School Counselor Blog

It may seem like a small gesture, but writing notes to students can make a big impact. This year I am making it my goal to write notes to students when they go above and beyond to applaud their effort. I am also including one of our Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) tickets with the card. Some examples of things I have written notes to students for recently, include: Assisting with 6th grade Move Up Day Assisting with New Student Orientation Providing a tour to a new student and helping the student feel welcome Sharing experience as a previously new student to help a new student feel less alone in their experience Helping another student in class Cleaning up the cafeteria after lunch - when no one asked Below are some pictures of notes I shared on Instagram ( @sch_counselor ). I love finding fun, student-friendly, note cards to give to student. The Target Bullseye's Playground has had some great ones lately. More @target "thank you" ...

I wanted to share another activity that goes along with the welcoming new students theme. All students who are new to my district participate in a new student orientation. They are given a tour and do some icebreaker activities. I wanted to plan a check-in activity for students after they had been at the for month to see how their school year was going so far and if they had any questions now that the school year was up and running. I scheduled three meetings during students study hall period, which is about 40 minutes long. I scheduled a separate check-in for each grade level. I invited all students in the grade who started new to the district since the beginning of the school year. At the check-in, I had students first take a New Student Survey . You can view the survey and the questions I asked here . I created the survey using Google Forms. Since my school is a 1:1 ChromeBook school, students were able to take the survey online.  I used the results to see how students ...