Enemy Pie

Third Grade Guidance

Enemy Pie

Today for third grade guidance, we discussed the importance of friendship and the ingredients of being a great friend!

For this lesson, I used “Enemy Pie” by Derek Munson.

Available on Amazon

This story is super cute and relatable for the kids! It is about a boy having a great summer until a new boy moves into the neighborhood. The new boy Jeremy seems to create a great deal of trouble for our main character. The boy’s father gives him the recipe for his well-known “Enemy Pie”. While the father whips up his famous Enemy Pie, the boys decides Jeremy is no longer his best enemy, but a great friend.

After reading the story, we discussed how easy it could be to make a best enemy and not a best friend. We also discussed different characteristics we would want in a friend, including honesty, caring, fun to play with, etc.

I then gave the students their own recipe sheet for a friendship. I found this activity sheet on Pinterest, which then led me to a great blog called A Year of Many Firsts 

Link to blog: http://www.ayearofmanyfirsts.com/

There are many other different lessons and resources-great blog!

After the students made their own “Friendship Pie Recipe”, they were able to discuss with each other and create their own Friendship Pie.

Image found on Google.

Overall, I loved doing this lesson with the third graders. The book was not only funny and silly, it kept the students interested and had a great message for friendship!

Here are some of the friendship pies created in today’s lesson: 

First Grade Guidance

First Grade Guidance

The Crayon Box That Talked

Because I loved the crayon activity with the kindergarten, I wanted to find a way to make it age appropriate for first grade as well. I love the message students get from reading "The Crayon Box That Talked" mainly because there are several different messages kids can get it out of it. Whether it is kindness, tolerance, or finding beauty in being unique, I love the different messages that can be told from reading "The Crayon Box That Talked". 

With first grade, I used the book to teach tolerance and appreciating our own and others' uniqueness. 

I started the lesson by reading "Crayon Box That Talked"

As we read the book, I asked questions along the way. Questions including:

• Does it sound like our crayons are getting along?
• Why might they not be getting along?
• Did they begin to work together?
• What happened when they crayons worked together?

After the story, we continued to discuss questions like:

• Are we like the crayons in the story?
• What happens when we don't get along like the crayons?
• Is it okay to be different like the crayons?
• What would it be like if we could only use 1 color from our crayon box?
• What happens when we get along even though we are different? 

I must say, I was REALLY impressed by the first graders with this lesson. They did a fabulous job of telling me how it's okay to be unique and different and how working together makes things "way more fun". 

I then gave the students a writing and drawing activity sheet. I found a great set of writing activities from TPT at The Bubbly Blonde Store. 

Link to store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Bubbly-Blonde

The activity sheet has a place for them to draw a picture of themselves with a writing prompt "I am SPECIAL..."

Again, the first graders did an excellent job with this activity! They wrote great examples of what makes them unique and special just like the crayons from the story. 

Monster Manners

Monster Manners

Third and Fourth Grade

Last week I did a fun lesson on appropriate behavior. It is called Monster Manners. I found this lesson FREE on TPT at the Growing Kinders store. 

Link to store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Growing-Kinders

I began this lesson by reading "The Day The Monster Came To School"

It is a cute story about a monster coming to school and basically behaving like a monster! The kids found the story funny and liked the overall message.

After reading the story, I asked questions like:

• What kind of behaviors did we see the monster do?
• Was the monster a Super Star student?
• How could the monster become a Super Star student?

At this particular job site, students strive to be on Super Star behavior. After reading the story, we discussed the differences between Monster Manners and Super Star Manners. 

With the Monster Manners lesson, there are monster cards showing monster behaviors (blurting, interrupting, yelling, etc.) and appropriate behaviors (sharing, kind words, keeping hands to yourself, etc). I just printed the document, cut out monsters, glued to construction paper, and laminated. 

 I had the students come up and sort the different behaviors into Monster Manners and Super Star Manners. I really enjoyed this part of the lesson because it allows the students to be interactive with the lesson and decide on their own what they think is appropriate vs. inappropriate behaviors. 

For third grade, I gave them a monster from our lesson to color and asked them to describe a monster manner and a Super Star manner their monster could do at school.

Monster clipart from: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com

For the fourth grade, I gave them a sheet that asks them to draw a picture of themselves making good choices at school. (This sheet came with the Monster Manners Lesson). 

Overall, I enjoyed doing this lesson as my first lesson with the 3rd and 4th grade. Not only was it fun and interactive, it also showed the students my expectations for them at school and when I'm in the classroom. 

It also served as a great way for classroom management with the students. From now on they will know when I say "Monster Manners" they are displaying unexpected behaviors and have a chance to get back on track without having to stop the entire class to correct behavior. 

Here are the finished projects for 3rd and 4th grade Monster Manners!

Drug Dog Demonstration for Red Ribbon Week

Red Ribbon Week

Drug Dog Demonstration

As a part of Red Ribbon Week, we scheduled for the Memphis Police Dept. to come out with their dogs and have an informative and interesting demonstration for the students. Unfortunately, they were called out on duty during Red Ribbon Week.

Today they were able to come out and have a great demonstration for our K-8th grade students. 

Three Memphis police officers came in with two of their best dogs, Max and Gizmo. These dogs are trained to recognize drugs and bombs. These dogs are also trained to track and take down a suspect. 

The officers and dogs demonstrated what happens when the dogs pick up a scent on a subject. The officer demonstrated by putting the "bite arm" on and basically allowing the dog to do his thing. 

The kids asked great and fun questions! Some included:

• What do you feed your dog?
• Does the dog go home with you?
• How old are the dogs?
• Do the dogs retire?
• How long does it take to train the dogs?

Overall, the kids loved seeing the two dogs in action and the officers did a great job on informing the students on the dangers of drugs/alcohol. 

Here are some pictures of the dogs in action:

Counselor Passes

Counselor Passes

During the school day, students may need to come see the school counselor when feeling overwhelmed, angry, or upset. At one of my job sites, teachers expressed having students that need breaks sometimes when they get overwhelmed with their feelings. 

To ensure students can have a "time out" during the day if needed, I wanted to find something easy and quick for the teachers to use to let their students know they may need a "cool down" session with the counselor. 

While looking around on TeachersPayTeachers (https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/) I found these great Counselor Passes. They include Lunch Bunch Passes, I Feel...Passes, I Tried Passes..., and more. I thought these would work perfectly for the students and teachers! 

The set of passes were $3.00 from the Social Emotional Workshop Store on TeachersPayTeachers

Link to store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Social-Emotional-Workshop

After purchasing, I received a PDF file to download and print. Once you buy, you can print as many passes as you would like from the file. 

My plan is to print a set of the passes for each teacher. Then I want to laminate them that way teachers can write the student name in dry erase and re-use the passes throughout the year. 

Here are some of the passes included in the PDF file:

I'm really excited to implement these passes and hope my goal of making things easier for the teachers and students will be a success! 

Students with Anxiety

Students with Anxiety 

As counselors, everyday is different and every student is different-including their range of struggles and difficulties. We do come into contact with those students who struggle with anxiety and stress. 

I recently began using a great resource called "What to Do When You Worry Too Much" by Dawn Huebner, Ph.D. 

Available on Amazon

The book is 80 pages long and includes various stories students can relate to, different useful strategies for dealing with anxiety, and worksheets that I have found to be very helpful so far. 

I like this book because, as you can see on the cover, it does a great job of relating stress to growing tomatoes. (Sounds odd at first, I know). However, this book describes growing a tomato plant by watering it and making sure it gets plenty of sunlight. Basically showing that if you give attention to your plant, it will grow big and strong. 

It uses the same analogy for worries and anxiety. If you keep giving so much attention to your worries like you do your tomato plant, your worries will grow big and strong. 

Not only did I like the analogy, I also love the activity worksheets included. What I have been doing is making a packet of different worksheets to complete as we go along with the book. These worksheets include: 

• Draw something you worry about
• Circle the words that describe how you feel when you are worried
• Put an X on the parts of your body that hurt when you feel worried
• Write down one of your worries
• What can you say or do to help yourself feel less worried?

It also gives great strategies like creating a worry box and a time in the day to discuss their worries. I have the student close their eyes and imagine the strongest box they can think of. I then discuss that this box has one purpose-to carry their worries until worry time. Worry Time is a strategy from the book. Students are allowed 15 minutes a day to discuss their worries. If it is not Worry Time, they lock their worries in the box until it is time to discuss.

So far this book has been super helpful for me when working with students who struggle with anxiety. Again, I find the analogies used in the book easy for students to relate to and understandable for the students. I love the different strategies and the worksheets included to go along with the book. Like I mentioned earlier, every student is different and that's why I like this book. It doesn't give a "one size fits all" strategy list and allows the students (and me) to do the whole trial and error process to see which strategy will work best. 

I look forward to continuing my work with this book and aiding my students who struggle with worrying and anxiety.

Here are some examples of the worksheets in "What to Do When You Worry Too Much"

Bucket Fillers and Bucket Dippers

Second Grade Guidance

Bucket Fillers and Bucket Dippers

Going along with the kindness and respect theme, I decided to discuss being bucket fillers and being bucket dippers with the second grade. 

First, I read the book "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" By Carol McCloud

Available on Amazon 

After reading the book, I asked the students:

• What did we learn about buckets today?
• How can we be bucket fillers?
• How do we feel when we fill a bucket?
• How do others feel when we fill a bucket?
• How can we be bucket dippers?
• How do we feel when we dip from a bucket?
• How do others feel when we dip?

I then passed out an activity sheet with two buckets labeled bucket filler and bucket dipper. I asked the students to draw or write words that show how to be a bucket filler and how to be a bucket dipper. 

Bucket activity sheets found at: 

http://justreed-ashley.blogspot.com/2013/06/what-ive-been-up-to.html

On the back of this sheet was a "contract" to be a bucket filler. It says "I promise to be a bucket filler" then the kids sign and date their "bucket filler contract"

I found using this contract really allows the students to take ownership for their actions and being bucket fillers or bucket dippers. Having them decide to sign the "contract" really puts the responsibility on them to become the best bucket fillers they can be. 

Bucket contract found at: 

http://funforfirst.blogspot.com/search/label/bucket%20filling

Some of the finished projects:

Overall, the second graders really enjoyed learning how to be bucket fillers! 

*We ended up having a couple of extra minutes so I invited some students up to the front of the room to role play being bucket fillers. They really loved being able to showcase their bucket filling skills in front of the class. Next time I will make sure to leave some extra time for role playing! 

Pinterest

My Pinterest Page

In case you were wondering, I LOVE Pinterest. 

Not only does it give me great ideas on cooking, decorating, etc., it also has great ideas for school counseling. Topics I have found using Pinterest range from college counseling, elementary guidance lesson, fun posters to decorate my office, bulletin board decor, and much more!

I wanted to share my Pinterest page as a way to find inspiration for school counseling! 

You can also find my boards on decor, clean eating, being healthy, etc. 

Hope you find some great inspiring pins!

My Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/rlkating/

Staying Organized

Staying Organized 

As school counselors, we all know staying organized can be tricky when everyday is different. 

As I am getting in the routine at two new schools, it is critical for me to stay organized when juggling two different job sites. 

I am job sharing at one school with another counselor. She has a great sheet I am beginning to use to keep my day organized and neat. It sorts out the duties into:

• Guidance Lessons
• Students to See
• Phone Calls 
• Other

I also started doing observations for several classrooms between my new job sites. I have started to use my Observation Notes sheet. Just another way to stay organized and have clean, neat notes. 

And of course, my handy calendar planner to keep me up to date going back and forth between job sites. 

Wrinkled Heart Lesson

Wrinkled Heart Guidance Lesson

4th and 5th Grade

My goal with this guidance lesson was to teach students how unkind and disrespectful words can hurt others. During grad school, I did a group project with this lesson and fell in love with the message it sent to students. 

For this lesson, I passed out blank hearts to students and instructed them to color/decorate/draw in the heart however they would like. I told them that this heart was a representation of their own heart.

I think told them that when you're in 4th/5th grade (depending on which grade), many things happen each day. Some good, some not-so-good. The not-so-good things can really hurt our heart. 

I went on to say "As I read the story of our 4th/5th grade friend, there are some not-so-good things that happen to our friend. Every time something not-so-good happens, tear a piece of the heart". (I also tell them to actually tear it, not little tears).

Of course the kids starting FREAKING OUT! They had just spent good hard time making their hearts look exactly how they wanted to, so they were NOT happy. I told them to trust me when I say everything will be okay. 

I went on and read the story and watched the kids (sadly) tear their hearts every time something not-so-good happened to our friend. 

Once I read the story, I think asked the students:

• How does your heart look now?
• Who can tell me how to put the heart back together?
• What are some things we can do to make sure we don't tear our friends hearts?
• I told students that saying hurtful and mean things is very hard to undo and sometimes you can never put the heart back together to look the same. 

After we discussed, I passed out construction paper and instructed the kids to glue/tape their heart back together as best as they could. Of course, most of them couldn't glue their hearts back together to look the same. I used some examples of those hearts as visuals for the kids. 

We discussed that no matter how hard you may try to put a heart back together, sometimes it is simply impossible-that hurtful, mean, and disrespectful words damages a heart beyond repair. 

I ended the lesson with telling the students to keep their hearts as a reminder for when they get upset/mad/sad with a friend to remember that hurtful words can't be taken back and can tear someone's heart. 

The link for the story I used for the activity is included in a Tolerance lesson I found at: http://www.mmsa.info/sites/default/files/downloads/pages/Tolerance.pdf

Here are some pictures from my 4th grade class:

Whooo's The School Counselor? Bulletin Board

I recently began working in a jubilee school in Memphis, TN two days a week. The school did not have a counselor when I came in and I wasn't sure if the students knew exactly what a school counselor does, reasons they come see me, or how I can help them. I realized I had a great bulletin board outside my office worth utilizing because my office is on the busy hallway of 5th and 6th grade. 

When looking for ideas on Pinterest for school counseling bulletin boards, I came across a super cute bulletin board titled "Whooo's The School Counselor?" with great owl artwork. The Pinterest link lead me to www.teacherspayteachers.com 
(If you are unaware of this AMAZING resource, please go take a look!) The great store of The Savvy School Counselor has this bulletin board, along with other GREAT resources for FREE (yes, you read that correctly!) and very affordable resources for purchase. 

My finished bulletin board: 

Link to Savvy School Counselor Page: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Savvy-School-Counselor