School Counselor Blog

Emily was one of the first school counselors to be featured in the School Counselor Spotlight with her Kindness Garden Bulletin Board .  Emily shared another creative and affordable idea promoting kindness. Emily wrote: My Kindness Garden Bulletin Board  was a previous spotlight of yours, but I did something different in my new school this year that I thought you would enjoy. I have switched schools and districts, and now I split my time between an Early Learning Center (Kindergarten) and Primary Center (Grades 1-2). My lesson plan for the first half of this year has been focusing on teaching pro-social behaviors. I began the year by reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today? at the Primary Center and Fill a Bucket: A Guide to Daily Happiness for the Young Child  (both by Carol McCloud) with the Early Learning Center classes. This lead to different lessons with each grade level, focusing on quality compliments with 2nd grade. Our culminating activity in 2...

It was difficult to pick my 11 favorite posts of 2011 considering I wrote 108 posts this year, not counting this post! 2011 was a pretty great year. I had the opportunity to present at the  ASCA conference in Seattle, WA , started School Counselor Tweet Chats , hosted lots of giveaways , made video posts , and much more! I have enjoyed connecting with you in 2011 and can't wait to see what is in store for 2012! Below I outlined 11 of my favorite posts and why they made the list. Serving Up Career Standards Through Community Involvement One of my biggest accomplishments of the 2010-2011 school year was starting Career Cafe at my school.  It has been an amazing ride since implementing it.  Students are so excited to learn about careers first-hand from people in their community.  I am learning so much from the speakers too! Career Cafe  is one of my favorite programs I implement as a school counselor. Many School Counselor Blog readers have emailed me...

If you have been shopping recently it is probably not a news flash that the start of school is just around the corner.  It most stores summer items are now on sale. Now is the perfect time to get some items that will make a splash in your school counseling office in the fall and all year round! Pool Noodle When you think of a pool noodle you probably think of a fun way to float around a pool, not school counseling.  I was inspired by seeing an occupational therapist use a pool noodle to make stress relievers.  Creating stress relievers out of a pool noodle is an easy and very affordable way to provide students a way of reducing anxiety and/or fidgeting. Stress relievers are also a great tactile item for students who have anger outbursts. How to video:  How to Make Stress Relievers Using a Pool Noodle Sand Sand is enjoyable and relaxing at the beach and in your school counseling office!  Every since my friend Shelly made me a portable s...

I love all of the different bucket-filling books that exist. I recently used bucket-filling books in the self-esteem group I co-facilitate with my intern. This activity teaches students how to give quality compliments and creates a bucket-filling extravaganza!  Bucket-filling books and supplies Bucket-Filling Books For this activity, I read  Have You Filled a Bucket Today?  by Carol McCloud to students and briefly showed them other examples of how buckets could be filled or emptied from  How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids  by Tom Rath and Growing Up with a Bucket Full of Happiness: Three Rules for a Happier Life  by Carol McCloud. All of the bucket-filling books are great at explaining bucket-filling and how buckets can be filled or emptied. (Side note:  How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids  by Tom Rath and  Growing Up with a Bucket Full of Happiness: Three Rules for a Happier Life  by Carol McCloud were received through a...

After hearing so many good things about "bucket filling" books I had to try them out for myself.  I recently got "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" and "Fill a Bucket: A Guide to Daily Happiness for the Young Child" .  About "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" The concept of "bucket filling" in "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" is quite simple.  Everyone has an invisible bucket with them at all times. When our bucket is full we feel happy, when our bucket is empty we feel pretty bad. "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" explains many specific ways to fill a bucket and many specific ways a bucket can be emptied. Our invisible bucket can be filled by kindness and caring or emptied by negativity and meanness. One of the ways a bucket can be emptied is by "bucket dippers." "Bucket dippers" are bullies who try to empty other people's buckets in an attempt to fill their own. What "bucket dipp...

I informed all of the fifth grade teachers that I would like to facilitate guidance lessons in their classrooms. I asked the teachers what their main concerns or problems were so that I could facilitate a lesson based on their needs. The first request I received was for a lesson on responsibility and good character. I utilized the responsibility lesson  I found on the Character Counts website.   Character Counts has lots of free lessons and activities for download. Although the lesson says that it is for students ages six to nine, I tailored the lesson for the fifth graders I was working with.  The lesson includes words and definitions. I printed the words in orange and the definitions in white. I cut out the words and definitions so that the students could choose them out of a cloth bucket. Once each student picked a word or definition out of the bucket, I instructed the students to read their word or definition. When they finished reading, I instructed...