There is a lot of "NEW" in my school this year, which is not a bad thing. In fact, it's pretty exciting! We have ALL new administrators, some new teachers, new schedules and roles....most importantly, not being the "testing coordinator" due to the Safe Schools Act that was passed by the NC Legislature in July (thank you!). I am now teaching specials to Kindergarten for 45 minutes each day, but I think it will be a great opportunity to have built-in classroom guidance for a grade level that can really use a lot of proactive instruction on character traits, social skills, work habits, etc.With all the changes, I have found that a larger chunk of my time has been spent welcoming in the new. Our theme chosen by my principal for the school year is "ALOHA" - welcoming the new while also acknowledging that it is sad to say goodbye to the old. You can see my co-counselor and I embraced our Hawaiian theme the first workday- what fun!
We also have been embracing the new and trying to be welcoming ambassadors for our school. Here are some examples:
Welcoming New Staff
Check out these cards we gave to our new teachers!
We also created a bulletin board to introduce our new staff (our mascot is the STARS) to students, parents, and colleagues. We are going to use the map in the middle for new student groups and place stars where our new students are from....incorporating a little Social Studies!
We couldn't forget to welcome our parents and students at Open House and remind them how school counselors can help during the school year. I love the bobbleheads!
Also, I can't wait to pass out some of these fun sticky notes to my colleagues this year. They are from Knock Knock Stuff, and even if you can't find these exact ones, there are some similar ones here. Being in a positive school environment is so important to me, and I want to do my part to make someone else's day!
What are you doing to welcome new staff members or students? I would love to hear!
Happy Counseling! ~ Angela
No comments:
Post a Comment