Counselor Pages

October's counseling lesson for Kindergarten focused on the importance of listening. Students first listened to the story Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein and discussed why it is important to listen to our teacher. Our classroom activity had students complete a coloring sheet that was lead by the teacher. The students had to listen to the instructions or otherwise their picture would not look like Ms.K's. Feel free to use this activity at home to improve your students listening skills! All you need is a coloring sheet then give direct instructions on what your student should color and what color to use.

Picture Source

First grade discussed trying our best this month. Students talked about what our best effort looks like and how others can tell we are trying our best. We also mentioned why it is important to try our best-so we can grow our brains! Students then played a game where they had to decide what example was giving no, little, good, or best effort. Practice this at home by asking your student how much effort they give to certain tasks. Encourage them to try their best and give the best effort they can give.

Second grade talked about major versus minor situations this month. Major situations are something we need a grown up to help us with while minor situations we can solve on our own. Major situations are dangerous and need to be handled ASAP like someone getting hurt. Minor situations we can offer help or not get involved with like not being able to sit next to our friend on the bus. Feel free to continue this conversation at home by identifying situations as major versus minor and explaining how we need to react to each one.

We discussed how to be assertive in bully situations for our October lesson in third grade. First, we learned that bullies are someone that says something mean, hurtful, or embarrassing repeatedly and on purpose. We also have never done anything to this person so a bully situation is one sided. Once we have figured out we have a bully situation, we can now figure out how to respond. Students learned three ways we can respond: passive, assertive, or aggressive. If we respond passively then the bully may continue to do unkind things. If we respond aggressively then we are being just as hurtful as the bully and it can make the problem worse. If we respond assertively (standing tall and speaking in a confident tone) and tell them to stop then it can help the situation. Students also discussed how if this does not help the situation then they need to tell an adult right away. If you are interested in additional resources to discuss bullying with your student, please click here.

For this month, fourth grade talked about what bullying is in their counseling lesson. Bullying is someone saying something mean, hurtful, or embarrassing repeatedly and on purpose. We also have never done anything to this person so a bully situation is one sided. Students discussed how bullying makes others feel and why someone may be a bully. We also mentioned how we can solve a bullying situation: by telling them to stop and going to tell an adult if they continue. Students ended the lesson by going over examples to determine if they are bullying situations or not (because sometimes people can be rude or mean without being a bully). If you are interested in additional resources to discuss bullying with your student, please click here.

Fifth grade discussed the difference between conflict and bullying this month during their counseling lesson. Bullying is someone saying something mean, hurtful, or embarrassing repeatedly and on purpose. We also have never done anything to this person so a bully situation is one sided. Conflict is when both people have done or said mean, hurtful, or embarrassing things. Conflicts can also happen from disagreements and when someone says something on accident. Students got to choose a "pick your own adventure" story for us to discuss examples of bullying and conflict. Students figured out ways to solve the situations like telling them to stop and telling an adult if it's bullying and talking it out if it's conflict. If you are interested in additional resources to discuss bullying with your student, please click here.