New and Shiny

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!

Welcoming Our Parents and Students



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

Design On A Dime: Part 2

I wanted to give a quick update on my office project.  I had SO MANY of you pin my decorating post so I thought you might like to see how my wall frames turned out. I'm pretty excited! I even did a "mock up" frame so I could see how it would look with the clips and examples of student work.  I can decide once I get in my office if a portrait or landscape orientation will work best.  Check it out..................

Also, I picked up a great office decor item from the Target $1 SPOT the other day - a chalkboard wall decal in the shape of a thought/speech bubble.  Not only is it going to be a great tool for individual counseling, it will also look fantastic in my space. I plan on using it to practice starting conversations, SELF-TALK, and reframing cognitions with students.  I can just picture a student crossing out the negative thoughts they may be having about academics, friends, etc., and rewriting a positive thought on another bubble....love it!  AND love the price!   

With only a week before my work days start, these are the ideas that get me REALLY excited about returning to school and my students. 

Happy Counseling!  ~ Angela