Happy End of the Year!

Whew! We made it! We waved our kids goodbye as they loaded buses on Friday. Just a couple of post planning days stand in the way of full-blown summer enjoyment! 

In honor of this, I'm having a sale in my TPT store! Everything is 15% off today and tomorrow!

Thinking ahead to next year, does anyone have any great plans or ideas they'd like to share?

End of the Year Sale!

I cannot believe the school year is winding down (at 100 mph!)! In honor of this joyous occasion, I am throwing a sale on TPT today and tomorrow. They are having a teacher appreciation sale, so there will be an extra percentage off for a total of 28% off when you use the code: THANKYOU17.



I hope you all have a wonderful end of the year!

Year End Conflict Resolution

I don't know about you, but my students have a much harder time getting along as the year end approaches. In light of this, I've planned to do conflict resolution lessons this month!

I'm using a really cute story with my K-3 students called, A Bug and a Wish by Karen Scheuer. In this story, one little boy learns how to use the phrase "It BUGS me when you ___________, I WISH you would ____________." I talk with my students after reading the book about the importance to talking to others when there is a problem vs. letting the problem stew and get worse. Sometimes people don't realize they've upset them, or that what they do bothers them. That's why they have to talk about it! We go through several examples of problems they may have with others and put it into the phrase above. After I feel they've got it, they get a coloring page or a small bookmark to color with a lady bug on it.


For my older ones, I'm doing a similar lesson, but they are learning about "I messages," which I like to think of as more grown up version of "A Bug and a Wish." In the PowerPoint you can find on my TPT store, there are three videos from the Olive Branch where to cartoon characters have a conflict. We talk about how they resolved to conflict and what other options they could have tried. We also practice using I messages, which are elaborated on in the PowerPoint. My older students have a HUGE problem talking to each other about problems. They'd rather let it simmer and explode later, or talk to everyone else not involved. I've been working with several about changing that and I'm hoping these lessons help reinforce the importance of talking to each other to all of them!

What lessons and materials do you use for conflict resolution? I'd love to hear some new ideas!

Motivating Students Lesson

State testing is right around the corner. Am I the only one with students who check out after spring break?!? 
Due to this checking out coupled with upcoming testing, this month's lessons focus on being motivated and setting goals! This lesson goes hand in hand with last month's lesson on careers, which I refer to often in these lessons (especially my 4th-6th graders).

For my K-1 students, I do a lesson and activity much like I did last year. See here.

For 2-3 We talk about setting SMART goals and go through several examples. This does go over several of their heads, but I believe it's important for them to at least hear it even if the understanding comes later. Many of them do catch on and do well!

For my older ones, we do the same thing, learn about and practice setting SMART goals. But before we do that, I try to motivate them to not give up and to work hard. I use a power point that has several people that had to work very hard to get where they are. These are people who failed or faced obstacles. There's a few they all know and some they don't. We talk about how it is okay to fail, but not to give up. Many of my students will have to work hard to have a better life, so I want to expose them to people who made it.

The powerpoint for older students and all the SMART goal sheets I use are available in my TPT store. There is also a discounted bundle with both!

Career/Job Lessons

I started a new round of lessons recently. This round the topic is careers! In Georgia, we have certain lessons on career clusters that are required each year. Our teachers teach these, so I've been unsure of what to do for a career lesson that won't interfere with the state mandated lessons.
I decided to focus on their jobs right now, coming to school and doing their best. We talk a little about different types of careers, but the focus is on what they are learning right now will help them get to be whatever they decide they want to be.

For my youngest ones, I read When I Grow Up by Al Yankovic. In this book, Billy is telling his class all about ALL the things he wants to be when he grows up, which is a lot of things. It is a really cute book and my students love it. I allow them to color a picture with what they want to be when they grow up.

For my 2nd and 3rd graders, I also read the book and we play career bingo. They love it! I got my bingo boards from here. She has another version too that I have not used yet, which you can get here. 

For my older students, 4th-6th, I want them to start connecting education to standard of living, so we do a lesson on careers and money. Each student get a randomly assigned job that is paired with the level of education needed. The more education you have, the more money you earn. I included some trade school jobs to emphasize that not all students may go to college, but some sort of continuing education will be needed. They they get to choose what they want in the form of bills. Do they want an apartment or a house? Do they want to have a nice cable package or internet or a cell phone? Would they like to go out to eat a lot? What about going to a movie or a concert once in a while? It really helps them see that luxuries aren't something those without a diploma often get to have. I've included a few snippets from the lesson below. 

Click here to get an editable version of the Careers and Money lesson, and here for a non-editable version (that's a couple of dollars cheaper!). The lesson includes the worksheets, the power point, and the job cards!

What tools do you use for career lessons? What activities do your students love?

NSCW 2017

Last week was a very crazy week for this counselor, but I did celebrate National School Counseling Week! First, I hung posters up in the hall for the week with reminders of what a school counselor does and what I can help with.
I also wanted to do something fun and special for the staff of my school. They are wonderful and very supportive of my work. I saw this on Pinterest and fell in love with the idea!

My teachers are very competitive with each other, so this was perfect for them. They really got into it and I had several guesses written down. For a prize, I donated a bottle of hand sanitizer to the winner for their room/area that was filled with legos. You can never have enough hand sanitizer, especially with all the sickness going around right now!

All of my activities and posters were Lego themed, and were centered around the image below. I found this image online and it is not any creation of my own and I do not own any rights to it. I printed this image out and put it on the hand sanitizer bottle one of my teachers won! 

TPT SALE!

Good news! There's a sitewide sale on TPT starting tomorrow. It will run Feb. 7-8, 2017. You can get up to 28% off any participating store's product.

Creative Counsel is participating, so head on over to check out sale prices starting tomorrow!

Welcome Back to Lessons!

After a glorious 12 weeks at home with my new bundle of joy, I am back at work and getting back into the swing of things! Of course I have a mound of work to get caught up on, but this week I resume lessons. 

This month we are focusing on bullying and being bucket fillers as a way to combat bullying. I love the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today?! 

I begin each lesson by discussing the difference between a mean kid and bully. I tell them bullies are mean every single day for weeks, not just once or twice. I tell them bullies are big deals that we need help with. I also tell them they can try to solve problems with mean kids first (because it still upsets us when someone is mean only one time) by telling them to stop or playing elsewhere. 

Then I begin to tell them that a great way to stop bullies and mean kids a like is to be a bucket filler. We read the book and then do a developmentally appropriate activity based on grade. I do this with ALL my students K-6!
See this post for our bucket filling adventures from last year. And visit my TPT store to get a copy of the activity sheets I use for each level.

What other lessons work well with combating bullying? What do you use at your school?