Back To School- My August Lessons

Here is a sneak peak at my August lessons. I am in the special area rotation on Thursdays and Fridays, so I see most of  my classes just one time a month. On occasion I see them twice so I'll have an add on lesson for them.

Check out my scope and sequence for classroom lessons, character education, small groups and more for this year.

This month all of our lessons are about getting to know the counselor, our class rules and procedures, and practice working with partners and individually. For a list of the discussion questions I used for my books click here.


1st- I introduced myself with a Prezi so the students could learn all about me.
*note when you share all about your furry family they will want to share all about their furry family. I tell students to save their stories for later and if we have time at the end of class they can write me a letter and tell me all about their families.

As the Prezi goes on we stop and discuss.

At this point we talk about our classroom rules and consequences (both good and bad.)

We also stopped to take roll and take turns waiting our turn and listening.

I asked each student to tell me one place they might like to visit some day.

We also stop to practice activities I do frequently. Student's practice "partner turn and talk" and share with a neighbor what they want to be when they grow up.

When we got to my love of books we reviewed our class reward system of putting a name in a cup to win a book. We also discussed the consequences of making irresponsible and disrespectful choices in class.

At the end of the Prezi read with "David Goes to School" or "Dog Gone School."

 "David Goes To School" Discussion Questions

David Goes to School Writing Activity 

At the end of "David Goes To School" we made a list of "No David"- things he did in the book he shouldn't have and we shouldn't do at school and then "Yes David" - what he should have done instead. 

2nd- I showed them a power point all about me. As we went through the power point together I had the student's complete the " My School Counselor Is" sheet by Savvy School Counselor. *

As part of this power point we discussed how school counselors are like Mr. Potato head. If we had time students created their own unique Mr. Potato Heads and we discussed what makes us unique and respecting differences. Get your “Potato Peeps” Glyph from Savvy School Counselor here.

If we didn't have time we read "Why Do I Have To Eat Off the Floor"by Chris Hornsey and discussed we had to have class, school, community, and national rules/laws. 

*note to self- when I did this with the first class I told them we were going to do a scavenger hunt with a power point. Minds were blown. The second class I just told them the answers were in the power point and someone pointed to the projector and said "oh is that what that is!" So by the third class I kept it simple. I am going to show and tell all about me and I guided them through the answers step by step.

3rd- After reviewing our rules and procedures as part of our "Meet Your School Counselor" power point we read "What If Everybody Did That?" to discuss the importance of rules and consequences.  I love this book for discussing rules, consequences, and good character.  You can get our discussion questions and game that goes along with the book at my TPT store.




4th/5th- I moved rooms this year so we started by doing a silent observation. I gave the students 2-3 minutes and asked them to complete a notice/wonder T-Chart without talking. Then I took attendance by asking each student to share one thing they noticed and one thing they wondered.

After reviewing our rules and procedures in the power point I made sure I had answered each of the student's wonder questions.
Then we reviewed by taking a super short Plicker Quiz to practice using Plickers since I plan on using them a lot this year.

Next we read "How To Be A Good Dog" and discussed how to be a good student. For discussion questions click here.