Creative Elementary School Counselor

Idioms!

2017-07-29T11:49:00.002-04:00

At summer camp I am always trying to come up new ideas that are fun (because it is summer after all) and will continue to teach the students something new. I wanted to work on idioms with the upper elementary school group of kids because it is slowly becoming a lost art form! For 3 days straight we read an idiom book, the Parts series by Tedd Arnold are one of my favorite! The books are: Parts, More Parts and Even More Parts.

After we read a book each day we played my Idiom Game. This is a card game that I created many years ago, it isn't perfect and there are plenty of others that can be added but it is a great starting point. To play the game I would say an idiom out loud and the first person that could accurately describe the idiom got the card and in the end the student with the most cards wins. Unfortunately, what the assistants and I quickly learned is the students didn't really know any of the idioms! We were constantly describing and acting out idioms to help them understand. So, my Idiom Dictionary by Scholastic came in handy every once in a while when we couldn't figure out enough ways to describe something for them to understand.

At the end of each 30 minute group each day I would ask the students to pick an idiom in the pile of earned Idiom Game cards that they could remember and put that card on top. The next day I would say the top card idiom out loud to have the students get their decks of cards back. After the 3 days of Parts idiom books and playing the card game the kids were finally getting it! WOOHOO!

The next step of idioms wasn't originally planned but I wanted to do another extension activity to really help them understand some idioms a little bit more. So I had each student pick 2 idioms that they truly knew the meaning of and then folded 2 pieces of white paper in half for each of them. On one side of the paper the students were going to draw the literal meaning of the words in the idiom and on the other side of the paper students were instructed to draw the actual meaning of the idiom. For instance, for the idiom Catching Some Z's the literal side would have a person catching a bunch of the letter Z in their hands and the other side would have the person sleeping. I gave the students 3 days to work on their drawings. Some students took more time because they were really enjoying the illustration aspect of this activity! Below is an example of some of the students' art work, they did such a great job! I made a color copy of their artwork and laminated it so I can hang them up next school year.

The Idiom Game card game is now a free resource on my TpT store! As I mentioned before the card game isn't perfect but it works and I added a page of blank cards for your to add your own additions. I hope you find it useful!

Book Giveaway!

2017-07-25T05:00:00.000-04:00

I am so happy to announce my first book giveaway of Mrs. Joyce Gives the Best High-Fives by Erainna Winnett! Below is her guest post and at the very bottom is how to entry to win one of five signed copies! The giveaway runs from Tuesday, July 25th until Monday, July 31st. What a great resource to have in your hands to start of the next school year!

First, thank you so much for having me as a guest blogger, I am honored to share my story with your readers. I've been in education for the past twenty-two years. After fifteen years in the classroom, I felt a calling for something more - a deeper way to connect with and help children, which is how I discovered school counseling.

I moved from classroom teacher to school counselor in 2011 and absolutely fell in love. However, I soon discovered there weren’t a lot of up-to-date resources available for school counselors. After hearing me gripe about it for months my husband finally told me to write my own resources. Isn’t it nice to have someone who knows what you need before you do?

And so, I began researching self-publishing and taught myself the basics of publishing a book. To be honest, there were some costly mistakes: the cover for Mrs. Joyce Gives the Best High-Fives was redesigned five times—YIKES—before I found one that I felt was ‘right’. Most students didn’t even know their school had a counselor, much less how one could help them.

The first week of school during my second year as a counselor I went into every classroom and read the Mrs. Joyce book. The children loved it and I received many thank-yous from teachers. Needless to say, the following week my office was constantly busy.

I continued listening to my students and knew that I needed to write other books to address individual needs. This launched me into the Helping Kids Heals therapeutic activity book set. I’m thrilled with how well all of these books have been received. Just last week, I woke up to an email from Ireland requesting copies of my books. Who would have ever thought a small-town Texas counselor-author could reach professionals across the ocean?

As educators, counselors are often the least familiar to parents, students and sometimes teachers. I hope my efforts have offered you some tools and helped you appreciate the power of your roles in our children’s lives. And I invite you to continue to add to our community. I wish you luck in the giveaway and hope you are having a relaxing, restful summer. All the best and Happy Counseling.
- Erainna

Click here for Free Activity Sheets to use with Mrs. Joyce Gives the Best High Fives

To enter for a chance to win 1 of 5 signed copies:

Leave a comment on my blog about your favorite beginning of the school year activity.
Tag a fellow school counselor or educator on my Facebook page post about the giveaway to help let others know.

For each of the above your name will be entered in the drawing and I will randomly select 5 winners at the end. So if you comment on my blog post and tag a fellow school counselor or educator your name will be entered twice!

Animal Prints!

2017-07-22T10:39:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I noticed that VistaPrint.com was having their huge 50% off sale, this is when I order my What You Say In Here, Stays In Here banner each year. Therefore, I needed to get working on creating my banner and other items! My theme for the upcoming school year is Zebra Print and Polka Dots from Teacher Created Resources.

I found an amazing artist, PrettyGrafik, that had some great animal print graphics that I could use with my polka dots. So far I have made my What You Say in Here, Stays in Here confidentiality banner and my Where is the Counselor? door sign. The zebra prints are totally out of my comfort zone, but I think I am liking them so far!

This week I will be working on the rest of my items - bin labels, binder covers, etc. and will post all of them on TpT once they are done. TpT also came out with a cool new 'Custom Category' option so last night I sat down and categorized all my products to make it much more user friendly!

I then went to town with all of the other animal prints I now had at my disposal thanks to PrettyGrafik and made this cool animal print Where is the Classroom sign for one of my co-workers!

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Hello Summer!

2017-06-20T14:52:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was our last day of school, so today is officially my first day of summer! Although I have already been peaking at catalogs and at websites for some inspiration as to how I want to decorate my office next school year! Then I realized that I never got around to posting pictures of my office this past school year, once the school year starts I get so busy and don't post too much on my blog (Sorry!). On my TpT site, if you search Color Me Bright you can find all the different items I have available to purchase. Below is a glimpse into my office. I purchased my Color Me Bright borders at my local teacher store (Lakeshore Learning) and Staples however, you can also purchase many items directly through Carson-Dellosa.

Doorway into my office. I LOVE the character sign that I found!

Entry into my office

I found the red "dots" on Amazon and use them to write the recess times and lunch times for the four grade levels. They are peel and stick and dry erase so they are perfect! One of my friends puts them around the round table in her 4th grade classroom and the kids do their math work on them during small group.

I have a slight problem coordinating everything, whoops!

My UR Bulletin Board is available on TpT, it makes for a quick and easy bulletin board. My students look at it frequently for different ways to describe things. The quote printouts are from Technology Rocks Seriously.

I label all my bins too, but it helps keep me organized. This year I took it to a whole new level and even labels all the bins within my cabinet, we will just have to talk about that another time!

I find this sign (What you Say in Her, Stays in Here) so helpful each year. It helps remind students about their confidentiality while they are talking to me. The coloring pages of great quotes are from Doodle Art Alley, students color them with me sometimes as we talk. My filing cabinet is now full of them as the year progressed!

Around School ...

2016-09-20T22:10:00.000-04:00

This year I let some of my creative juices flow outside of my office and helped some of my fellow teachers at my school create some items for their classrooms and offices.

One of the 3rd grade teachers was inspired by a fellow 3rd grade teacher to distribute and display her classroom jobs a little differently this year. So we worked together to create this fun Job Wheel for her class. Each student's name is labeled on the outside of the 14" wheel and each week she turns the wheel to assign new jobs to the students. The job wheel has 21 spots (she has 21 students), I also created a smaller circle with the numbers 1 through 21 listed that could be used as the spinner if you prefer that option.

Job Wheel in Mrs. McFadden's class

I also made a fun Where is the Classroom sign for her class as well to coordinate with her Boho Birds borders.

Where is the Classroom sign on Mrs. McFadden's 3rd grade classroom door

In Miss Binette's class she wanted to make some fun and bright class schedule cards. Miss Binette and I both love color in our room at school! The schedule cards fit in a pocket chart for easy use and storage. Additionally, another teacher was able to use the some cards as her name tags on the desks in her classroom! It turned out to be a great multi-purpose item!

Class Schedule cards in Miss Binette's 4th grade classroom

We also made a Where is the Classroom sign for Miss Binette's door to coordinate with her theme this year, which was Monkey Mischief borders.

Where is the Classroom sign on Miss Binette's door

Mrs. Cochrane has a beach theme in her 5th grade classroom so we created this Where is the Classroom sign to keep the water theme going on her door as well.

Where is the Classroom sign on Mrs. Cochrane's door

Mrs. Fontes, who is our reading specialist decorated her room with a Dr. Seuss theme this year so we created this fun polka-dotted Where is the Specialist sign to help students and staff be able to find her when she wasn't in her classroom.

Mrs. Fonte's sign outside her Developmental Reading classroom

Mrs. Tucceri, who is our Technology Integration Specialist, is also not always in her office so we created this fun Where is the Specialist sign to help staff and students know where she is.

Mrs. Tucceri's sign on her office door

Finally, Miss Moore has a fun animal print theme in her classroom so we created this Where is the Classroom sign for her.

Miss Moore's sign on her 5th grade classroom door

TpT Back to School Sale!

2016-07-31T21:05:00.003-04:00

Teachers Pay Teachers is having their huge back to school sale starting tomorrow! My entire store will be 15% off and if you enter the code BESTYEAR at checkout you will also receive an additional 10% off.

Have fun shopping!

Don't forget I also have a selection of "Where is the Classroom signs!" Please let your classroom teacher friends know!

And my new theme this year is Color Me Bright!

Pin the Tongue on the Josh

2016-07-27T10:41:00.000-04:00

I love all of Julia Cook's books, they are just awesome! I recently read A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue with my upper elementary boys during summer camp. In this book Josh, who is a perpetual tattler, develops a case of Tattle Tongue in which his tongue gets longer and longer and becomes yellow with purple spots! The Tattle Prince teaches him about tattling and reporting and he is soon able to get rid of his Tattle Tongue and make friends at school too!

We then played a game I called "Pin the Tongue on the Josh!". I came up with this idea from a lesson in Youth Light's Classroom Guidance Games called Pin the Face on the Tattle. However, I decided to make it more directly related to the book we all just read. So I copied 2 faces of Josh out of the Bad Case of Tattle Tongue: Activity Book and colored them in. I then hand drew some tongues and colored some in yellow with purple spots and others in pink or red.

For the game I read the situation cards from the Youth Light activity and the students had to decide if the scenario was tattling or reporting and choose the appropriate tongue. I then blindfolded them and spun them around a couple times and they needed to find the appropriate Josh to pin the tongue on. I would always tell them that the tattle tongue is on the left and regular or reporting tongue is on the left.

I also had the students complete this FREE worksheet I found on TpT from Bringing Back MayBerry. The students had to recall a tattling scenario from the book and draw it and then draw a tattling situation that happens in school.

The kids loved this activity so much we did it for 3 group meetings!!! I LOVED it too, such fun and they were still learning about the differences between tattling and reporting.

I Can't Imagine Life Without ...

2016-07-20T11:59:00.003-04:00

I was trying to find a fun get to know you activity for the first day of our summer camp here at school and was lucky enough to stumble across Jenna Smith's blog Musings from the Middle School. She had a writing activity that I easily was able to make into a fun and low key get to know you activity. I drew a cloud like shape in the middle and then rays out from it. In each ray the students (and staff because it was so much fun) wrote or drew the things in life that they can't imagine living with out. It was a great way to see what each kid (and staff member) loves and is important to them.

We then pinned each group's artwork up on my bulletin board and the kids took turns guessing whose was whose based on what they already knew about each other. I then had the kids tell us a little more about what they wrote or drew about.

One suggestion I learned along the way of doing this though is I would have the kids first write their ideas in pencil and then go over them in marker. I originally just used marker but one or two students got frustrated when they made a mistake and couldn't change it.

I'm in Charge of Me!

2016-06-21T22:18:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago my colleague, Carolyn Kelley ran a lunch bunch with some of her lower elementary school students that was great, so I wanted to share it with you! While the children ate she read, The Way I Feel by Janan Cain. This is a lovely book with fun illustrations that introduce children to the array of feelings that can be a part of any day. Feelings are a normal part of life for children as well as adults, and the more we teach our children about emotions, the better they can understand how they are feeling. She had the boys quickly name 5 feelings – they were able to use posters around the room to help if need be…it was interesting to hear the feelings that came out first!

We always tell children that ALL FEELINGS ARE OK. It is what you DO with them that matters. She want them to understand that they are in charge of their feelings and can “make a plan” to flip those negative feelings into positive and find solutions to unhappy situations. First, we have to identify and acknowledge how we are feeling and then, if it is a “negative/unhappy” feeling or situation, we need to have some strategies to help us calm down, feel better and move on.

They briefly reviewed how to “Make a Plan” to move on from a negative situation/thought and then, played a game called Upside Down Frown from Power Play, by Kathy Cooper and Marianne Vandawalker. The children were placed into two teams. One team acted out a negative/unhappy situation and the other team was challenged to come up with a positive solution by changing the unhappy mood to a happy one. If their solution was deemed a “success”, they won the upside down frown and points. The kids had fun video taping their role plays and the game was a hit!

Winter Door Decorations!

2016-01-01T21:52:00.000-05:00

I know this has nothing to do with counseling, but it is creative, I promise! This past month a lot of us at my school decorated our doors for either the winter season or the holidays. I thought I would share some of the amazing creativity by our teachers and assistants in case you are looking for some inspiration!

Here is my Gingerbread themed door!

I got some Pinterest inspiration which I modeled my door after.

My Office

A winter wonderland of snowflakes!

Mrs. Enriquez's room

A Penguin

Mrs. Trombert's classroom door

Our Reading Specialist came up with this awesome winter themed door!

Mrs. Fontes' door

A Polar Bear, I love the hat and scarf!

Miss Binette's classroom door

I LOVE this door, it is actually the one that inspired me to hop on the decorating bandwagon this year!

Miss Fox's class

An Aerial view of a snowman, super creative!

Mrs. Moore's classroom

Let it Snow! Two classrooms came together to create this winter wonderland!

Mrs. Pericles and Mrs. McFadden's classrooms

Frozen!

Mrs. Johnston's classroom door

A cute snowy window scene.

Mrs. Buckner's class door

Anti-Bullying & Friendship Paired Lessons

2015-11-15T21:54:00.001-05:00

In my school district we use the MARC Anti-Bullying Curriculum that was created by Dr. Elizabeth Englander. I have been lucky enough to attend many trainings with her over the years and we have even been so fortunate to have her speak to parents at our school. As part of the curriculum the 5th graders complete paired lessons with the kindergarteners and the 4th graders complete a paired lesson with the 1st graders. These lessons are supposed to happen 3 times a year but because those grade levels are not in the same building in my school district we have been doing the lessons once per a year and all the students really look forward to them each spring and enjoy their time with their younger or older buddy. This year the 5th grade and kindergarten teachers committed to adding a second lesson into the school year this fall! So myself and my fellow (AWESOME) School Adjustment Counselor at the lower elementary school, Carolyn Kelley, worked together to create a paired lesson that was based mainly on friendship skills for the kindergarteners with a little bit of anti-bullying built in. The 5th grade students read one of two books we had purchased to their younger buddy, Lucy and the Bully by Claire Alexander or Don't Call Me Pruneface by Janet Reed Ahern.

After the students read the books together and completed some comprehension questions about the books together we then had a few other fun activities planned for them to work on together. Next, we had each 5th grade and kindergarten pairing work on a Friendship Writing Prompt together. The students really enjoyed this part! Some of the 5th graders even worked on their own as well! The plan is to make a book for each kindergarten class of all their friendship drawings and writings. We found the Friendship Writing Prompt for FREE on TPT!

Thank you Katie Boyd on TPT for this FREE download, it worked wonderfully!

Finally, we had the students work on 2 activities from Spectacular Guidance Activities for Kids. I was lucky enough that Youth Light to send me this resource over the summer and it definitely came in very handy while planning this new MARC Paired Lesson.

The students worked on 2 handouts out of this great resource, the first was "What Do I Say" in which they had to come up with 6 conversation starters they could use when talking to a friend or classmate to help create a good repertoire of conversation questions and statements. This was great because the kids got to color and expand their thinking a little bit about how to start up or maintain a conversation with friends and classmates. Lastly, the students worked on a fun maze "Roadblocks to Friendship" in which the students had to figure out if the posed responses in the friendship situations was helpful or unhelpful to to encourage positive connections with classmates and friends. An example the Kindergarteners had to choose from was 'Talks Too Much' or 'Good Listener' before moving onto the next roadblock.

It was such a wonderful day with the 5th graders and the kindergartners working together. I can't wait to pair everyone up again in the Spring!

Create Your Own Thumb Balls!

2015-10-25T13:50:00.001-04:00

I love using thumb balls during lunch bunches and sometimes students even pick them up during individual sessions while we are talking and use them to fidget with or pick questions they want to answer. This past summer the students in our summer program created their own Thumb Balls during our last week to take home with them to use with their families. I wanted to create Thumb Balls that would help encourage conversation skills so I laid out a bunch of conversation starter questions for the students to choose from. We read all the options to the students and let them choose the 6 they wanted to write on their personal thumb ball.

As you can see the Thumb Balls are actually clearance beach balls from the end of the summer, so they only cost about 75 cents each!

Once all the beach balls had been written on we practiced a round of Thumb Ball with each one of the student's personalized ball so they got to see the game in action one more time and it also had more meaning to them when it was their own questions! It was a simple activity and the students got to take it home with them too, which always creates more excitement with the little ones.

My Office for the 2015-2016 School Year

2015-09-13T22:19:00.001-04:00

The school year is officially underway even though this week will be our first 5 day week! I always like to re-do my office every year with different colors because it helps me start each year off on a fresh start. This year I was inspired by some chalkboard borders that I saw and then I just went with it. I had to figure out how to make a chalkboard look in Photoshop for the different items around my office, so it was nice to learn something new too!

I have 2 bulletin boards in my room that you see right when you walk in the door. I love that I can put some great information up there for students to see and add some color to my office at the same time! I use fabric to back my bulletin boards each year instead of paper.

U R Bulletin Board is available on my TpT store for only $3. Just print the 5 signs in color and the words are all printed in black ink on colored paper. I laminate all my items so they last.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/U-R-Bulletin-Board-Self-Esteem-and-Positive-Affirmations-2063459

These are all signs that are from Technology Rocks Seriously. They were on white background originally but I used my new chalkboard skills on Photoshop to keep with my theme. I like how it makes them pop!

This is my Where is the Counselor Sign for this year. This item is also available on my TpT store. I put this sign on my door every year so staff and students know where they can find me. Sometimes I forget to change it, but the kids are so good about changing it! If I am sitting in my office they will joke and say "you aren't visiting a classroom anymore!"

View from the doorway. The storage cubes are from Target when the have their back to school/college items. I always pick them up once they go on clearance, just bought one this weekend for $11! The rug is from Wal-Mart.

I love this saying! Character: It's how you live life when no one is looking. I also make the curtains for my office every year.

This is the student area in my office. I have such a hard time picking which posters to use each year, there are so many great ones out there!

Above the whiteboard I post my confidentiality sign every year, it serves as a friendly reminder to students that what they say in here is private unless they are stating they are going to hurt themselves or someone else.

A closer look at the bin labels on my book shelves. Not only does it help the students locate different items but it helps keep everything neat and organized! The bin labels are also available on my TpT store.

Another view of the same area. My cabinet has The Top 10 Essentials on it this year. Just another great way to pass along tips to the kids, they love looking around and use the signs and posters to help them describe and discuss.

I use borders around my whiteboard and other large posters in my room to help them stand out.

This is my desk area, this is the cleanest it will ever be! :)

Under the Sea Me Mobile

2015-08-16T21:03:00.000-04:00

Another activity that I did this past summer with one of my groups of boys entering second through third grade was a self-esteem activity based off of a previous lesson that I blogged about last year (Self-Esteem Me Mobiles). I wanted to tweak the activity to be a little more 'boy friendly' as well as incorporate a little summer flare to it as well. So I chose to use a wave and sea animals instead of the clouds, hot air balloons and rainbows in the original version. I just googled different animal images (sea turtle, jelly fish, whale, dolphin, sea horse, star fish, crab and nemo clown fish) on google images with the settings of drawing and kids to find all of these images (sea turtle example). The ocean wave I drew myself based off of a colored version I found online that I really liked, but you could easily just find a black and white coloring version to use too! Some kids could do all the cutting on their own, others needed some help and one or two needed a lot more assistance with the cutting as some of the animals were quite intricate with lots of legs! I had a slightly diverse group of kids abilities, but you can easily base your chosen sea animals based off of the skill level of your kids if you want them to be able to do all the cutting themselves.

As for the words that are written on each animal I followed the same questions as I used previously however, I also added a couple extras such as name something you are really good at and name your favorite game or activity.

The boys seemed to really enjoy the activity and were really excited to bring home their finished products!

Monsters!

2015-08-03T12:22:00.002-04:00

So this summer I had 2 groups of boys entering Kindergarten through 1st grade at summer camp/school. I try to keep it fun over the summer with the different groups! We did an entire unit related to MONSTERS with different activities that I found. The first activity went great with the students and it was FREE from Teachers Pay Teachers seller Growing-Kinders. The activity is called Monster Fun! Teaching Manners and Expectations and the kids absolutely loved it!

I broke the activities up over a few days. The first day I had the kids sort out together if the monster manners were Above the Line, Below the Line or Bottom Line choices and each kid would bring one up to my intern who acted as Vanna White to pin them up. The kids wanted to come up with some of their own to so I used the blank monsters that were provided to add even more to our Monster Manners collection! We also did the Whole Body Listening activity one day that was also provided and the students then drew their own monster Making a Good Choices at School. Like I said, the kids LOVED all the monster activities!

Another day we played the game Angry Monster Machine. The kids (sometimes with adult help) used play-doh to make a monster with the mold from the game. They then had to demonstrate different ways to handle their anger by following a prompt and demonstrating by turning their play-doh monster into something else. For instance, turning your monster into a musical instrument because turning on some music is a strategy for calming yourself down when angry.

Finally, we ended our monster theme by reading Glad Monster, Sad Monster by Ed Emberley together. One group made different monster masks with a paper plate craft I found on MakingLearningFun.com, they could choose from all the different monsters (glad, sad, mad, silly, scary, loving and worried). This was a really cute activity and the kids loved it, but it was a lot of cutting out of intricate shapes so I only ended up doing it with one of the two groups.

With the other group I did a slightly different activity, also found on MakingLearningFun.com. We used the coloring pages and each student picked a different monster and colored them. Some students wanted to use the exact colors of the monster from Glad Monster, Sad Monster while others wanted to make their monster uniquely their own creation. Either way the kids loved the monster activities! One boy even asked me today if we were doing more monster activities, even though we finished up 2 weeks ago!!

It is amazing all the different resources you can find online if you just spend a little time searching! Thanks everyone for sharing all the great ideas and resources!

Board Games ... Part 2

2015-07-09T16:24:00.003-04:00

I pulled out this game last week during the first week of summer school because it is one of my 'go to' board games with kids for social skills. It is called What Do You Say ... What Do You Do ... At School? by Super Duper and I used it with a group that ranged from students entering grades 1 through 6 (talk about a white range!!). They also have a Community version which I use with my students as well, but I definitely use the school version more often! There is also a Home version but I haven't used it before.

During the game, the students roll the colored die to go through all the different areas of school. There are classrooms, a lunchroom, school offices (including nurse and counseling offices), specials (art, gym, music, computers, library and resource room) as well as around school locations like the hallway, auditorium, bus/walker lines and of course the playground!

Students will go to the school locations and answer a question related to where they are in school and earn a colored chip when the answer the questions cards correctly. The goal is to collect all of the colors to win the game, the tricky part is students may roll on a color more than once so they may end up going to a school location more than once. This helps students deal with not always winning and to be flexible when things don't go their way. I like this game because of the variety of questions (390 to be exact!) that are actually realistic scenarios that students actually encounter in their daily lives. In addition, the kids really enjoy choosing which location to go to (believe me the love to go to the bathroom and answer those questions!)

The price of the game is $54.95 from the Super Duper. Although this may seem expensive at first, I do think it is the going price for quality counseling games and I personally think this one is worth the money because you will use it often.

This is the Community version of the game that I played with a group this summer.

Board Games ... Part 1

2015-03-01T16:34:00.001-05:00

So I know board games are not the most creative thing in the world for me to blog about, but let's be honest kids love them so I use them at school frequently to teach different skills! So I thought I would do a mini-series of blog posts about some of my favorite board games that I use with students. I would just like to preface this with a side-note that as with everything I and you use in your office things need to be modified and adapted to fit your needs, nothing is perfect! I am not reviewing these board games in any particular order, instead I chose Blunders because I just played it on Friday afternoon at school!

Current version of the game

Blunders is a board game about manners and is based on the family the Blunder's, Billy, Brenda, Bobby and Becky Blunder to be specific! I assign each student a member of the Blunder family as their playing piece (there is a little booklet in the game that tells you some background on each of the 4 kids, as well as their age) and ask them to find start. As the students travel through the game board I pose them with questions from 3 different categories: Home, Dine and Play depending on the spot they land on. The questions are either multiple choice, scenario or charades. I sometimes give the multiple choice options to my students depending on whether or not I think they could answer the question on their own. I do tend to always share the multiple choice options afterwards though because there tends to always be one option that is very funny/off the wall that makes the students laugh!

The Dine cards sometimes use some of the Table Setting Cards (fork, spoon, knife, main course plate, glass, etc.) to help teach students proper manners for setting the table. Although, this is not something they need to do in school I think it is always helpful to expose students to it because let's be honest it is not something we always use on a regular basis these days. Don't worry they provide an example of a 'proper' table setting for you to refer to in case you forget some of the answers too!

I think the most helpful part of this game are the charade questions because the students need to act out the situations they are provided. Some of the ones that stand out in my mind are answering the door at home and greeting someone and answering the phone at home when/if mom or dad is not available (in the shower I think is the example on the card). Although these may seem very basic to you I find they are not and that is why these 2 stand out in my mind because students tend to struggle with some of these concepts! It is always most helpful and interesting when students need to act something out instead of verbally just telling you an answer!

This is an older version of the game board that I own and use. Purple spaces are Dine questions, Orange are Home questions and Green are Play questions.

According to the Patch Products website the board game focuses on the following:

Table Manners
Host and Guest Skills
Confident Introductions
Respect and Kindness
Telephone Manners
School Etiquette
Electronic Etiquette (this is not in my version, but once again I have an older version of this game. I think this is a great addition though!)
Honesty and Responsibility

One of the best parts about this game is the price!! It retails for $24.99 and I have even seen it as low as $19.99; but either way that is so much lower than many of the other games that I use in my office that are easily $50.

Happy National School Counselor Week!

2015-02-02T08:30:00.001-05:00

I would like to take a moment to wish all of the school counselors a Happy National School Counselor Week! Up here in Massachusetts we actually have a snow day today (looks like another foot on top of the 2-3 feet we got last week!), but what is everyone else doing to celebrate National School Counseling Week at your schools? Is it a big event at your school or is it something that you just mention to your fellow school counselors?

Self-Esteem Self Portaits

2014-10-25T10:00:00.005-04:00

I tend to run a lot of girls groups or self-esteem groups throughout the school year. I generally try to gear the groups towards the girls interest, so if they are into art, drawing or coloring I always do my Self-Portrait activity. This lesson comes from the book Girls in Real Life Situations (G.I.R.L.S.) Grades K-5 that also comes with a CD for the printables.

During this activity I tell the girls we are going to make a self-portrait, but we are not actually going to draw ourselves. Instead, we are going to draw all the things that make us who we are such as your favorite things, your interests, your personality - everything that makes you YOU! This activity generally takes 2-3 group meetings. During the first group time I brainstorm with each girl individually, although the others generally help by sharing positive attributes about each other. Once the girls have a list of things they are gong to draw I get out the colored pencils, markers and crayons and let the girls go at it!

As you can see from mine, I drew the sports logos for my local sports teams because I am a huge sports fan. I also drew the beach down at the bottom because that is where I like to spend time reading during the summer. I drew a paint palette because I like to paint, do arts and crafts and design. I also drew a school (well attempted to at least!) and an ear for being a good listener. I drew a smiling face because I love to laugh and interact with people, a person running and some shoes. I tell the girls that I would prefer if they use as little words as possible when creating their masterpiece.

Once the girls are done I mount their Self-Portraits on construction paper and I have them present their drawing to the other group members. I like to have them explain the background or importance of each one of their symbols or drawings.

This activity also works for boys, but I find it is usually one of the girls favorites. I have done this lesson with girls in grades 3 through 6, however it will also work for students in other grade levels.

My Office for the 2014 - 2015 School Year!

2014-08-30T14:09:00.001-04:00

That feeling you get when your room is finally finished and ready for the first day of school is priceless! After spending many days at school getting my room set-up and catching up with other teachers around the school doing the same I am ready for the first day of school on Tuesday!

I change up the color scheme in my office every year, it sort of gives me a fresh start each year! This year I used the Black, White & Bold border collection as my theme. Below are some pictures from my office and a bit of information if you are looking for similar items. I would love to see pictures of your offices too! Please post them on my Facebook page so everyone can get lots of inspiration!

View from the hallway

My Where is the Counselor sign is available on my TpT store in many different colors and both chevron and polka dot options. The kids love changing the arrow when they come and go and it is also extremely helpful so others know where I am when I am not in my office (which is often!).

As You Walk in My Office

I bought a chevron rug to add some color when you walk and and made yellow and white polka dot curtains as well! I like to keep storage ottomans in front of my desk for extra seating and storage.

Student Table Area

The signs on the storage cabinet are free printables students can color from Doodle Art Alley. The confidentiality sign above the whiteboard is available on my TpT store in many different colors and designs.

Student Supply Area

I have all sorts of supplies and items to use with students. I put most things in labeled bins so items are easily found. Some of the essentials that I keep on the top shelf are: tissues, pencil sharpener, worry stones, Find It!, Get to Know You Jenga, Totika, Mind Jars, lunch bunch essentials (Purel, Lysol wipes, forks, spoons, knives and napkins), white paper and coloring sheets and my Popsicle Sentences and What's Bugging You Jars. I also have a lot of games and activities from Super Duper and ChildWork ChildPlay. And of course I have a large bin full of different thumb balls that use in lunch bunches and small groups.

Bulletin Boards

These 2 bulletin boards are across from the student tables. My BE Bulletin board was inspired by a fellow school counselor last year. The other is full of FREE printables from one of my favorite non-counselor blogs - Technology Rocks. Seriously.

My Desk Area

An item that I have that is a little bit different is a Scentsy warmer, it uses wax cubes and a light-bulb and it provides some yummy scents throughout the school day. All those lunch bunches and different food items can get a little smelly after awhile and it helps to just make my office more inviting!

Where Is The Classroom door sign

2014-08-20T13:05:00.001-04:00

I have created teacher versions of my 'Where is the Counselor' sign - so now they are 'Where is the Classroom' signs!! Just like school counselors teachers and their students are not always in their rooms either; sometimes they are at specials, in the cafeteria or outside learning. These classroom door signs enable teachers to let other teachers and students find their class throughout the building.
As always, if you need different locations on for your sign please just let me know ahead of time and I will create a sign for you to purchase and download from TpT.

Where is the classroom? sign

Today only TpT is having a Back to School sale, so if you enter the code BOOST at checkout you can save an additional 10%!

Counseling in Session

2014-08-14T10:55:00.002-04:00

I created some 8.5" x 11" signs that say "Counseling In Session" that you can hang on your door to let students and staff know when you are not available. The signs are only $2.00 on my Teachers pay Teachers store. I suggest laminating it after printing so it lasts for many years.
I created them to go with many of the colors schemes already available on TpT, but as always if you need something specific for your office, just let me know and I will create something for you!

Enjoy your last few days of summer!!

Back to School

2014-08-03T22:01:00.001-04:00

Teachers Pay Teachers is having their yearly back to school sale Monday, August 4th through Tuesday, August 5th! My entire TpT store will by 15% off and if you enter code 'BTS14' you will save an additional 10%!!

I don't know about you guys but one of the things I enjoy doing each summer is figuring out what my 'theme' for my office is going to be. I like to change it up every year to start off on a fresh foot. It is definitely more for me than the kids, I just enjoy it! So .... my new theme is going to revolve around the borders I bought in the 'Black, White and Bold' by Carson-Dellrosa collection. I will post pictures in the fall so you can see how it all turned out. I would love to see pictures of your offices too, please post pictures on my Facebook page to help everyone get their creative juices flowing!

Below are items I just created for my office that are now available to purchase on my TpT Store. Just clicks the images below.

Black, White and Bold

New Products on TpT!

2014-07-20T21:40:00.002-04:00

I have posted some new products on my TpT due to the requests you all have submitted as well as some items to tie things together! I wanted to make everyone aware of them so that you all have the opportunity to personalize your offices.

Polka Dots

Pale Yellow, Tiffany Blue and Gray set

Primary Colors Polka Dots

Primary Colors set

Dots on Turquoise border set colors

Red, Gray and Black set

Tropical Colors set

I know I am already thinking of new ideas and color schemes for my office in the fall, I tend to change it up every year to start off fresh! I will post pictures in the fall once I have it all set up! Please let me know if you need any signs customized to your needs and color scheme!

Self Esteem - Me Mobile

2014-07-12T19:08:00.000-04:00

WOW has it been a long time since my last post!! I am really going to try and be a lot better about blogging during the school year.

I do a lot of self-esteem activities during the school year with small groups and this is one of my favorites because it also incorporates some OT skills such as cutting slightly more difficult shapes, threading yarn through a punched hole and tying knots.

The 'Me Mobile' is from Marco's Creative Small Groups for K-5 which includes a CD with reproducibles. The students each get a rainbow, 3 clouds and 4 hot air balloons. The students first color all the items while I explained the activity. I tell students that we are making a Me Mobile that they can hang up in their bedroom or be put on the refrigerator at home that tells everyone all the awesome things about them! The entire activity usually takes two 30 minute sessions; the coloring, cutting and counselor lead discussion are usually the entire first group meeting time. During the second meeting time students will respond to a question/prompt on each cloud and hot air balloon. The questions/prompts are things like what is a word or phrase your teacher would describe you as or what do you like to do for fun at home. The lesson plan in the Creative Small Groups for K-5 is very easy to follow! Once the students have responded to all 7 questions/prompts I have the students start threading yarn through the holes (I make them with a hole punch) and tie a knot at the rainbow. The final product of one that I created with students is below.

This activity is great for students in 2nd and 3rd grade but can be done with younger and older students as well depending on your needs.