Hello 2015....Let's Pay it Forward!

                               *Picture from RandomActsofKindness.org

Happy 2015!  I reflected on 2014 in my blog post here  and am waiting as I type this post to hear about my RAMP results via email some time tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

I have also been thinking a lot about the notion of "Paying It Forward."  As school counselors, we probably spread a lot of kindness around during the holidays with angel trees, canned food drives, backpack buddy programs, and coat drives among other activities. School counselors are naturally what Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) enthusiasts would call #RAKTVITISTS (There is a Twitter hashtag!). 

Today I am proudly jumping on the #Raktivist bandwagon.  At the beginning of the school year I decided I wanted to participate in Random Acts of Kindness Week to help my students think beyond themselves.  After looking at the school calendar, I realized Random Acts of Kindness Week was scheduled for the week after National School Counseling Week.  How perfect! I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate our profession than combining those two weeks. So, at my school, National School Counseling Week and Random Acts of Kindness Week will both be celebrated February 2nd-6th.  Our theme is Kindness Counts.

Next week, I will be sharing the schoolwide, invididual, and counselor activities that my co-counselor and I plan to incorporate into this kindness-spreading week at my school.  For ideas until then, visit the Random Acts of Kindness website, a truly great resource!  Pinterest also has a ton of ideas to offer, and the RAK foundation has their own set of Pinterest boards here.

In closing this post I am offering YOU, my readers, a random act of kindness. My most-pinned picture in 2014 was probably my college pennant bulletin board above.  If you click on the picture below, you will be taken a Google doc I created with all of the schools and email addresses I contacted to request the free materials that allowed me to create this beautiful bulletin board. I hope that this resource will save you time and give you the motivation needed to cross one item off of your "to do" list for 2015.

                Enjoy and Happy Counseling!   ~  Angela

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ocVeUdOmE5LmGt5D_p5yORLRHdQ1_BJ-PusMa0hoSgw/edit?usp=sharing

Holiday Cheer-meister!

                                                 Image from Agirlandhergluegun.com

There are 10 more school days before Christmas break.  For some, those 80 hours of work time may feel like 80,000 hours as the anticipation of two glorious weeks (or more) looms in the future.  I like to add a little holiday cheer at this time of year to give staff something to look forward to each day.

Last year, my principal graciously agreed to purchase a school elf for us.  We christened her "STAR" and had a fun time finding her each day.  You may remember some of these pics.......



    This year, STAR arrived in camouflage clothes    in  preparation for some serious hide and seek.  I've tried to add props and have a few pieces of candy for the first couple of staff members who find her each day. 









I also started a festive door decorating chain that I hope will spread to lots of teachers before we leave for break.  I "SNOWED" a couple of teachers who are then supposed to pick someone to SNOW themselves. The snowflakes get passed along unless the teacher wants to make new ones, but the sign stays on their door to remind them they are loved.  Easy but FUN!

You can find the SNOWED template with instructions as a FREEBIE at my TPT store.


Another day of fun will come this Friday as the staff celebrates National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day.  Yes, apparently it is a real holiday.  Who knew??!!

I hope you all are enjoying the weeks leading up to winter break. Remember, you find the fun and SNAP, the job's a game!

 Happy Counseling! ~ Angela

*Image from CraftBrewery24.com

Coffee with the Counselors: School Counseling PR

*Image from School Counselor Connection

Well, it is now October, and the image above might perfectly express how you are feeling now that the hustle and bustle of the year has really started.  Or, maybe you are still perfectly in control.  I saw a picture of a school counselor's desk the other day that made me laugh because it reminded me I need to clean my own! Between the pre/post surveys, DUKE TIP applications, lesson plans, behavior referrals, my own "to do" list, and small group permission slips, there is not a lot of empty space where I can work.  However, cleaning is low on my priority list when I think of all the other direct service activities I want to get done while kids are in the building.

Teachers are feeling the same way, so  I decided to try out an idea I had heard about from another school counselor this year- a meet and greet time with teachers to discuss student concerns.  My co-counselor, Nicole, and I  named our event "Coffee with the Counselors." It seemed like a great way to connect with my classroom teachers and get information on student referrals now that they have worked with their classes for over a month.  Nicole, made this lovely invitation...she's awesome!

We decided to have half of the grade levels come in the morning before school started since we were offering Dunkin' Doughnuts coffee, juice, water, and goodies to eat.  The other half of the grade levels have planning before lunch so we invited them for the first 20 minutes of their planning time (this invitation went to that group).

I set out a binder that had a page for each grade level so they (or I) could write down student names, concerns, and any other notes that would be helpful when discussing student referrals. It ended up being a pretty successful event, although the grade levels who came during planning had better attendance than those who were scheduled before school (we will schedule it on a different morning next year, NOT Monday!).  All of these positive interactions with staff help promote the school counseling program, and I will definitely try this again next year!

I have also been working on school counseling PR in other ways.  This past week, I presented to the elementary school principals about the ASCA National Model along with my fantastic school counselor colleague Amanda Allen.  It was a great experience, and we will do two more rounds as we present to middle school and high school principals over the next two weeks.  Also, I am scheduled to present my 2014-2015 school goals to my staff next Wednesday and have created a Prezi to organize my thoughts. You may remember I did the same thing last year and talked about it in my blog post here.

Finally, I have been helping to organize the school counselors in my PLC as we work on taking the next steps to RAMP and completing more ASCA paperwork this year.  We will be completing the annual calendar, Closing the Gap Action Plans, Smart Goal Worksheets, and Management Agreement as our minimum documentation for 2014-2015, and I could not be more excited!  We had a kick-off event for professional development, and I was able to present the following PowerPoint presentation to my colleagues. I also had the pleasure of presenting this same information to my Harnett County colleagues last week to promote the National Model.  I hope this presentation will be helpful to my blogger friends as well.  Make sure to check out the hyperlinks within the presentation to see how I collect some of my data and share it with my stakeholders throughout the year.  There are also links to the ASCA templates for National Model documentation.

                     Enjoy and  Happy Counseling! ~ Angela

Off to the Races.....

Here's to another school year!  We are "Off to the Races" at my elementary school with a Kentucky Derby theme this year. Each August we receive our principal's welcome back letter that gives our surprise theme, and I was really excited to see that we were doing a horse racing theme. Luckily, I already had a hat to wear to our opening meeting, and we had a great time dressing up!  Check out my friend Maggie (left) and me (right) below.  I also love a BACK TO SCHOOL SALE and am offering a sale tomorrow at my TPT store. If there's something you've had your eye on, now's the time to grab it up!

After the derby festivities, I had to get focused and start prioritizing because there are so many things to do!  My list has gone something like this:
1.  Organize my office
2.  Welcome and introduce myself to new staff members
3.  Get prepared for county professional development for school counselors
4.  Get prepared for "Meet the Teacher"

I already mentioned I was planning on creating a tree in my office in my last post here.  I focused on that for part of the optional workday last Friday, and I could not be more pleased with how it turned out, especially since I was kind of winging it with my design.  

I hot glued brown bulletin board paper to my wall for the trunk and added the tree hollow.  Then, I twisted up the same bulletin board paper to create the branches.  The leaves were created in different shades of green with my trusty Silhouette die-cut machine, and I hung two paper lanterns I found on clearance at Target to give it a whimsical feel.  Then, I used my die-cut machine for "The Giving Tree" letters. I can't wait for the kids to see it!  

I also put up my Big Deal Problem Scale numbers that I use for perspective-taking activities with my students who tend to catastrophize (more info at my TPT store here).  We will attach problem situations to the clothespin line above the numbers as we brainstorm coping skills. 

With those changes and a new paper cover on my table, I think my office is ready to go for now!

I also wanted to welcome and introduce myself to the new staff, particularly the classroom teachers who I will be working with closely as I help students.  I found these cute tags on Pinterest (go figure!) and printed them on white cardstock.  Then, I attached them to hand soap from Michael's (about $0.85 each after the teacher discount).  I taped a brief list of things I can help them with this year on the front:  Classroom guidance, small group referrals, RtI, parent conferences, behavior contracts, etc., and asked them to post it near their computer so they will have my phone extension and can call me. We have a large group of new teachers this year, and I have a new part time co-counselor so there will be a lot of time spent helping create a positive school culture and building relationships with our new Cleveland Stars.

I am presenting at county staff development tomorrow and can't wait to have our whole group together in one place.  I believe we have a great vision for our PLC this year as we plan to implement more components of the ASCA National Model.  In support of this goal, I will be presenting on the ABCs of the ASCA National Model and will give an overview of the next steps we plan to take as elementary school counselors. More details to come in a future post....

Finally, I was able to spruce up the main hallway and complete the FOUR (yes, FOUR!) bulletin boards I am responsible for during the year.  In keeping with the race theme, I updated my character board where character trait award nominees will be recognized each month. Check out the jumping gates! Each grade level's picture  will go above them. 

You may remember my map from the College Madness post.  This time, I am using it to post stars on the places our new students have moved from after I meet with them in new student groups. I may also list their names or take their picture, depending on how many new students we have. 
  
Next, I wanted to introduce my new co-counselor and continued my tradition of caricatures by turning us into "horse jockeys" as students are reminded of how school counselors can help them during the year! I don't think there's anything more entertaining than seeing your teachers, TAs, school counselors, administrators, etc. as bobbleheads! Kids love them!

Last, I am already preparing for my goal-setting lessons in September and my Career and College month in October and made a "Goals, Grades, Graduation...Go For It!" college pinwheel bulletin board. I'll give more details on how I did it later but wanted to share my pic for now.

As you can see, I have been B.U.S.Y. but having fun! I can't wait to see all my students at Meet the Teacher on Thursday.  I hope each of you has a fantastic start to the school year (if you haven't started already)!                
                     Happy Counseling! ~ Angela

School's Out for Summer........

AAAHHHHHH.....the first day of summer vacation!  That time when all your summer days are lined up in front of you waiting for adventures, relaxation, fun, and checklists filled with all the things you wanted to do during the school year but didn't have time to do!  It's fun to daydream about all the things you can pack in before the days start whizzing by.  I have a couple of "must do's" that I will share later in the summer, but I wanted to reflect on a couple of fun events from the last days of school.

I was able to get into the fifth grade classrooms following our EOGs to deliver my middle school transition lessons.  You may remember reading about those last year here.  They went really well again, and I added a memory mural activity at one of the centers.  I later posted it during the fifth grade dance so kids could see what their classmates had written. Check it out....

I also wanted to end the year with some positive recognition for our staff who worked SO hard this year amid changes in administration and new district initiatives.  One of our kindergarten teachers had done end of year awards at another school so we used that as a starting point for our first annual Cleveland ES staff awards.  There were eleven categories:  Leadership, MVP, Olympian, Fashion Plate, Mystery, Wild and Wacky, Unforgettable, Jester, Extra Special, Great Ideas, and Star Quality. I created a PowerPoint and made award "props" that will be passed on each year to the next recipient as we continue this tradition.  Luckily, there were lots of ties for first place and honorable mentions were given to all so everyone was included! Here are a few pics of our happy award winners with their certificates and prizes (mine is the Wild and Wacky award with the blue wig :)--go figure!).  

Our last bonding experience of the year was creating our very own "kick off to summer"  video inspired by other teachers' summer videos on YouTube (see our creation below).  It was an awesome way to de-stress and get some fun back after the slammed schedule of EOGs, awards days, graduation, and the end of the year pack-up.  I certainly hope all of you are HAPPY  about summer break and hope to hear from you!                          Enjoy and Happy Counseling! ~ Angela