Cooperation Clubs

I hope that you all are able to use my lesson that I previously posted on synergizing...but I have one more to share!

This lesson is one of my absolute favorites to use with 4th or 5th grade!  A lot of times I see students in this grade level having a difficult time getting along with others.  They are typically forming their close groups of friends, but have a harder time working with other students that they may be assigned to work with.  This lesson is a great one to discover the behaviors that they may exhibit that enhance or inhibit their group's success.  I would love to give credit to whoever came up with this one, but I honestly can't remember where I found it...

Cooperation Clubs

Split students into groups...I select the groups myself and typically try to split up the little friendships so that I can really challenge my students to work with different people.  

Explain to students that they will need to work together as a team to come up with a club.  Their club needs to have:

1. A Club Name
2. A President
3. A secret password
4. A secret handshake
5. A purpose of their club

It is important to not tell students how to accomplish this task, but observe the process, only intervening if they need help.

After students have finished completing their assigned task, have students come up and present their club to the rest of the class.  Discuss what behaviors helped the group work effectively, and what behaviors were not as productive.  Some discussion questions I typically ask are:

• How did you make decisions as a group?
• Did one person take over?
• Did any members sit back and let others do the work?
• How well did you feel that your group did at synergizing?
• What could have helped your group work better together?
• What can we learn from this that can help us in a regular classroom setting?

The kids always love this lesson and learn about themselves to boot, and I love it too!  I hope you have fun synergizing with your cooperative trays and cooperation clubs! :)

Cooperative Tray

As I have already shared with you, I am split between two schools this year.  At one school, I primarily work with Kindergarten and 1st grade, and at the other school I primarily work with 2nd and 3rd grade.  I love that even being at two different schools, I am still able to serve a variety of ages.  At both schools, we teach the 7 Habits of Happy Kids as our classroom curriculum.  I was very excited about this, because I have been using the 7 Habits for years in my classroom lessons, small groups, and individual counseling sessions.  Last month, our focus was on "Habit 6: Synergize" which has to do with cooperation, tolerance, and teamwork.  One of my favorite lessons is one that was shared with me several years ago from my counseling internship supervisor, Ann!  I still love this lesson and use it to this day...

The Cooperative Tray:

The purpose of this lesson is for students to see first hand that you are able to accomplish more as a team than you are alone.  (We also discuss how sometimes it is hard to work with different people, but that this is what a true "synergizer" is able to do).

First, you will need to prepare your tray:  

1.  Find some type of tray to use (or beg your cafeteria for one if they still have them...) :)
2.  Select 14-15 random items that you can mount to your tray.
3.  Mount the items onto the tray securely...mounting tape, hot glue, or super glue should all work.
4.  Use some type of cloth to cover your tray.

Lesson Procedures:

As the lesson begins, pretend to be super serious and explain to students that they need to quickly be quiet, pull out a piece of paper and a pencil.  Today we will be taking a test.  This is very serious so there should be no talking or I will know that they are cheating!  Tell students to number their paper from 1-14 (or however many items you have)

After the moans and groans, explain to students that today we will be taking a memory test.  This is an individual activity because we want to see how much they can remember.  Make sure to tell them to cover their papers because you are looking to see who remembers the most.

Walk around the room showing each table the items on the tray, explaining to students that they  may not pick up their pencil until you tell them "GO!"  Once everyone has had a good look, cover up the tray again and tell the students to begin.

Typically, students remember about 6-8 items from the tray.  I tell them all "great job!" and that this is what I expected for them to remember.  Next, I tell them that they did a pretty good job on their own, but I want to see how they do as a team.  Allow students to work with a partner (or their table group) to see if they can get all 14 items.

Students will usually remember more items, but not all 14.  We talk about this.  Then, I tell them we will work as a whole class to see if we can remember all 14 items.  We are easily able to remember them all.  We check our work by looking at the tray and then discuss the activity.  Students are easily able to gather that when we work as a team, we are able to accomplish more and do a better job than when we work alone.  This leads to a discussion of behaviors that help us be successful in working as a team and behaviors that keep us from doing our best.


I hope you enjoy this "Synergize" lesson and would love to hear more lessons that you use to teach the 7 Habits!

Sharing how you feel is magic!

I have successfully survived the first 2 weeks of school!  It has been very busy around here, meeting new students, helping kindergarteners adjust to school, collaborating with parents and teachers, as well as conducting student surveys.  I try to visit each class in the school every month to do my lessons.  This month, I decided to tag-team my lessons with a student survey.  We had a student survey a couple of years ago, but decided to do it again.  I created the survey using google docs, and it asked questions such as: what's your favorite subject? Do you feel safe at school? And do you feel like you have a friend at school?

One of our classes on the special rotation is called Sharpen the Saw, which focuses on the 7th habit, taking care of yourself.  I teamed up with this teacher this week to complete the surveys.  Literally, I have been in the computer lab all week!  When students come to their usual Sharpen the Saw rotation, they come down to the computer lab where I show them how to get on the student survey, and then we have our September "Meet the Counselor" classroom lesson.  It has worked out great!  I'm getting all of my initial lessons done in the first week, as well as collecting data through the surveys!  We decided not to do the surveys with Kindergarten, as they do not have the computer skills yet, and then decided half way through 1st grade, that it was too difficult for them at this time as well.  The rest of the groups did great!  They were excited to give their feedback and a lot of them had some great comments. 

As for my Meet the Counselor lesson, I wanted to share something that was passed down to me and I have enjoyed using over my past 5 years as a school counselor.  It's the Magic Coloring Book of Feelings by Robert P. Bowman, Ph.D. and Kim Frank, Ed.S., LPC.  This is a great tool when discussing the role of the school counselor and how sharing your feelings is like magic:  you feel better, and you help others understand you.  First, I show the students the different feelings represented in the coloring book and we talk about times we may have felt that way.

Next, I ask the kids what is missing.  Usually they will figure out that it needs the colors.  I explain to them that they all have the different feelings inside of them, and they need to share those feelings with me to see what happens.  I have the kids rub their legs and arms to get the "feelings" on them and then on the count of 3, they throw them into the book.  I pull the book back dramatically like I caught them.  Next, I flip through the book and all of the pages are filled with colors!! It's magic!  

The kids start gasping and laughing.  Next, I tell them they all need those feelings inside of them, so they need to take them back.  The kids take back their feelings, but when I open the book, the lines are gone too!  I act really surprised and say "You took my lines! Very Funny! But I need those back for my next class!"  

On the count of three, they throw back just the lines and we all laugh some more.  We talk about how this is a reminder that when you share your feelings, it is like magic.  (the directions for the magic trick are on the back of the book.)  The kids love it and ask me about it all the time.  I started out just doing it in Kindergarten, but now I use it in every grade level every year.

I also created this StoryBird about the School Counselor to use with my special needs classes!

Friday Finds: Weird!

I have already blogged about so many great bullying resources out there, but what I was looking for was something so that kids could see all of the people involved:  the target, the bully, and the bystanders.  I wanted to be able to discuss what each person's role and responsibility was in bullying.  When reading another blog, I came across the most fantastic series of books about this very topic!  The books in the series are Weird!, Tough! and Dare! by Erin Frankel.  All three books tell the same story, but from different perspecties:  Weird! gives the persective of Luisa (the target of the bullying), Tough! gives the perspective of Sam (the bully), and Dare! gives the perspective of Jayla (the bystander). 

The thing I like the most about this series of books is that it is so comprehensive!  As I previously stated, it covers the responsiblities that each person involved in bullying has.  Students learn that they have a role in stopping bullying, even if they are not the bully or the target.  Everyone has a role.  Depending on your need, these books can be used one at a time, or in a series of lessons.  At my school, we have something called Wildcat Team Time where classes spend the first 20 minutes of every day talking about the 7 Habits and related prosocial skills.  I have not been able to keep these books on my shelf because so many teachers are wanting to use them for WTT lessons!  Most of them take the time to go through each book with a fine tooth comb so that kids really understand.  Another thing that is AWESOME is that in the back of each book, there are discussion ideas, lesson ideas, etc.  Also, if you go to www.theweirdseries.com, there is a free downloadable leaders guide!  Free is my favorite.

Like I previously stated, teachers have been begging to use this book in their classrooms during WTT.  I've even talked to my principal about ordering several sets so we can keep them available for classrooms to check out.  I have used this series in classrooms and individual counseling, and would definately be suitable for small groups as well.  I hope to use the series in its entirety during classroom guidance next year.

I know that you will love these books as much as I have, and that you will see how your students understand the concept of the bystander so much better when it's connected to the other two stories.  ENJOY!

Committing to Make a Difference

I've already posted about the Trudy Ludwig books that make my heart sing!  This year I worked with 5th grade on bullying between friends.  We read the story My Secret Bully and had a great discussion on how bullying between friends can occur.  Later in the year, I decided to focus more on bullying and what role each and every one of us plays.  I had one 5th grade classroom who had a particularly hard time, so I went in for 5 days to co-teach with the teacher.  After this, we decided for me to focus my monthly guidance lesson in all of the 5th grade classrooms on bullying again.  I picked out parts of Confessions of a Former Bully to discuss with students, focusing on the roles of the bystander, the bully, and the target.  We talked about what each of us could do to make an impact on bullying.  As we read the story, I told the students that whenever they felt inspired to do so, they could go up to the poster and write down their commitment to stopping bullying.  Here's what the end result looks like:

I also hung up a poster with some of the helpful information from the book so that students could reference it if needed.  This is hung in the 5th grade hallway so that students can always be reminded of their commitment.

How do you get students to commit to stop bullying at your school?

Using the Habits to Solve Conflicts

It has been such a busy time for us all, I haven't had time to blog.  But as part of my personal growth, "sharpening the saw" is one of the 7 Habits I need to dedicate more time to.  For me, blogging sharpens my saw! 

Yesterday I was meeting with 2 students who were experiencing some friendship issues (I dedicate a lot of counseling sessions to this type of thing).  Usually I find it is best to have all parties involved present so that we can all talk safely and honestly.  Anyway, I was giving my usual "conflict resolution" strategy suggestions when the light bulb went off!  Why did I never think of this?!  These ARE the 7 Habits.  As I've already posted, we're going through the Leader in Me process and have been teaching the 7 habits for some time now.  I realized that these strategies would probably make a lot more sense to students if I used the language they are used to:  7 habits lingo.  Thus, my teaching tool was born:  Using the 7 Habits to Solve Conflicts.  This was something that was easy for me to explain to students, made sense to them, and integrated concepts we were already teaching.  I even put up this poster outside my office (which is also located right by the bathrooms that my 4th grade friends use).  4th graders by far write me the most notes about this topic, so I thought...hmm, maybe if I post this in a central location, they can try to use the skills first, BEFORE they get to me.  I use the 7 habits in so many ways, but I'm still amazed to see how easily they integrate into everything I do. 

How do you use the 7 Habits to teach conflict resolution?

Trudy Ludwig

For today's Friday Find, I am excited to write about one of my favorite authors, Trudy Ludwig.  We all teach lessons on bullying to students, but a  lot of the time the bullying that is going on is relational ("bullying between friends" as I describe it to students).  Don't get me wrong...I love my Bully Beans lesson, but sometimes the strategies we use in teaching this type of bullying do not address problems between friends.  Every year, especially in 4th and 5th grade, my purple mailbox is flooded with notes from students wanting to talk about a problem with a friend.  Most of the time it is something along the lines of:  "Susie stole my friend Sara" or "Susie is hanging out with Sara now and not with me so I don't like it" or  "I'm trying to hang out with my new friend Susie, but Susie's other friend is giving me dirty looks."  And trust me--it's not just girls.  Trudy Ludwig's books address this specific type of bullying and fit right in with the goals and strategies that I'm trying to instill in my 4th and 5th grade students.  My favorite ones are My Secret Bully, Trouble Talk, and, Confessions of a Former Bully.

 

My favorite part about Trudy Ludwig's books is that they lend themselves to some excellent discussions.  Usually all I have to do is bring up the topic and students already begin opening up about their personal experiences.  After reading the stories, students are easily able to come up with real life connections, and even come up with some solutions using ideas from the characters.  My favorite types of lessons are the ones that get kids talking.  I always address the fact that this happens between boys and girls, and the funny part is that a lot of the boys start nodding their heads!

As I previously stated, there's not a lot of planning that goes into a lesson using one of these great books.  Usually for classroom guidance, I review what we already know about bullying.  Next, I tell the class that we're going to talk about a type of bullying that isn't as talked about:  bullying between friends.  I have students give me some examples of what "bullying between friends" looks like.  They are easily able to tell me (as they are seeing it happen in their class and at recess!).  It never fails that students will bring up those topics that I get the counseling referrals about:  friends stealing friends, friends spreading rumors, friends ignoring them.  Next, we read one of the stories and have a discussion.  This year, I used Trouble Talk with 4th grade to focus on the gossip and rumors, and My Secret Bully in 5th grade to focus more about "friends stealing friends."  Confessions of a Former Bully is very empowering because it gives the "inside scoop" from a former bully.  I haven't used this one in the classroom yet, but plan to soon!  These books have also lent themselves to some great discussions in individual and small group counseling as well. 

How have you used Trudy Ludwig's books to facilitate discussions on relational aggression?

How to Lose All Your Friends

How to Lose All Your Friends by Nancy Carlson is one of my staple lessons in first grade.  This is a time when students are beginning to learn behaviors that can help them or hurt them in developing friendships. When starting this lesson, I always ask students, "Why do you think I would read you a story about how to lose your friends?"  They quickly come to the conclusion that I want for them to learn what NOT to do when making friends.  This story goes through some of the "big" mistakes that children sometimes make in making friends, such as being grumpy, tattling, not sharing, being a bully, etc.  The story is cute and the kids love to say "No!" or "that's wrong!"  as we go through the story.  After the story, I tell the students that they will have the chance to write their own book.  This book will be called How to Make Friends.  We brainstorm some ways that we can make friends (smiling, sharing, helping) and then I show them how to fold their paper into their book.  I tell them that just like my book had words and pictures, I want for their book to have the same.  The students love making these little books, and are so excited when they get to take them home.  The bonus is that they will have a take-home reminder of our lesson and how to effectively make and keep friends.

Have You Been to Jobland?

Sorry for the changes! I felt like my old template was too busy and hard to read!  I hope you enjoy the new and improved (and simple) look of my page!

This month in 2nd grade, we're taking a trip to Jobland!  In K-2 career lessons, the focus is on getting familiar with jobs and finding out what jobs might match our interests.  2nd graders get to go on the laptops and visit Paws in Jobland.  Paws is a friendly cartoon dog that talks to kids about jobs.  The kids get to explore various careers in Jobland, and even get to take a "jobfinder" survey.  It asks questions about their interests, such as "do you like math?"  Once students have finished with the survey, certain areas of Jobland are hightlighted so they can look at those careers that best match with their results. 

You can find visit Jobland on http://www.cfnc.org/ or click the Paws in Jobland link below.  Some things you might discuss after visiting the site are:

1. What new jobs did you learn about?
2. What do you think you might want to be when you grow up?
3. Do you have to go to college, trade school, or receive some other type of education for this job
4. What is something you will share with your parents about this activity?

Bugs In My Hair?!

Oh, lice.  A topic we are all too familiar with.  My school nurse and I are often entwined in this battle that is all too often lost (it starts as a health issue and can quickly lead to an issue of self-esteem).  We have had several families (especially those who go between houses) who have chronic lice, build up immunities, and often face criticism because of it.  The counselor at the elementary school down the road informed me of a children's book on the topic, so I decided to purchase it and see what it's all about.  The book is called Bugs In My Hair?! by Catherine Stier.  The story is about Ellie LaFleur who is always perfect.  She even washes her hair with Princess Luxury Shampoo.  One day, Ellie gets lice and can't believe it happened to her.  The story goes through all of the procedures that Ellie and her mom have to do to get rid of the lice, and then Ellie learns that it's not such a bad thing after all.  In the end, she even writes a note for kids who get head lice and states "these things happen!"

Reasons I love it:
It takes away the stigma of lice
It debunks the myth that lice only like dirty hair
It helps children feel like they are not alone
It explains what lice are in a kid-friendly way
It covers all of the procedures for removing lice

I think this book will be great for individuals struggling with lice AND classroom guidance!  My hope is that in reading this to a whole class, we can create some empathy and take away the stigma for good!

After all..
These things happen!

Personal Space Camp!

I've already posted about this amazing author before, but yet again, I'm already posting about another Julia Cook book!  This book is called Personal Space Camp and it's a fun way to talk to kids about respecting others' space.  In the story, we meet Luis again (same character from My Mouth is a Volcano).  He thinks he is a space expert! "Zoom Zoom, Zip Zip, Buzz the planets, Tickle the sun, Back to Earth, Now that was fun!!"  Luis is told by his teachers that he has a problem with personal space, which is very confusing to Luis since he thinks he is a space expert!  Luis attends Personal Space Camp in the principal's office where he finally learns the difference between outer space and personal space. 

I love this book because it covers all of the bases of personal space:  walking in line, sitting on the rug (instead of laying on the rug), etc.  I also love it because you can easily bring up conversations about touching people, pushing, hitting, etc.  We talk about how everyone has a different amount of personal space that makes them feel comfortable (our personal space bubble, or personal space ship).  Sometimes, we feel OK with someone getting in our personal space (parents, friends who we give permission to), but most of the time, we don't like for our personal space bubble to be broken.  We talk about how part of respect means asking permission to enter someone's personal space (for a hug or whatever the reason might be).  This can also lead to a discussion on personal safety and good touch/bad touch.  I use this book in 2nd grade classrooms, in my social skills small groups, and of course, with individual students as well.  Teachers are always asking to borrow this one.

What could make this any better?  Of course!  There is the activity & guide book which is also available for purchase! Oh Julia, you make life so easy for us!  There are all kinds of activites in the book, such as clumping all of the desks together (to show how impossible it would be for us to work this way), creating personal space place mats, a space freeze game, and many more!  I feel like an advertisemet, but I just can't say enough good things for these books.  Enjoy, Personal Space campers!

What's the best part of an M&M?

The best part of an M&M is the inside!  I've done this lesson for the past 4 years and it is one of my favorite ones to present!  This lesson came from Puzzle Pieces, a great classroom guidance resource by Dianne Senn and Gwen M. Sitsch, and is an awesome way to make kids understand the importance of not judging our friends by the way they look.

Preparation:

Prepare 2 shoe boxes (same size)...one with pretty birthday wrapping paper and a nice red ribbon, and the other one with newspaper (with tears) and twine.

Inside the box with the pretty wrapping, put rocks

Inside the box with the newspaper, put M&Ms.




which gift would you pick?

 Showtime!
Introduce the gifts to the class and ask, "If it were your birthday and you could pick whichever gift you wanted, which would you want and why?"

Listen to the students share which one they would pick and why.  You will see that most kids will pick the fancy gift.  I really amp this up by trying to get them to guess what's inside!
After they have guessed, open up the box and show them the rocks.
Now ask how many changed their mind. (All of them will raise their hands)
Now open the box wrapped in torn newspaper and show them the M&Ms

Conclude with the class that although the birthday box was wrapped nicely, it wasn't very nice on the inside, but the newspaper-wrapped box was sweet on the inside.  Have a discussion with the class about how this relates to choosing our friends.  Tell them, even though someone is really nice looking on the outside, maybe has the most stylish clothes, it doesn't mean they're a nice person on the inside.  It doesn't matter what color they are or what they look like.  But we don't know, that's why we have to take the steps to get to know someone. 

After the discussion, pass out M&Ms for everyone and ask them what is the best part of the M&M.  They will all say "THE CHOCOLATE!!"  Explain to them that the color of the M&M does not really matter.  Demonstrate this by having a student come up in front of the class, close their eyes, and taste an M&M.  They will try to guess what color it is.  They will not be able to tell!

People are like M&Ms

Explain to them that people are like M&Ms, it doesn't matter what we look like on the outside, it's what's on the inside that counts.  We should choose our friends by the way they act and treat others, not by how they look.

Kids love this lesson and talk about it for a long time! I recently saw in the latest issue of Teaching Tolerance that someone used tootsie pops to teach this same lesson.  Love it!

Peer Pressure Bag of Tricks

A 4th grade teacher came to me and asked if I could talk to her class about positive and negative peer influence in our next guidance lesson.  I was so excited to hear this because I had been wanting to do a lesson on peer pressure anyway.  I did some research online and found a lesson on www.thecoolspot.gov  aimed at middle school students.  As I read the lesson, I realized that I could easily change this around to work with my 4th graders.  The lesson talks about the "tricks" kids use to influence you to make decisions, either good or bad.  It breaks the "tricks" down into spoken and unspoken.  In the lesson, you introduce the peer pressure "bag of tricks" and each table has a bag with pieces of paper explaining each of the tricks.  I decided instead of doing that, I would make a diagram to show the different tricks (and whether they are spoken or unspoken....I call them verbal and nonverbal).

Next you break the students up into groups and give each group a role-play scenario.  After giving students adequate time to practice their role-play, you ask them to perform them for the class.  After each performance, students have to guess which type of "trick" is being demonstrated.  (I made a sheet with the description of each type of "trick" for each table so they can refer to them easier).

After all of the role plays, you talk to students about the different ways to resist peer pressure.  We will first talk about how you are ultimately responsible for making your own choices.  After giving students the opportunity to brainstorm ideas, we talk about the following ideas:

• saying "No, I don't want to" in a firm voice, looking them in the eye, and standing up tall.
• Suggesting something else to do
• Walking away from the situation
• Finding something else to do with other friends

I am excited to present this lesson to the class and hear the discussions that it facilitates.  My 4th graders always come up with the best group discussions!  I'm sure I will add some more ideas to the lesson before presenting it!

What are some creative lessons you have presented on Peer Pressure?

Personal Safety & Healthy Boundaries

The topic came up in our Counselor's meeting yesterday.  What do you do in your classroom guidance lessons to teach children about healthy boundaries and private parts?  EEk!  That topic is always so icky and touchy.  In the past, we've had our local nonprofit agency who works with sexual violence victims present this topic to certain grade levels, but now it is on us, as the school counselors, to teach the topic.  Although we are used to discussing this individually with students, the topic is more difficult with large groups because of the nature of the beast.  How do you say enough without saying too much?  Not to mention the parent permission component.  What is the best way to present this topic without scaring students, and on the other hand, how do we make sure we're not sending the wrong message?  For example, in the past, students would come to us following this type of talk and claim that someone had been touching them inappropriately.  It would turn out that someone bumped into them, or something of that nature.  We decided as elementary school counselors that we would like to have some type of lesson plan across the county so that we know that we are sending the same information to all students.  We also decided to send home facts and stastics about sexual abuse and notify parents of when the discussion would be and what materials would be used.  I've done some research, but I'm still not sure what materials would work best, and I've added a couple of links. I thought you all might have some suggestions!.  It had me thinking..

How do you talk with your large classrooms about personal safety and inappropriate touch?  What materials have you used?

Valentine's Day Lesson

 I just wanted to share a quick lesson that's fun to do on Valentine's day, if you happen to be visiting a class around that time.  I can't remember where I found it, but I can't take credit! We start by talking about the words we use and how they can make people feel really good, or they can hurt them.  Before coming the class I prepare a big red heart out of construction paper.  As the students are talking about hurtful things that children might say, I start folding the heart (in all different ways to create lots of different creases) and eventually it is a crumpled up ball.  I tell the class that each time they say something that is hurtful, its like it puts a wrinkle in someone's heart. 

We then talk about what we can do to try to make it better (saying kind words, saying "I'm sorry", saying 'just kidding").  As they do this, I unfold the heart.  Eventually it is spread back out, but you can still see the wrinkles.  We talk about how we all have these wrinkles or scars on our heart from things others have said to us, and sometimes they last forever.  I then share a story from when I was a child where I was picked on, and how I've never forgotten it.  We then talk about how it is important to try to make things better if we say something hurtful, but its even better if we don't say it all.


After the lesson, we read the story Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane deGroat and make connections to the heart lesson and the story.  This is one of my favorites because the kids really see the connection and love the connection to valentine's day and handing out valentines to people.  I leave the wrinkled heart in the classroom to serve as a reminder to use kind words.

Suffering Through The Sour to Get to the Sweet

I thought I would share one of my very favorite lessons that I do each year.  I learned this lesson from my supervisor during my internship, but it originally came from Steve Sandman, the 8th grade counselor at Cane Creek Middle School.  He has lots of wonderful lessons which can be found on the Cane Creek Middle School Counseling website.  You start by telling the students that you have a challenge for them.  You ask them if they have ever tried Warheads (the really sour candy).  Most of them are immediately excited!  You give each child a piece (if they want it) and tell them not to put it in their mouth yet, but to unwrap it and get it ready.  Everyone puts the Warhead in their mouth at the same time and we try to see who can last 30 seconds.  Of course they all look miserable, and the faces are a great laugh! Afterward, we talk about the experience when they first put the candy in their mouth.  They list adjectives such as "really sour! Painful! Explosive! Burning! Horrible!"  And then you ask them if they would like another.  Of course, they all say "YES!!" I act surprised, "What?! Why would you want another one after you just told me how horrible it was?" We go over their list of words.  They come to the conclusion that even though the candy was really sour at first, after a little while, it became sweet and felt better.  You then ask them if the bad feelings at the beginning were worth the good feelings at the end?

Next, you read the story Horton Hatches the Egg and ask students to make comparisons between the story and their Warhead experience.  This leads to a discussion on persevarance and attitude.  You can almost actually the see the lightbulbs going off in theird heads.  I use this lesson in third grade and we make the comparison to school.  They automatically start talking about the EOG and how we have to work hard now to get a good score.  I really enjoy this lesson and its one the students keep talking about each year!

My Mouth is a Volcano!

I'm already writing about another Julia Cook book.  I just can't get enough!  This time I used the book My Mouth is a Volcano in 2nd grade.  This book is about a boy named Louis who has a big problem with "erupting" (interrupting).  His "important words slide down from his head onto his tongue.  His tummy starts to rumble, and then it starts to grumble.  His words begin to wiggle, and then they do the jiggle.  His tongue pushes all of his important words into his teeth and his volcano erupts!"  This  a cute story that children really enjoy.  Toward the end, Louis's mom teaches him a technique to keep him from interrupting.  I have used this book in classroom guidance, small groups, and individual counseling!  Anyone can use a reminder...

There is also an accompanying activity book called My Mouth Is a Volcano Activity and Idea Book. In the book, there is a project called "Button Up"  I tried this with my students this year and it was a success!  Each student is given a button and an index card.  On one side, they color their card green and write "Speak with good purpose" and on the other side, they color the card red and glue their button.  Beside the button they draw an up arrow in black.  The card is taped to their desk (button side up).  The teacher can use the card during instruction.  When it is the teacher's turn to talk, she tells students to flip their card to the button side (to remind them to button up!) and when it is time for student talk, they are asked to flip their cards to the green side.  I love this activity because I think its a great way to extend the lesson into everyday learning.  I'm a fan of anything that serves as a visual reminder!  So far, the teachers seem to like the idea and are using it. 

What types of visual reminders do you use for classroom guidance?

Bully B.E.A.N.S.

First of all, let me state that I LOVE all of Julia Cook's books.  Her books have a very clever way of discussing issues.  Not to mention, they have accompanying activity books (purchased seperately) so planning is super easy!  I'm sure I will be writing several posts about her books.  With that said, my absolute favorite is Bully B.E.A.N.S.  Whenever I introduce this book to a class, they all say "What?!" A lot of them think I'm going to teach them how to be bullies.  In the book, the reader meets Bobette, the bully.  I always point out how the illustrator draws Bobbette so that she looks bigger than the rest of the kids.  We talk about why he must have done that.  We come to the conclusion that the author wants to show us that she has the power.  The kids (the bystanders) in the book learn that they must find the confidence inside themselves to stand up to the bully.  As a reminder, one girls mom gives her bully beans.  She tells her they are magical beans that help her stand up to the bully.  They finally figure out that the beans are just regular jelly beans, but just serve as a reminder of what they already can do. 

This book has promoted some awesome discussions in the classrooms I use it in.  Kids just open up and talk about the characters and immediately start making connections to real life.  We focus on the power of the bully vs. the power of the bystanders.  Then we do an activity from the Bully B.E.A.N.S. Activity and Idea Book to show the importance of the bystander.  The bystanders can take away the power of the bully when they work together.  In the activity book, there is an activity where you use a blanket and have students demonstrate this power struggle.  You label one student as the bully, one as the victim, and 3 as the bystanders.  They line up like this: bully, bystanders, victim.  The bully starts out with the blanket and then slowly the bystanders start pullying the blanket (the power) back over to the victim.  We talk about how the power needs to be equally balanced.  It's a really powerful lesson!

I also keep a jar of "bully beans" on my desk as a reminder for students.  Sometimes students come in to see me and say they need a bully bean.  They are asked to tell me how they're going to use it before I give them one.  This is one that the kids still talk about!

The 7 Habits of Happy Kids

As promised, I am posting more about the 7 habits.  This is a school wide initiative at my school that we have been doing for the past 3 years.  The 7 Habits of Happy Kids is written by Sean Covey, son of author Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) and is aimed at elementary school age readers.  The book is composed of 7 short stories with a colorful crew of characters that students can relate with.  The stories teach the reader about each of the 7 habits by using nonfiction characters.  We started our initiative by beginning a Synergy Team.  This team was composed of several teachers and other certified staff at the school who would pilot the program.  These teachers were asked to cover the first 4 habits in their classroom.  Read the story, teach the skill, practice the skill.  It spread like wild fire!  Now, not only have we adopted all 7 habits in EVERY classroom, but our principal has made a block of time in our schedule daily for prosocial skills.  We call it Wildcat Team Time (WTT for short) and it lasts 20 minutes at the beginning of each day.  Teachers use the 7 habits along with other resources  to teach children about these skills that are so important to becoming leaders.  (That's our focus here...we're leaders and learners!)  The kids love the books, use the language, and refer to the skills on a daily basis.  It's amazing to see! 

The 7 Habits are:

Habit 1:  Be Proactive
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Habit 4: Think Win-Win
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
Habit 6: Synergize
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Not only do our students succeed socially using these skills, but academically as well.  Teaching them to leaders has helped to teach them to take ownership for their learning and to be self-assessing.  After the initial success of the 7 habits in our school, we decided to give the parents an opportunity to learn more.  The Synergy Team hosted a parent night called "Growing Leaders With the 7 Habits."  After the information session, parents were given the opportunity to attend a 7 night workshop focusing on how to implement the 7 habits at home, hosted by yours truly!  I had so much fun discussing how these skills can be implemented in the home with several parents.  In the future, I'll have to rethink the time/dates because there weren't as many parents in attendance as we'd hoped.  I wish I had time to list all of the amazing things our teachers have done with the habits but I'd be sitting here all day!  A great resource to check out on the 7 habits is http://www.theleaderinme.org/

How have you used the 7 habits?  What lessons have you implemented using the habits? 

Dianne Senn

One of my most recent purchases is Small Group Counseling for Children: Grades 2-5.  I really enjoy this book because it has everything you need to run small groups.  How to get started, planning, needs assessments, and lesson plans. This is a great addition to my collection.

Another Dianne Senn gem is Creative Approaches for Counseling Individual Children.  This great book includes sample forms, information gathering tools, tips for identifying the problem, as well as a variety of different topics and ideas for use in individual counseling sessions.  I've used some of the ideas for small groups as well.  There's even a section on behavior support. 

Lastly, for classroom guidance lessons, I've been using Puzzle Pieces: Classroom Guidance Connection ever since my internship!  I still use some of the same lessons.  This book has a collection of lesson plans on almost any topic you can think of for all grades K-5.  This book is one I know I can always turn to when planning classroom lessons.

What other Dianne Senn resources have you used??  I'd love to hear!