School Counselor Blog

Are you looking for great iPad apps to utilize with students as a school counselor? Andrea Burston, an Elementary School Counselor in Raleigh, North Carolina and author of jyjoynercounselor , has the spotlight and will be sharing some of her favorite apps she utilizes as a school counselor.   Great iPad Apps for School Counselors by Andrea  J. Burston, Raleigh, NC Blog:  bit.ly/jyjscblog Many of us are now getting and using iPads in our schools.  They certainly make a great addition to our programs!  I now find that I use mine fairly regularly (some days more than others, it just depends on the day).  I'm often asked about which apps that I recommend to school counselors and how they are used.  So here's my list (in no particular order).  Most of these apps are free, however,  for the few apps that I bought, I used an iTunes gift card (put that on your school wish list for next year).  Scribble Press  (f...

It was a pretty awesome sight to see 50+ 4th and 5th grade girls circled up in our school gymnasium for our Diva's Day Out program! To kick off our Diva's Day Out program we spoke to students about relational aggression.  We asked for examples of how girls bully other girls. We received lots of examples, including rolling their eyes, talking behind her back, spreading rumors, not letting her join your group or hang out with you, etc. We explained relational aggression includes ways of being mean or hurtful to someone with by damaging the person's relationships or social status. We talked about different types of bullying (including physical, verbal, emotional, and cyber-bullying) and how relational aggression plays a role. Get Out the Negativity! One of our goals for the day was to help foster positive peer relationships among the girls. We also wanted to do an activity to get out the negativity and reward students for positive interactions. We instructed girls to ...

Life has been crazy for me lately (in a good way!) and I have been trying to play catch up. There are so many things I want to update you on, but I don't know where to start. Diva's Day Out seemed as good of a place to start as any... so... here we go! On May 16th my co-school counselor and I hosted a Diva's Day Out for 4th and 5th grade girls. Diva's Day Out was a big success and girls are still talking about how much fun they had and how awesome it was! Yay! We scheduled Diva's Day Out on a day where we had a half day and received parental permission for the girls to stay after school from 12:30pm - 3:00pm. We had approximately 50 4th and 5th grade Divas in attendance! (Side note we also required all of the girls in our Girls on the Run and Girls on Track programs to participate... more about GOTR later!) During Diva's Day Out students participated in activities focusing on fitness, nutrition, self-esteem, relational aggression, and body image. We mad...

I want to put you in the spotlight! Do you have an innovative idea, creative lesson, or quality resource you want to share with other school counselors? Have you done something to make a positive impact on your students, your school, and yourself? School Counselor Spotlight is a way for you to share your innovative ideas, creative lessons, and quality resources with School Counselor Blog readers! Send your stories, ideas, creative lessons, and/or resources to  danielle@schcounselor.com  with School Counselor Spotlight in the subject line. Please include a description of the idea, lesson, or resource, including costs, inspiration, pictures and how it impacted your students or school! **Photos must be of good quality and unedited.** Chosen ideas and stories will be featured in the School Counselor Spotlight on School Counselor Blog! Comment below,  tweet ,  contact Danielle , or share on the  School Counselor Blog Facebook Page ! Danielle ...

If you know anything about me, you know I love a great deal! This weekend while my husband and I were doing some spring cleaning I stumbled upon text books from graduate school and my undergraduate studies. I decided to list them on Half.com because they have been taking up precious space and were not being used. That's when I discovered Instant Sale on Half.com ! It has been awhile since I bought or sold a text book and I must tell you I was pretty excited when I found out I could i nstantly sell books back on Half.com . I was so excited to find out that my books were actually still worth something. One of them was worth $20! Shocking! When selling your book through Instant Sale , you have the option of getting a half.com gift card (with a bonus 15%) or PayPal funds as payment. Another perk is that is FREE to ship your books to Half.com. Once you get a price for your book you get a printable shipping label to mail your book. Using Half.com Instant Sale was quick, e...

I have a new post on  Free Spirit Publishing's Blog !  Check out my post about making school more meaningful for disengaged students: Engaging the Disengaged Student .  I started blogging for  Free Spirit Publishing's Blog  in April of 2012! I love  Free Spirit's books  and I am so excited to contribute to  Free Spirit's Blog , "a springboard of ideas for teachers, counselors, and anyone who cares about kids!" Comment below,  tweet ,  contact Danielle , or share on the  School Counselor Blog Facebook Page ! Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger at  School Counselor Blog , a place where school counselors share innovative ideas,  creative lesson plans,  and quality resources. Connect with Danielle via  email ,  Twitter , Pinterest ,  LinkedIn ,  Google+ , and become a fan of the  School Counselor Blog Facebook Page .

When I give new school counselors gifts, I want them to be fun and functional! I want to give them something they will actually use in their work as a new school counselor or school counseling intern. Last year, I gave my school counseling intern a gift of a portable sand tray .  Instead of just giving her a container of sand I wanted to make a gift "basket" of things she could use to get her started as a school counselor. In addition to a storage container and sand  (see the  portable sand tray  post for more details) I used colorful tissue paper to wrap some fun items she could use. First up, BUBBLES! :)  What school counselor doesn't love bubbles .  There are so many ways school counselors can utilize bubbles in sessions with students! Squishy Ball! I got this Squishy Ball at the Target dollar spot (have I mentioned how much I LOVE the Target dollar spot?!).  Balls like this are great for students to fidget with when they are ...