segmented into the following categories: Students to See, Parent Communication, Print/Copy/Laminate, Ongoing Projects, and Other To-Do.

 

Large and Small Group Curriculum Log/Planner

 

This section gives you space to record or plan your classroom lessons and small group sessions.

 

Book List, Important Contacts, & Looking Ahead

There have been many times I’ve gotten a recommendation to read a book or article, but I either didn’t write it down, or it got lost on a random slip of paper floating around my office. In this planner, you will have designated space to record any books, articles, or resources you want to check out in the future.

There is plenty of space for you to keep your important contacts.

 

Finally, this section contains space for you to jot down future ideas or goals for your school counseling program.

 

Professional Development & Notes

The final segment of this planner is a professional development tracker and space for notes.

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Assembly Instructions

Once I printed all of my pages {double sided}, I took them to Office Depot and had them spiral bound {which cost about $4}. I also bought clear tabs from OD to make it easier to find each section.

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I hope you enjoy this planner! Remember to head over to my TPT store to purchase {I am also more than willing to make custom pages if you have a request…e-mail theschoolcounselorlife@gmail.com if you are interested in custom pages.}

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If you read my post about the importance of self-care, you know that I am a firm believer that taking care of ourselves is essential to being good counselors. It’s crucial to employ our self-care tactics during the school year, but as school counselors, we get a wonderful gift of time over the summer to refresh and recharge before the next school year.

This summer, I tried to be as productive as I could be {check out how I use the summer to get prep work done for the next school year} while still getting together with friends and family I sometimes am “too busy” to spend a lot of time with when school is in session. I also see a client in a private practice setting once a week, and I teach group exercise classes on the weekends. This left my summer schedule packed with things to do, and even though most of them were good, enjoyable things, I realized halfway through June that I still had not taken much time to take care of myself.

For me, in order to truly care for myself, I needed to get away and spend sometime alone. {That way, the natural caregiver in me wouldn’t be tempted to focus only on everyone around me.} As a result, I decided to travel completely alone for the first time in my life, something that both frightened and excited me. I was able to do exactly what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it, giving my body and mind what they needed.

It was a short trip, only lasting 2 days, but it was a great way to recharge and give myself some needed self-care. So, what did I do on my trip that made me come back feeling so much better? Well, I had the coffee I love every morning, perused several museums, biked around the memorials and monuments, went shopping, saw a hilarious comedy show, read a great book, ate amazing Indian food, took plenty of selfies, and got some much needed sleep in an extremely comfortable king sized bed. Even though those things may sound simple, I felt shiny and new when I returned home 2 days later.

    

    

 

Whether you take a trip, get a massage, meditate, or simply take a few minutes alone every day, please do something to care for yourself before the school year starts. Your mind, body, spirit, and students will thank you for it.

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IF YOU’RE IN NEED OF SELF-CARE IDEAS, CHECK OUT THIS BLOG POST BY ELLEN BARD: 45 SIMPLE SELF-CARE PRACTICES FOR A HEALTHY MIND, BODY, AND SOUL.

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School counselors have a great opportunity to build relationships with students and to teach them valuable skills when going into the classroom. Incorporating books into classroom lessons can be a great way to keep their attention and allow characters to help you explain what you want them to know. Here are some of my favorite books to use in lessons with my elementary students.

1. One by Kathryn Otoshi

Book themes: kindness, bullying, including others, making friends, accepting differences

I use this book in a lesson with my Pre-K 4 students about being kind to others. Stay tuned for a post on that lesson! In the meantime, check out this classroom lesson using the book One from the Savvy School Counselor.

 

2. Personal Space Camp by Julia Cook

Book themes: personal space, respecting others, good manners

My Kindergarten students LOVE this book! The teachers use the language from the book throughout the school year to encourage students to respect their classmates’ personal space, which has seemed to decrease some of those incidents.

 

3. What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick

 

Book themes: respecting others, responsibility, following the rules, good manners

Check out my 1st grade lesson on respect using this book!

 

 

4. The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners by Jan Berenstain

Book themes: good manners, importance of effective communication, respect, managing feelings

I read this book to my 1st grade classes, and it provides a wonderful starting point for a class discussion on good manners {there’s also a video version, which I sometimes like to use as well}. I tie in the book and discussion to my respect lesson linked above.

 

5. The Brand New Kid by Katie Couric

Book themes: bullying, kindness, making friends, accepting differences

I read this book to my 3rd grade classes as a part of my bullying lesson. The kids really seem to empathize with the character in the book who is being bullied, and they admire the girl who reaches out to him. Definitely a good conversation starter with that age group.

 

 

6. Bear Feels Scared by Karma Wilson

Book themes: recognizing and managing feelings, friendship

First of all, The Bear Books are fantastic…all of them. I like to read this one to my youngest students, who are in Pre-K 3, when we talk about feelings.

 

 

7. Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester

Book themes: kindness, bullying, accepting differences, standing up for others

I plan on using Hooway for Wodnet Wat this school year as a part of my parent volunteer program, Reading Together {click here to read about last year’s program}. Parent volunteers will be reading this book to 1st grade students and then will facilitate an activity based on the book as a part of the program. They will be using this worksheet from School is a Happy Place.

 

8. Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg

Book themes: learning from mistakes, turning mistakes into good things, finding the beauty in everything

One of my favorite lessons I use with my 2nd graders is from Life on the Fly School Counselor Blog {this is one from my top 5 blogs list}, and it uses the book Beautiful Oops!. Check out the lesson here.

 

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I’d love to hear what books you love to use in your elementary classroom lessons! Comment below with your favs!

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I just attended {and presented at} my first ASCA National Conference, and it was AMAZING! Here is a recap of my first ASCA Conference experience.

 

 What’s in My Bag?

Before we really get into the conference, I’m going to tell you what I brought with me {because there have been so many times I’ve had the thought, ‘I wish I had brought ______!’} I’m sharing my checklist in hopes it will help you all to also not forget things when attending a conference:

___ Sweater {Because it’s ALWAYS freezing. Am I right, or am I right?}

___ Refillable water bottle {my new obsession is my Swell bottle. It keeps cold drinks cold for 24 hours and hot drinks hot for 12 hours. The nice thing is that it actually works that well!}

___ Notebook and pen

___ Business/Networking Cards

___ Healthy snacks

___ Tissue

 

My Favorite Breakout Sessions

I saw some pretty fantastic presentations at the conference. Here are my top 3:

1. Build Empathy and Combat Relational Aggression in Middle School Girls

Karin Kasdin is an extremely engaging, dynamic presenter. It’s no wonder her programs for Middle School girls are so highly successful. In fact, I liked her presentation so much that I bought her book immediately after. Girls Unlimited outlines her small group curriculum to build empathy and squash relational aggression, so if you missed her presentation, you can get the book and implement her ideas!

2. Motivational Interviewing for Secondary School Counselors

I almost didn’t go to this presentation because it was advertised for high school counselors, so I’m incredibly grateful to my friend who encouraged me to attend. Typically, when we hear of Motivational Interviewing, it’s related to addressing substance abuse issues, but Reagan North presented the techniques in a way that could easily be used with school-aged children. If you have the Motivational Interviewing book from grad school, you might want to re-read it with your students in mind.

3. Perfectionism: What’s It Costing Our Kids?

It was really hard to narrow the sessions I loved down to my top 3, but there is no way I would leave this one off of the list. Jane Bluestein {who has also written a TON of books that I can’t wait to delve into} talked about the differences between “Pathological Perfectionism” and a “Healthy Striving for Excellence.” I’m already planning on adapting her session for a parent presentation at my school this year. Like I said, she also has books, so if you missed out, head to your local library or to Amazon 🙂

 

Presenting at ASCA

The ultimate highlight for me this weekend was being a presenter at the conference. This was my first time speaking at a National Conference, and, as you can tell by my breakout session descriptions above, I was in great company. {I also may or may not have had a slight freak out moment after attending some of the more impressive sessions. Luckily, Aveda was in the exhibit hall giving free neck massages, so I used some good old self-care to bring those stress levels down}.

My presentation was titled Suicide Prevention and Intervention in Middle Schools, which is a topic near and dear to my heart. I was honored to have so many of my colleagues attend my session and to see almost 100 school counselors from across the nation share in the passion I have to prevent youth suicide.

 

If you’re interested in receiving my slides, e-mail theschoolcounselorlife@gmail.com, and I will be happy to send them your way.

 

Reflection

This is where I’m going to get a little serious, y’all. The 2016 ASCA conference not only gave me new ideas and contacts, it gave me a renewed desire to be the absolute best school counselor I can possibly be. There is something truly special about sharing knowledge with thousands of people who also share your profession, so thank you to everyone to impacted me over the course of the conference. If we are to continue growing as counselors, we need to keep learning, consulting, and collaborating, and I’m exceedingly thankful for these opportunities to do just that.

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One day this past school year, I accidentally deleted the wrong folder on my work computer. The folder containing ALL of my classroom lesson plans {eek!}. Normally, that wouldn’t be an issue because I would just retrieve it from the recycling bin; however, apparently the computer I was using at work had a default setting where everything that is deleted is gone. Just gone. As in forever. No recycling bin…no recovering lost files…nothing. I went through the 5 stages of grief pretty quickly. At first I couldn’t believe that I had deleted every single one of my classroom lessons, then I was incredibly angry I couldn’t recover the files. I bargained with God to help me find a way to get them back, and I literally sat at my desk for 15 minutes feeling depressed and hopeless. So, what got me to acceptance? The memory that I had backups! I remembered that I had many of those lessons on a flash drive {but unfortunately I hadn’t backed that up in a while}, and all of them were included in my lesson plan book!

Even though it meant re-typing many of my lesson plans, this book saved me that day. It includes every lesson plan and handout I use by grade level, and I also put my small group curriculums in the back.

The lesson plan format I use is pretty simple, including goals, objectives, materials, procedure, and ASCA standards met. You can get my lesson plan layout for FREE in my TPT store.

FRONT

BACK

Once I’ve compiled my lessons, handouts, section dividers, and small group curriculums, I take the entire pile to Office Depot, and they bind it together for about $4.

Not only is this method of organizing my lesson plans a space saver and money saver {binders big enough to hold all of that are bulky and can be expensive!}, but it certainly helped my sanity on the dreadful day I accidentally deleted my lessons. Here are the morals of the story, friends: (1) Always have a back up, (2) Keep hard copies in addition to electronic copies of your lessons {just in case}, (3) Find a system that works for you {for me, binding everything into a book works best}, (4) If you need help writing out your lesson plans, head over to my TPT store for your FREEBIE!

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