3rd- Careers! We watched a video about the 6 career paths. The video was made in Columbia so it is extra cool :) It talks about interests, strengths, and school subjects connected to each of the six paths. It also lists many jobs in each path. After the video I handed back their multiple intelligence surveys from earlier in the year and we connected our strengths to the career paths.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUSSglCvyyE
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5th- Careers! We pretended we were going on a trip out of the country. Students had 5 minutes to write down everything they were going to pack or do to prepare for the trip-if they didn't write it they didn't take it or do it! Very few of my friends remembered their passport, transportation, AND lodging! Lots of trips with sad endings (or starts!). We used the activity to discuss the importance of an educational plan. How to plan for a future career by choosing the right classes, participating in volunteer opportunities, and talking to people who have jobs we might want. Only ONE more counselor class before Middle School! AHHH! :(

4th- Only one class met this week because of MAP testing. We worked on Career Path stations, which I'll explain in more detail once the other classes have done them, too.

K- Careers! We talked about why jobs are important to individuals and as a whole. Then we talked about things we like to do and don't like to do at school and at home and how those things help us decide what jobs/careers we might want or NOT want someday! Read The Berenstain Bears On the Job and indicated if they were jobs we might like to do.

1st- Careers! We talked about why jobs are important to individuals and as a whole. We talked about strengths and interests and how those things help us decide on jobs/careers we might want someday. We read ​People in Your Neighborhood and for several of the jobs (until we ran out of time!) we talked about their strengths and interests.

2nd grade- STEAM bus!!! Last time we took an interest inventory. I took the results of those to group kids by career path. Each class had an hour on the STEAM bus to explore an activity related to their career path group.
Health- solved a break out box mystery to save the world from a deadly virus
Helping- designed and drew a park with certain elements (playground, tennis court, etc)
Creative- used little bitz synth kits to make different sounds and music (see pic below)
Business- designed and marketed a video game using Bloxel 
http://edu.bloxelsbuilder.com/ 
Fixing, Building, & Technology- followed directions to build a famous monument out of LEGOs.
Nature- because of  small class sizes I cut this path :( 

Some groups got to check out Tinkercad: simple, online 3D design and 3D printing app for everyone. Adults can sign up for an account and then let students use it to create projects. With a button those projects can be transformed into Minecraft objects or LEGO creations that can be broken down by layer. https://www.tinkercad.com/ 

We had LOTS of fun!! Be sure to check out pictures in my Twitter feed!

3rd- We started talking about college and career readiness! We brainstormed the responsibilities and skills of different careers then shared that info with students around us. Kiddos were called at random-two at a time- to come up to the front, present their assigned career, and then we all compared and contrasted the two jobs.

4th- We took a self-assessment to think about what we like and don't like to do, working conditions we would/wouldn't tolerate, and skills we have/don't have (yet) that would help us choose a career. We reviewed the 6 career paths and connected different factors on the self-assessment to the career paths. Some of the classes had time to briefly talk about resources available for researching careers- books, internet, people, etc!

5th- We continued using MissouriConnections to find out about jobs! This week we took an interest inventory to find out which career clusters we might be most interested in. Students chose a career in that cluster to research using the website.

All of my classes started by reviewing our last two lessons about safety.

Kinders: We talked about our learner skills. We talked about using our bodies to be successful in school. We learned the steps for being a whole body listener and a song to help us remember them. We read Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker and how her talking caused her to miss out. Then we discussed how to ask questions and practiced asking questions to guess objects. Busy day!! :)

1st- We talked about growth mindset and the power of YET. We read Beautiful OOPS! and talked about how mistakes help us learn and grow. Mistakes are good because they mean we are trying new things! We also talked about some awesome things (like chocolate chip cookies and the slinky) that were created by mistake.

2nd- We started talking about careers. We talked about things we have learned so far and how everything helps us decide what kind of career we might want someday! We went over the 6 career paths. We started taking a career path inventory. Mrs. Hoell is going to use this info for a FUN activity coming up in a few weeks!!

5th: We started working on college and career readiness skills. We took a "reality check"  survey on the Missouri Connections website to see how much money we will need to earn in our future jobs. It's interesting how many kids have no idea how much money is needed for things like utilities, car insurance, etc! Now might be a great time to start talking with your kids about money, saving, and budgeting!

4th: We talked about positive problem solving. We reviewed bullying then talked about how to solve all the other unkind situations we might encounter. We practiced using I-statements to let others know how we feel. We also practiced using the steps of STAR problem solving to come to peaceful solutions.

3rd: Read Tyler Tames the Testing Tiger and talked about the tips in the book. We can use those tips to help us succeed on all types of tests as well as other learner tasks at school.

Abuse Prevention Lesson 1
Every class talked about safe, unsafe, and unwanted touches. Kids have the right to say "no" to all unsafe and unwanted touches. We practice our 3Rs to stay safe: recognize (is it unsafe or unwanted?), refuse (say words that mean "no"), and report (tell an adult you trust). We reviewed our always ask first rule from the safety lesson earlier this year. Students practiced being assertive and problem solving different situations.

Kindergarten: We talked about important learner skills and how to use our bodies to be successful in class:
*eyes looking  *quiet hands  *quiet feet  *mouth quiet  *ears listening  *hand raised to talk
We read Howard B Wigglebottom Learns to Listen and discussed why it was important for him (and us!!) to listen and follow directions.

1st: We were recognizing the effects of life changes and talking about coping strategies. We talked about what life changes are, how they make us feel, what changes for us, and how to deal with them. We read We are Best Friends and discussed how the kiddos in the book deal with their changes (moving, making new friends). We did a relaxation activity to cope with tough feelings.

2nd: We talked about positive self concept- thinking good things about ourselves. We listed things about us that we like. We talked about growth mindset-that's is OKAY (and good!) to make mistakes and learn from them!! We read The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes and discussed. 

3rd grade: We finished up talking about multiple intelligences and talked about our areas of strength and areas for personal growth. We talked about goal setting and set a goal for ourselves--something we wanted to work on to grow and stretch our brains.

4th grade: We reviewed growth mindset and talked about things we want to do better. We talked about the steps for goal setting and practiced setting an educational goal for ourselves.

5th: We talked about organization. We looked at pictures of lockers and desks and evaluated the strategies used to organize. We also talked about strategies to use to organize time, materials, etc.

What an amazing week it has been!! Any time I get to dress up every day I'm a happy counselor, but when it is for KINDNESS, I'm elated! :)

Each day this week we not only dressed up, but we talked about how to be KIND...
kind to people who are the same,
kind to people who are different,
kind to ourselves.

We also talked about how to stand up for each other and how to be positive problem solvers. It was a fun week, but, more importantly, it was a week for educating kiddos on some very specific and important life skills!