Empathy: Stand In My Shoes

In first grade we have been talking about kindness and how when we do kind things for others, we leave "heartprints" behind. In continuing with these lessons we started to about empathy. Empathy is such an important character trait that allows us to help others. We started by reading "Stand in My Shoes" by Bob Sorenson. In this book we met Emily, a young girl that is learning about empathy. Throughout her day she tries to "put herself in other people's shoes". She learns that this means to think of how that person might feel and then think about what she can do to help. After that we looked at 3 pairs of shoes and we learned about what the people that are wearing them are experiencing. Here are the three people that that the students learned about:

Jill- A second grader that gets bullied on the bus for what she wears, and she always sits alone.

Mrs. Jones-A teacher that has to move her supplies to another classroom each day to teach and her hands are always fill and she is in a rush.

Joey- A first grader who never gets picked for soccer and always swings by himself during recess.

After we talked about these three scenarios the students then picked one and made an empathy comic strip. They decided how that person was feeling, what they could do to help, and how they would feel after having empathy for someone in need. Here is a link to the document I created in Comic Life

Update!

Well, it's been some time since I have posted on here and I want to share why. I have been struggling with who my audience exactly was for this blog. I was using this blog to share ideas with other counselors and parents at my school. As you can imagine, it became difficult to decide what to share and how to share it because I was writing to two different audiences. To help solve this problem I have started a new blog for my school community. You can visit that site here. I plan to continue to use Cool School Counseling to share with other school counselors. Blogging is such a great way to share ideas and I want to continue to do so. I will try to update this blog with resources and ideas for other school counselors. I am really excited about this change and I can't wait to get back to blogging and sharing great resources!

Visit from Henley!

Yesterday, our fifth graders had a very exciting meeting with the Principal, School Counselor, and current sixth graders from Henley Middle School. They all came to talk to our fifth graders about preparing for the transition to middle school. This is always a fun presentation because our students have so many questions and are feeling so excited and nervous at the same time. What is extra special about the presentation is that they bring current sixth graders that were fifth graders at Crozet last year. Our current fifth graders remember them and the sixth graders share how they were feeling in the same meeting last year. They also talk about the most popular topics; lockers, dressing out for gym, difficulty of coursework, getting to class on time, and the most exciting news for students- pizza is a choice for lunch everyday!! It is great for our students to get a realistic perspective from students that were recently in the same spot that they are now.

Former CES student talking to fifth graders
about to what to expect in middle school.

Dr. McLaughlin, the Principal of Henley, introduces himself and asks fun trivia questions about Henley. He tosses out HMS car magnets to those that answer correctly. You would think he was throwing out cash based on their excitement. During this time they also have the opportunity to meet their new School Counselor. She talked with them about course selection and other things to expect in middle school. She will begin working with them in sixth grade and follow them thorough their three years at Henley. The visit was great for our students and they are so excited to visit Henley in April!

Character Counts Week!

Next week we will be celebrating the pillar of Trustworthiness! During the week students will be able to win fun prizes like cookie decorating after school, lunch in the library with friends, a walk to Dairy Queen with the principal, and much more! They can win these prizes by earning tickets for being trustworthy. They then enter their tickets to win the prizes they are interested in. All of the prizes are intended to be fun and build relationships with adults in the school building. We will have announcements all week sharing examples of Trustworthiness. We will wear BLUE on Friday to show our Character Counts school spirit. Friday night is also our annual Sock Hop so it should be a fun week! We will also be celebrating National No Name Calling Week! I will share more about this later. Be sure to check back soon for details on that celebration!

First Grade Fun

I do guidance lessons in first grade all year and I love it! We are now starting one of my favorite units! This week I have introduced all of my first grade friends to Paying Attention P. Revere Penguin. He travels all the way from Antarctica to teach us about good work habits. Together we learn about the importance of working quietly, staying on task, always trying your best, and being ready to listen. Through fun games and activities students learn how to practice these skills and why they are important. Our penguin is named after Paul Revere, and towards the end of our unit we learn about him and how those skills were so important for him and what he accomplished. Each week I take a cd that has a message from P. Revere Penguin himself about what we will be learning about that day. I also ordered a 2 foot tall emperor penguin that I take with me to classes. The kids adore him! I have second graders that come to my office to visit him because they remember him from first grade. If you are a counselor interested in bringing P. Revere Penguin to your school you can find more information here. If you are a parent of a first grader be sure to ask them about our penguin friend!

Made It Monday: Sand Tray!

Happy 2013!! I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing break! Today was our first day back and I am glad to get back in to my routine. I love sleeping in, but I must admit, I was ready to get back to work!

I wish I could take credit for this "Made It Monday: Sand Tray" post, but I can't. I wasn't able to make it, but I did find the plans and ask someone to make it ;) I am blessed to have a wonderful fiancé, Jesse, who can build or fix anything! I found the original plans here and I knew I had to have one in my office. My old sand tray was in a small rubbermaid container that slid under the futon. It wasn't a bad set up, but it made it hard to access and it was pretty heavy to move around my office. My new one fits perfectly against the wall! I gave Jesse the plans from the website and a rubbermaid container that I scored for free. Based on the dimensions of the tub and his style of work, he crafted me this lovely table. It was given to me primed and ready to go. I painted it during the end of winter break and couldn't wait to get it in my office. The tools and toys that I have in it need to be replaced because they were inherited and are not in the best shape. I also want to add a set of people that don't have to be shared with the dollhouse. I am so excited about this wonderful new addition to my office!

Have a wonderful week :)