3rd- What to look for in a friend and how to make/keep friends. We pretended it was their birthday and they could pick between two gifts I brought for them. We brainstormed what we knew about the two gifts by looking then picked one before opening it. We talked about how you can't tell who will be a good friend by looking. Discussed how to get to know people and how to choose a good friend for us.

4th- Point of View. It is important to see things from others' point of view to peacefully solve problems and work together successfully. Talked about how to see things from another perspective and practiced with a classroom scenario.

5th- Reviewed decision making. Talked about times we have to make decisions with others. What makes that hard? What are some strategies for making decisions in a pair or group? How do you choose group members to work with successfully? Practiced making decisions in groups.

This was my first week back with my younger grades. I just love their enthusiasm and the fun we are able to have while learning together!!
1st- What is a school counselor? Reviewed what school counselors do and how they can help kids. Talked about some tough feelings we have sometimes and why we have those feelings. Mrs. Hoell showed the students how counselors can "magically" turn those tough feelings into happy feelings!
2nd- Reviewed what a counselor does and how they can help kids. Brainstormed how to make and keep friends. Read Emily's New Friend. We discussed the book and compared the strategies we brainstormed earlier in class to the ones in the book. Talked about how we are a team and how important it is to include everyone and help everyone feel welcome.


Our part-time counselor, Mrs. Davison, teaches all four of the kindergarten sections. She is only here on Wednesdays so she teaches two of the classes each week. I will include information about what they are learning with my updates on 1st and 2nd grade.
K- What is a school counselor? Talked about what school counselors do and how they can help. Colored a bunny book about school counselors to take home and share with parents.

This was my first week in the 3rd-5th grade classes this year! I just love the great discussion they are able to have as they get older!

3rd: Talked about who I am and what I do. We then talked about the positive characteristics needed to be a learner in the classroom. We discussed characteristics that we have, are working on, and that we DON'T want in our class. We compared these characteristics to apples and practiced sorting our characteristic apples into our class barrel or the trash.

4th: Talked about who I am and what I do. I had volunteers follow directions to earn as many stickers as possible. In each class, the students thought it was a competition and worked against each other rather than with each other. We talked about how cooperation helps us all to be more successful and that we are a classroom TEAM this year. The students and teachers brainstormed times this year they will need to work together and some skills for doing that successfully.

5th: Talked about who I am and what I do. Discussed how their choices determine their direction in life. We talked about some of their dreams and goals and then how focusing on those things can help them make positive decisions. We wrote down 3 guiding questions: 1. Am I breaking a rule or law? 2. Will anyone be hurt (physically or emotionally). 3. Will my parent/teacher be unhappy?  We used a tricky situation to think about how making the best choice for ourselves sometimes means doing something unpopular or difficult.