Getting Groups Started

Well, it's the first week of October and i'm finally getting my groups organized.  It's been busy around here, so I'm glad to finally get some "routine" to my day.  Every year, I change something about the way I conduct groups--trial and error if you will.  Sometimes it's the content I teach (depending on student needs, new resources, or fresh ideas), and other times it's the organization and behavior management of groups.  So here's what I've done this year:
Groups I have beginning October 1st:

Self Control (grades 1, 2, 3, and 4)
Family Changes (grades 1 and 3)
Self Esteem (grades 4 and 5)
Anger (grades 3 and 4)

First (after receiving parent permission),  I decide what day of the week and what time we will meet (most of my groups meet at lunch).  I use a document, Group Layout Form, to organize my days.  I will not be conducting groups on Fridays this year so that I will have additional time to catch up with individual students.

Next, I set up my group table (well, 2 desks put together).  I'm hoping to add a tablecloth to make it more appealing.  I'm so excited to have this space for just my group stuff this year so it will be easily accessible.  It's right next to the round table where groups meet.  See below.  It includes a copy of my group expectations, a basket for pawprints and stickers (keep reading), my group layout form, paperclips (for clipping finished work), my 7 Habits talking stick, and all of my group materials/files.

I have 2 ideas going for behavior management.  In all of my groups, each student has a purple pawprint (we're the Wildcats) with their name on it.  When they are following group expectations (see Taming the Test for my expecations), they will receive a sticker for their pawprint.  This idea came from another school counselor, and kids are loving it!

For my 3rd grade anger group, we are in need of a little more structure. Therefore, I've decided to use the angry bird game found on pinterest.  The students will earn cups for following expectations, and will get to play the angry birds game for the last 5 minutes of group.  They are all really into Angry Birds so this should go over well!

As far as organizing lesson plans, I have decided to use a form found in Dianne Senn's Small Group Counseling for Children which lets you list all students and your lesson topics including warmup activity, etc.  This book is a great resource!!

How do you organize your small groups?



Whats your Weather?

As I've already shared, my school has the privilege of becoming a Leader in Me school this year.  Part of Habit 1: Be Proactive is choosing your own weather.  Despite what outside forces are impacting you, we can make the decision to be happy.  This is something I've been focusing a lot of energy on and guess what! IT'S WORKING!  I'm happier than I've ever been, I feel more successful in my work, and it has been much easier to solve conflicts in my personal life. 

So I had a thought...why not use the weather as an assessment tool in finding out how a child is feeling?  So I decided to make the above display for my room:  What's your weather?  The child can pick the weather symbol that best describes how they're feeling and then explain more about what it means.  Here's my thought but it's up to interpretation by each child:

Sunny = happy

Sun peeking behind cloud = feeling OK

Cloudy = not feeling my best

Rainy = sad

Lightening = angry

After the child figures out which weather picture depicts how they are feeling, we will be able to discuss it and then talk about how to make ourselves feel sunny again.  Some other ideas that I've received from others (and use all the time) are the emotions tree, feelings posters, etc. 

What do you use to assess a child's feelings?

It's Finally Here!

Tomorrow is the first day of school for the kiddos!  I am so excited to see their smiling faces tomorrow, and to meet some new ones.  This past week has been jam-packed as far as professional development, which has been somewhat stressful, but definitely motivating!  On Wednesday, the counselors all got together to go over our new NC Essential Standards, so that got me thinking about data and what I do to show what I do.  I've decided to re-vamp my whole system, and I'm so excited to see how it goes.  I got a few ideas from fellow bloggers.  I'm going to keep scheduling students, either using Google calendar, or some other source.

I've also been inspired by many other blogs to try some new things. First of all, I've decided to go back to something we were required to do in graduate school.  I will be keeping a log for each day to show how many hours I spent in each activity (direct services, responsive services, etc.).  Also, I was inspired by Lauren Gentry at Cool School Counseling to track my individual students (confidentially) and list what issue I saw them for.  That way, I can create a end of the year report (inspired by Marissa Rex at Elementary School Counseling).

Finally, I'm excited to announce that I will be doing Minute Meetings at the beginning of the year as well as the end of the year.  This idea came from Danielle Schultz at School Counselor Blog.  I was a little nervous as to what the teachers would think of this idea, as it will be another time for me to pull their students, but the feedback has been awesome!  So many teachers have come to me to tell me how excited they are that I will be doing this.  It will allow me to meet with 100% of the students, and provide some excellent data (and referrals).

As I shared earlier, I have been involved in a lot of professional development over the past week.  I'm excited to announce that my school has been chosen to participate in the Leader in Me process!  If you are unfamiliar with the Leader in Me, it is a school wide program based on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.  We have taught the 7 Habits the past for years, but I cannot wait to become a Lighthouse school!  So far, we have completed the Signature training, which has been life changing!  It has challenged us to look at ourselves and realize our own leadership potential.  I am so excited for this opportunity to grow personally and professionally.  I can't wait to share this with my school staff and my students!

Right on Target!

As many of you have been doing this summer, I'm constantly on the look for items and ideas for the next school year.  I've been making mental notes of all of the ideas I want to try in getting my counseling program running this fall.  Hours have been on pinterest searching for ideas (you can follow my counseling board here http://pinterest.com/tracimh/creative-counseling/).  As a thrifty counselor, one of my favorite shopping spots is the dollar section at Target!  I get so excited this time of year with all of the great stuff they have for $1 that I can utilize in my counseling practices.  Yesterday, I found a few things that I wanted to share with you all.  I'm sure I will be back again many times before the school year starts, but here's what I picked up so far:

Exciting stuff, I know!  Here's my plan so far:

1.  Pipe cleaners---I don't know where to start!  I'm sure these will be used for many craft projects in small groups, hmm, maybe I should go grab more?

2.  Sparkly Pom Pom balls---Last year, I decided that in all of my groups, I would start the first session in the same way.  We would go over our group guidelines and then read the story Have you Filled A Bucket Today?  I think its a great way to talk about respect and working together as a group to help each other...we are all there for a similar reason.  Here comes my pom pom idea...as a behavior management strategy, we will work together as a group to fill our group bucket (I haven't purchased the bucket yet).  I'm thinking of somehow working this into my guidance lessons too.  Any suggestions on that?

3.  Wipe Clean Double Sided Sentence Strips---I was so excited to find these after reading a pin on pinterest about having students practice writing "I statements" in small groups.  These were a must-buy!

4.  Paper Mouse Pad---a mouse pad I can write on???? Whaaaattttt?!  I really love organization, planning, calendars, that type of thing; so when I found this mousepad that has 20 sheets of monthly grids, I was sold!

What bargains have you found for your school counseling office next year?

Winding Down The Year

It is that time!  We are smack dab in the middle of end of grade testing (which I'm fortunate enough to not have to coordinate) and getting ready to wind down the year.  I decided I should post since I will probably not have much time to before school lets out.  The last few weeks of school are always jam packed with activities for kids, testing, and other events.  This year some of the things we have going on are:

• A "pawsitive" behavior day on June 6 (this is our school wide behavior plan). Throughout the year, students receive shoutouts for good acts that are read over the announcements.  Once the school receives 500 shoutouts, we get a "pawsitive" behavior day!  On this day, we come up with a theme to revolve the day around..for example, in the past we've had cruise ship day, fairytale day, time-warp, carnival, etc.  This time will be sports spectacular!  All activities in the classrooms are based around the theme, and then during specials (P.E., art/music, etc) the students all rotate through fun stations that the specialist provide.
• On June 4, the teachers at a nearby elementary school have challenged our staff to a kickball game!  I'm organizing the team and we'll be practicing tomorrow so we can dust our shoes off!  All proceeds will be split between schools

As for this summer, I will be serving on the Synergy Team. As posted before, my school teaches the 7 Habits of Happy Kids to all students as our character education program.  We've decided we need to step it up!  In comes the Synergy Team!  This summer, we will be re-reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The Leader in Me by Stephen Covey.  We will also be coming up with lessons to go with each habit and posting them for staff.  It will be hard work but should be fun! 


As for today, it is an optional workday, and I've opted to come in and take care of some business so that I can have a smooth end of the year and begin planning for next year.  I hope that you all have a wonderful Memorial day and a restful summer!  Make sure to Sharpen Your Saw!!

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?

A day in the life

In response to a comment posted by a graduate student, I'd like to share my daily schedule.  Oh wait, I don't have a daily schedule (kind of)!  As the only school counselor at my school of 500, I present classroom guidance once a month to each class, so I prepare a monthly calendar for guidance lessons.  I also start new groups each quarter.  The rest of my time is filled with individual counseling, planning, phone calls, conferences, touching base with students/teachers, and whatever else comes my way.  Just to give you a picture, I decided to provide you with my schedule for 2 different days (since every day is different!)  I usually make my schedule as I go.  Guidance and groups are already added in, and as I get referrals, I fill my schedule for students and other things.  Students give me their referrals (see my post Need to See the Counselor) and I plan according to need.  I like to have it all planned out for the day (which I keep track of using google calendar).  We operate on a block schedule, so there are only certain times I am allowed to pull kids to work with them (usually during their intervention/enrichment block).    I try to stick to my schedule, but of course, things come up! 

Schedule for Thursday, April 26:

7:20-7:40  Duty in the gym (we have walking club for early arrivals)
7:40-8:00  Prepare for my guidance lesson, hand out appointment passes
8:00-8:30  3rd grade guidance lesson on career pathways
8:30-9:00  Individual counseling with a 4th grader
9:00-9:30  Individual counseling with another 4th grader
9:30-10:30  Unscheduled time--Planning, following up with phone calls, updating my notes, working on Tier paperwork, responding to anything that comes up
10:30-11:00  Individual counseling with 3rd grader
11:00-11:30  Individual counseling with another 3rd grader
11:35-12:05  3rd grade test anxiety group
12:05-1:00   Lunch (I always make a point to schedule this, or else I won't eat), meeting with teachers, following up with students as things come up
1:00-1:30  5th grade test anxiety group
1:40 - 2:10  4th grade guidance lesson on stress
2:10-2:30 Follow up phone calls, touch base with teachers, update my notes, and  check in on students
2:30-3:00  Individual counseling with 1st grader
3:00-3:15  Kids dismiss
3:15-4:15  Faculty Meeting

Schedule for Friday, April 27

7:30-8:30  Planning for day, preparing for 5th grade guidance, hand out my appointment passes
8:35-9:35  5th grade guidance lesson on test anxiety/strategies  (5th grade classes rotate, so I presented to 2 classes in this time)
9:35-10:05  Checked in with teachers, made some phone calls, prepared for students
10:05-10:35  5th grade guidance lesson on test anxiety/strategies (the last rotation)
10:35-11:05  Individual counseling on divorce with a 3rd grader
11:05-11:35  Individual counseling with another 3rd grader
11:45-12:15  3rd grade test anxiety group
12:15-12:30  Checked in with a student briefly...will make an appointment with her next week, but gave her some strategies to try in the mean time.
12:30-1:00  Lunch, planning, responsive services, updating notes, added above student to my calendar
1:00-1:30  Individual counseling with 5th grader
1:40-2:10  4th grade classroom guidance on stress
2:20-2:50  Social skills small group (1st grade)
3:00-3:30 (or usually later...) Dismissal, planning for next week, following up with teachers, catching up on notes for the day, etc.