School Counseling Intern coming to Rand Road!

Hello everyone! I am excited to announce that I will be hosting a graduate student from NC State. She is currently in school for professional school counseling. Starting in January she will be shadowing me at school. She will also start working with students under my supervision. She will be with us through April. Below is a little blurb from her!


My name is Rachel Tillett and I am in the process of getting  my Masters at NC State to become a school counselor. I received my bachelors at Meredith College with a major in Psychology and a minor in social work. I love children and I have worked with them since I was 16 years old. Over the years I have been a camp counselor and a babysitter/nanny! Now I currently work for a babysitting company called, Peak City Sitters! I work part time while I continue my education! My hope is to graduate NC State in either the fall or spring of 2018!

This is Rachel presenting at the NC School Counselor's Conference. 

Your school counselor is like a super hero!!!

Welcome back everyone! We have made it to week 3 of our new school year! Our kindergarten students had a great start last week!

Did you know that my job as a school counselor is kind of like being a super hero?! Another amazing school counselor created a great lesson about being a super hero! I decided to give my introduction lesson a revamp and the students have loved it! For our Kindergarten through 3rd grade classes I have been dressing up like a super hero to explain my job.

This has been a really fun lesson that the students have really gotten into! Here is a brief run down of how your school counselor is like a super hero! (For more information on this lesson please go to https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/My-School-Counselor-is-Like-a-Superhero-School-Counselor-Introduction-Lesson-2088667 )

My cape helps me fly around the school helping all the students. 

My ears help me listen to the needs of the students, staff, and families.

My mouth allows me to offer a warm smile when ever someone is sad. 

My mask helps me teach children how to unmask yucky feelings. 

My sun glasses help me spy students who need some help. 

My gloves allow me to give super hugs, high fives, and fist pumps. 

And my shield helps me to teach students how to be safe. 

With the 4th and 5th grade students I have been playing The Meet the School Counselor Game. This is a really fun game where the students work in teams to answer questions about my role as the school counselor. For this game I did not keep score to stress that this game is about learning and refreshing our memories. Most of the questions are pretty much related to my job but there are a few other questions that are thrown in for fun. One question they have all been laughing at this year is the question about my favorite color! Several of the classrooms were painted over the July trackout. My room was one of the ones that got painted. Most of the kids already knew I loved purple but now there is no doubt! A HUGE thank you to everyone who came to help paint! 

Be sure to check out the About section to see my 2016-2017 goals. 

Middle School Jitters and New school year worries

Hello Everyone! As the end of the year draws near I have been talking to our 5th graders about middle school. They have already selected their classes and now they  just need to enjoy the last few months of elementary school. I found a great activity from Savvy School Counselor that shared a wonderful worksheet to do with the 5th graders. It also allowed for them to share their worries about middle school even if they didn't want to say them out loud. Below are some of the things they are worried about. As you will notice some of the things are on both lists. That may be one students worry is another students excitement. Parents be sure to talk with your 5th grader about what they are worried and excited about next year to make sure this transition is as smooth as possible.

Middle School Jitters: 

Being away from siblings

Locker combinations

Number of Classes

Stairs

Leaving old teachers

New rules

Letter grading

Changing for Gym

New Teachers

Bullies

More responsibility

Getting to classes

Amount of Homework

No recess

Being late for school

Spanish

Time between classes

Middle School Excitement: 

Meeting new people

Being separate from older kids

New teachers

Lockers

Expanding my mind

Book selection in the school library

Being more independent 

Switching Classes

Fresh Start

Picking electives

Letter Grading

Having some people I know there

No 10 min of silence at lunch

Sports

Spanish

Many of you reading this may not have a student in the 5th grade. But they may also be worried. If you feel that your student is extra worried please make sure that you contact me or your child's teacher so we can help them feel less anxious as the school year comes to a close. One of my favorite books about worrying is Wilma Jean and the Worry Machine. I usually will read that book with axious students and help them list or draw pictures of the things they are worried about. If you feel you have a very anxious child then try creating worry time for you and your child. Have a box where you child can write down the things they are worried about and tell them you will talk about it during worry time. Take 10-15 minutes once a day or week and read the different worries your child put in their worry box. They may realize some of their worries weren't so big after all! 

If you have a child that is really nervous about those EOGs in June be sure to check out the Test Anxiety board on my Pinterest account for some great suggestions! 

I also have a Pinterest board that is all about Anxiety! Feel free to check it out and get some great ideas of ways to help your child.

Middle Year Review

Hello Everyone!

As we are wrapping up our third quarter I realize how little I have updated my blog this year. I wanted to share a quick run down of something I have done with each grade level and a few other fun projects.

With Kindergarten I did a fun new activity I learned about at the NC School Counselor's Conference. I introduced the topic of feelings by reading the book Today I feel silly by Jamie Lee Curtis. After introducing how we all have many different feelings and how we may feel several different things all in the same day. I asked the students if any of them have ever felt angry or mad. Of course everyone has felt angry before. I read part of the book the Angry Octopus by Lori Lite. I talked briefly with the students about the steps the octopus took to relax. Then here comes the fun part I learned at the conference! I gave each student half a paper plate and asked them to draw a face and decorate their octopus. Then I gave each student a streamer and had them rip it into 3 pieces. With the help of a parent helper we stapled the streamers to the paper plates. Then I showed the students how to take big deep belly breaths by watching a video of Elmo taking deep breaths and blowing it out. Here is the video. The students practice taking deep breaths and blowing their octopus tentacles. 

With the First graders we have been talking about different ways they can solve problems with their classmates. We recently start talking about using an I-Message to stand up to their classmates or peers. I had each student practice telling me an I-Message. We have been using a story about 2 bugs (Anthony Ant and Brenda Bee) who have been bullied by Big Beetle. Big Beetle always tells the other bugs that they look like frogs. So I pretended to be Big Beetle and I had the students be Brenda or Anthony and give Big Beetle an I-Message. Below are the frame works of an I-Message I taught the students. I have these up in my room so when the students come to me to work out problems they are there in the room to reference.

I feel ______________
when you__________________.
I would like you to _________________.

It bugs me when you __________________. I wish you would ___________________.

I love when you___________________. I wish you would ________________.

The second graders are wrapping up our conversations about friendships. We have been talking about all the different types of friendships, how to find friends, how to include everyone and how to communicate properly with other people (kids or adults). We went over 4 very basic communication rules. I told the students that no matter who they are they have to follow theses rules.

1. Take Turns Talking (I tell the kids they shouldn't talk more than 3 minutes before they give someone else a chance to talk.)
2. Nothing Personal (This could be a safety issue if students are giving out address and phone numbers. We also talk about how if the want a friend to come play then it is ok to give our friends our phone numbers IF our parents say its ok).
3. Nothing Gross (I think this one explains itself)
4. Keep it Pleasant (also pretty self explanatory)

I have to share two things our third graders are doing. We did a fun activity that I found on teachers pay teachers about careers. I put the students in 5 groups and they were given a bubble map to fill out. I gave each group a company and they had to try and name all of the different jobs that take place in that company. Some of the companies were pretty easy but some of the others could be pretty difficult. It brought up a really good conversation about how we all have to work together to be successful.

With the third graders I have also been starting our conversation about how to handle bullying. I use the Second Step Program for Bully Prevention. The version I have at my school is one of the older versions (I still have over heads!). Even though it is older the point is still really clear to get across and I project the pictures using my elmo projector with a piece of paper behind the overhead. One of the reason I love this program is because it teaches the children what bullying really is! Bullying as become a buzz word and students (staff and parents) are all fast to say someone is bullying. Well is it really bullying? Or is that child just being mean? I think this program does a GREAT job at helping the students learn what is bullying and what is not. As well as, how to stand up to those are are bullying.

With my fourth and fifth graders I have been doing alot of lessons on career exploration. This was the first year I decided to host a Career Day event at our school. When I went to the WCPSS school counselor kick off I had the opportunity to hear about some of my fellow counselors present on their career day. I decided to host my own at RRES and it was awesome! All the kids, staff, parents, and community volunteers seemed to have a great time!! I can't wait to do it again next year!

I hope to add some more pictures to this post over track out! 4 more days until track out!!!

Red Ribbon Week 2015

Welcome back!

Hello Everyone! I know I have been a little slack this year about posting! I can't believe we are already about to start second quarter! It was a busy first quarter but I know we are all rested and ready to jump back in. And what better way to jump back in then with Red Ribbon Week!

Red Ribbon Week 2015 Oct. 26th- 30th!

April was month of the Military Child

Good afternoon! I know this blog is about two months late but I still wanted to share about month of the Military Child.

Earlier this year I went to a training by the Military Child Education Coalition. It was a great training and brought to light that we actually have a pretty high number of military families at RRES. As we are only about an hour from Fort Bragg we have several families who commute to and from base each day. We also have several families who have a parent in the reserves.

After the training I decided to do some of my own research and found out that April is the month of the Military Child. There are events throughout the community (mostly around Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base) for families to attend. Since there wasn't alot around our area I decided to at least honor the military students at RRES by presenting them with an award. I also did an Army bulletin board in place of a college.

If you are a military family please check out the list of resources below or message me for some more information.

Military Child Education Coalition 

http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/militarysupport/

http://www.bcbsnc.com/content/campaigns/redwhiteandbluencprovider/index.htm

http://www.militaryonesource.mil/

A big thanks to the families of these 4 boys for letting me share their picture. They are 4 of the 18 military kids we have at RRES!!

Thank you to these two families who allowed me to share their picture! These are 4 of the 18 military kids at RRES!

A super huge thanks to the recruiters in Garner, NC for giving me tons of pictures and goodies! Recruitment for college and the military starts in elementary school!!

A huge thanks goes out to the Recruitment office in Garner, NC for all of the amazing pictures and goodies they gave me! Recruitment starts at birth for college and for out military!!

Red Ribbon Week and Treats for Troops

Greetings! Next week is going to be a very busy week here at RRES!

Monday we kick of Red Ribbon Week! This year's theme is "Love yourself. Be yourself. Stay Drug Free!" Each child was given a sticker to wear home or put in the agendas with a different dress up day each week. In case you haven't seen the stickers here are our fun days...

Monday- Wear Red to show you are choosing to live a healthy life!
Tuesday- Sock it to drugs! Wear crazy socks!
Wednesday- Team up against drugs! Wear your favorite team gear!
Thursday- Peace out to Drugs! Wear tye-dye and peace signs!
Friday- Put drugs to rest! Wear your PJs to school but don't forget real shoes!

On Monday we will also be kicking off our first ever Student Ambassador Treats for Troops! We are collecting candy to send to our men and women who are currently serving overseas. There will be a box either outside my office or just inside the door for candy donations. The flyer below was sent home last week. I hope this is the start of a great tradition at RRES!