Counselor's Corner

Happy Fall! 🍂

The beginning of the 2024-2025 school year is off to a great start! This year our school counseling program will continue to expand and help all students be successful socially and emotionally in their classrooms. We have many awesome things in store and we want to make sure you stay connected. There will be a Counselor Corner Newsletter once a month to keep you updated!

This month during Mascot time, the school counseling program will be continuing to focus on emotion management. Please feel free to contact us any time throughout the school year if we can be of any service!

Alisha Tharpe

alisha.tharpe@edmondschools.net

(405) 726-4236

PreK-2nd Grade Counselor

Krystal Williams

krystal.williams@edmondschools.net

(405) 726-4203

3rd-5th Grade Counselor

Dear Caregivers,

Ms. Tharpe will be delivering the ROAR Curriculum from The Care Center to all Kindergarten-2nd grade students during Mascot time. A flyer providing parents with additional information has already been sent home. Thank you for your support as we work together as a school family in ensuring the safety of all of our kids!

Red Ribbon Week is one week dedicated to focusing on the importance of having healthy habits at home and school! Each day we will promote a different way to take care of our minds and bodies. During our Mascot time, we will be doing a variety of activities to engage students in the idea of living a healthy lifestyle. In addition to school wide events, students can wear spirit clothing during the week😊

Across the nation, schools have seen an increase in negative student behavior as a result of popular social media apps or influencers. We want to encourage students to be safe, responsible, and positive digital citizens.

Here are a few ways to help make sure your child is safe online:

• Know the usernames/passwords of sites your children use.
• Do unscheduled phone (or other device) checks and click on all apps.
• Set a "screen time curfew" for all electronics to shut down.
• Require your children to store their electronics in the guardian's room at night.
• Adjust privacy settings and parental controls.

As students become more technologically advanced, many different issues arise. Here are some additional web sites that you can refer to when discussing digital safety with your child.

http://www.safekids.com

https://www.missingkids.org/NetSmartz

October was first declared as National Bullying Prevention Month in 2006. Since then, October has been a time to acknowledge that bullying has devastating effects on children and families such as school avoidance, loss of self-esteem, increased anxiety, and depression. During the month of October, we will be talking with students during Rascal time on how to recognize, report, and refuse bullying! When we all work together, we can help create safe schools, communities, and online spaces where everyone feels respected and valued for who they are. Here is a great website with further information about bullying:

https://www.cfchildren.org/resources/bullying-prevention-resources/

How does a student see the counselor?

• Self referral
• Teacher referral
• Parent referral
• Administrative referral