Brooklyn and Boss Take Over My Program

I had the privilege of going to #ASCA16 this week and boy, oh boy, did I meet some amazing people. Not only did I learn from presenters, I learned from those sitting next to me, the brave wonderful souls that came to my session, and my co-workers who kept up with me as I searched New Orleans to find a dog toy for my pups.

I'll post more about the amazing sessions in a bit (and maybe after a needed nap), but for now I want to share a little about what else: DOGS! Ok stop shaking your head. This is really about infusing your passion into your program. So it doesn't have to be dogs, in fact those that know me know cats are first and foremost my love and are often surprised I have a dog theme. So what is your passion? Sports, cars, food? Infuse your passion in your program and I promise it will ignite a fire.



I met some wonderful women this weekend and gained some new sweet Twitter friends and several asked about how I use my dogs in my program. (Shameless plug : you can also follow them on Instagram). So here is goes:

First, a disclaimer. I use the term "brand" loosely. If are you truly wanting to "brand" your program my I suggest visiting The Counseling Geek site and reading more about my ASCA14 trip. I would say my dogs are a predominant theme/presence  in my program. Here's how they influence what I'm doing:

Brooklyn Barks Newsletter/ Brochures- each month I send out a newsletter about my counseling program affectionately titled "Brooklyn Barks News." In it I have "Brooklyn Bytes" - technology tidbits, "Brooklyn's Blue Ribbon Books"- book suggestions for teachers, etc.

I also send out a bi-annual data newsletter. You can see my end of the year newsletter here.
 There is also a newsletter for NSCW.

Read it here!

The also make an appearance in my program brochures!

Program Services

Meet Your Counselor

Stuffed Brooklyn and Boss:

Brooklyn took over my principals office. Ignore the pills she had just had eye surgery.

Brooklyn and Boss make a yearbook appearance. 

A few years ago I won a "crazy dog mom contest" by this wonderful company, Fuzzy Nation, that sadly isn't around anymore.  Our librarian and her kids wrote a list of ten crazy things I did (always bought them gifts, read the bedtime stories, etc.) and I added #11- "I don't think of of these are crazy." Well I won this larger than life stuffed statue of Brooklyn.  So she started coming to school with me. I put her in the hallway, with large butcher paper or poster board speech bubble cut outs. The speech bubble was changed periodically and said anything from "Welcome new K students" to "Be pawsitive today." I loved it. The kids loved it TOO much and Brooklyn ended up getting scratched and hurt.

So I got a smaller one of Boss (well it's not really Boss but don't tell the kids.) This guys goes with me on the morning news, sits in my window sill to greet the kids coming in, sometimes visits a very lucky and well behaved classroom guidance class, and more. 

Classroom Management: I honestly think getting a dog was the best classroom management "class" I ever had. You can read why here .

I have 3 classroom rules, but we call them "Brooklyn's B's for Best Behavior" I have these signs hanging in the room and we often start class with a picture of Brooklyn and Boss not following each of the rules and discuss what they need to be doing differently. It's a fun, quick way to remind students of our rules. This is going to be a lot of fun when we use these same rules as our school wide PBIS rules next year.

Not respectfully giving our friends personal space!

For positive reinforcement I use several things. Remember, I teach two full days a week so I feel like a part time teacher sometimes. I use Class Dojo, but also the "put your name in a cup" system.
Here's how it works. I have 6 books (and Cosmo) displayed at the back of the room. When a student is being respectful, responsible, and remarkable they can put their name in a cup. The books are numbered and so are the dog cups. At the end of the month I pick one name from each cup and that student wins that book to keep forever. I get books from local used book stores, collaborate with our librarian to use scholastic dollars, and even have had parents donate them. I love books so I don't mind spending some money out of pocket, and it's awesome to see kids work for books!

For classroom "corrections" we have a 3- step system. First, they get a laminated yield sign as a non verbal reminder to slow down and make better choices. Second, they get a laminated stop sign and a reminder to take a break at our relaxation center (which I am totally re thinking after ASCA), and third they fill out a behavior reflection sheet and get a write up. Since I have lots to carry around I use this home depot belt to keep my reminders handy.


*Yes, most of my clothing is dog inspired as well!!

Class Decor: I am in the special area rotation 2 days a week and I use a classroom shared by 2 other art teachers. That's right! 3 teachers, 1 room (and two of them are art!). So to help differentiate my stuff I incorporated my dog theme. Also, throughout the building my displays often have a dog theme, so stake holders know - hey this is school counseling related!

 You can see more here and pictures of my office decor here .

Classroom Guidance: Dogs are everywhere here.  First, if i can I will share a pup story related for to our topic. For example, if we are talking about anger management  and conflict resolution I might start out by sharing this picture.

Brooklyn not respectfully sharing.

The kids love it because it humanizes me. You know the "omg you actually exist out of school" looks and talk. By connecting the lesson to the pups, I am not only making myself approachable, but also making a connection to our kids. Did you know that AVMA says that 69,926,000 dogs are owned in the US?


Of course, if possible I use a dog themed book. So for example, instead of reading If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, we read If You Give A Dog A Cupcake. Instead of The Boy That Cried Wolf we read The Dog That Cried Woof! When we do bucketfilling we read Halle and Tiger with Their Bucketfilling Family.  

Or when we are talking about team work I might share these videos:

Happy National School Counselor Week

Happy National School Counselor Week!!!

ASCA School Counseling Week Photo Challenge Sign

It's #NSCW15! February really snuck up on me this year. In fact this year has been blowing by so I haven't been the best blogger, but hopefully today's posts will make up for it.

I am super excited to celebrate this week, even if my activities were a little last minute. Here's what I've got up my sleeve for the week.

The gift bags for teachers. I used old bags I had around can you tell?

 Weekly announcements and trivia contest. I love doing this! Each morning I go on the announcements and share a little something about my job or my program. Then I ask a trivia question. Last year I let students enter themselves and they won prizes, but this year I made it a class wide contest. So each day I ask the class to tell their teacher the answer and then the teacher e-mails it to me. All of the correct answers go in a bucket and then the next day I pick one class as a winner. That class wins a "goodie bag." Here are some of my questions and prizes.

Monday: For students in K-1 only. (I made this one a little bit easier for them. )
          Q: What are the names of my dogs?
          A: Brooklyn and Boss

The K-1 winner goodie bag had 4 books I found at McKay's, sight word flash cards, a Frozen dry erase letter writing board, and moon sand from the Target dollar bin, and expo markers and supplies for the teacher.

Tuesday: For students in 2-3 only.
           Q: To help promote and teach a certain word each month, this year I hid flat dogs in library books. Each month the dogs found new books to hid in. How did I pick the books each month?
            A: I picked books related to our character education trait each month.

The 2-3rd goodie bag contained: "Mr. Peabody's Apples" and a chapter book from McKay's, book marks for students, multiplication flashcards, and other office supplies for the teacher. 

Wednesday: For students in 4-5 only.
          Q: What are the 6 character education traits we celebrate each month.
          A: Respect, Trustworthiness, Citizenship, Caring, Responsibility, Fairness

The 4-5th bag contained: "Mr. Peabody's Apples" from McKay's, "Road Trip" which I picked up at the Scholastic Warehouse sale, pencils and markers for all students from Target, book marks, and a classroom calendar also from Target. 

Thursday: For all classes.  *This had a special award. This year I am helping promote literacy and my program in the building by partnering with UTK's Human Animal Bond program. Each week we have a reading therapy dog come to school and read with our students. The winner of this day would win a "reading party" with our HABIT dog.
           Q: What very famous lady is also celebrating this week with us? Hint her twitter name is @FLOTUS. (If they need an extra hint: her husband just made a special visit to our state).
           A: Michelle (you know since we are friends since the #ASCA14 conference.)

Our First Lady!

Friday: For teachers only. *Also, their prize will be a gift card to TPT.
        Q: What Knox County School Counselor is being honored at the White House this year for being an ASCA National School Counselor Semi-Finalist?
        A: The one and only @BevAndersonTN.  Beverly Anderson, school counselor at Bearden High School, has been named a 2015 American School Counselor Association (ASCA) School Counselor of the Year semi-finalist.  Anderson is one of 16 semi-finalists across the nation to receive this honor.  As part of Anderson’s recognition, she will attend a White House recognition ceremony hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama on Jan. 30, 2015, and a School Counselor of the Year Gala at Washington’s historic Union Station.  The recognition ceremony will be streamed live; streaming details should be posted on the ASCA website on Jan. 30.

What are you doing this week?  If you haven't checked out the ASCA Photo Week Challenge check it out asap here. 

I think you might like....

Dogs. 

What on earth made you think that? Haha.

Well it's true I love having a dog themed program. So I thought I would share some of my other favorite dog themed rooms, ideas, resources, etc. I'll try to update this often so keep checking back.

First, my newest crazy dog idea.

I asked each teacher at my school who is a dog owner to help me choose a character education trait and somehow capture their dog(s) showing off that trait. One of our teachers is an amazing photographer, as you will see below, so I am batting my eyes at her to help us capture each scene. I will then use the images we capture on bulletin boards, in my new classroom, and if we are successful create a calendar for the teachers for each trait of the month.

Here's what Mrs. Jackson came up with for "wisdom" featuring her dog Taylor. The competition for most creative is on don't you think.

Taylor. Image by Kristen Jackson

I know what your thinking, I want to hire her! I did and you won't regret it. If you are in middle TN just ask and I'll send her your contact info.


What do you think of these for endurance?

Gracie girl

Our character education traits from: http://www.coreessentials.org/

More websites, inspiration, and dog themed stuff I love:

For the classroom:
Teaching Pawsitively- this teacher just has adorable written all over her. I am definitely adding her to my Feedly so I can follow her.

A pug themed classroom!- I adore the "attitudes."

School Girl Style- single handily my favorite classroom for dogs ever. Literally ever. I wish I could hire her to recreate this in my room.

Doggie Decor- Schoolgirl Style also has some adorable products on her TPT Store. It makes me want to redo my entire classroom and buy, buy, buy.

DOG- as in the Daily Organization Guide- My friend Mrs. Richardson simply has the best organization guide for her 1st graders. Her classroom is pretty cool too.

I spy...

This months trait is wisdom!

A Flat Stouie!

As an extension of my character education and Flat Stouie programs I have  partnered with the librarian for this fun game of "Where's Flat Stouie?"

Each month I hide a Flat Stouie in a book related to our character education topic of the month. The students that find the Stouie and check out the book get to keep the Stouie and get a sticker to wear.

Find the courage to stand out

Sorry I haven't posted in a while; I don't remember a school year starting out quite this crazy. Although, maybe they all do and I just mentally block them out each year to stay sane.

Needless to say one thing I haven't had time to do this year is update my bulletin boards, but a precious miracle occurred and the art teacher had a student helper that needed a few extra work hours and she volunteered to do my board. I think it's perfect!

Flat Stouie

Our Flat Stouie project was a huge summer success check it out!

Sneak Peak of my new classroom

This summer I have been filled with other projects that I love. Flat Stouie has really started to take off  and I am very proud! Not to long ago I hit that part of the summer where I got excited and decided to go crazy getting things for my new classroom. I can't wait to show you the before and after pictures, but for now here is a sneak peak of a sculpture that will be gracing my new room.

A very special thank you to Fuzzy Nation for recognizing the crazy in me and allowing me to win this amazing 3 ft sculpture!

Bucket List Check In

Today I was reminded of my bucket list I did last summer and my goals for this school year.
Here were the goals I set for myself and here's how we did :

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Summer Reading

I really enjoy hosting a series of parent workshops throughout the year. Not only does it give me a chance to meet the parents, but it gives the opportunities to collaborate with other professionals and sneak in my own professional development.

Our most popular workshop by far is the Summer Reading Workshop with our librarian and our music teacher (who is completing her degree in library science). Here is why it's the best:

1) The parents get lots of goodies.

Read about all the free goodies to encourage summer reading at Mrs. Svarda's Blog!

2) There is always coffee.

2) We get to show off our favorite books.

We hang out at Barnes and Noble a lot, so this is fun way to show off our "finds." Here are some of my favorites:

Introducing Flat Stouie!

As you may have guessed I am an animal lover, so when Nashville PITTIE asked me to create a project that would help reach students across the world and combine my love for dogs I jumped on it.

This year for reading in schools day, we had Stouie, a READing Paws therapy dog and NashvillePITTIE Ambassador dog, visit school. The students loved reading with him.

So we decided to create a "Flat Stouie" inspired by Flat Stanley. Students get a flat version of our pup Stouie that they can take with them on trips, introduce to their own furry friends, etc. They can also mail their Flat Stouie around the world. When someone receives him they will take a picture with him and then write back to the student sharing their adventures. This encourages to the student's to learn more about where they live, etc.
 I am so thrilled about this project. Here's how I am rolling it out:

Flat Stouie created by J.H. 4th grader

*All students in 4th grade will get a Flat Stouie packet to have this summer. The packet includes the Flat Stouie, letters, and a fun state fact sheet, and more to fill out. I picked 4th grade because it was one of my 4th grade students that designed the official "Summer Flat Stouie."

*I will give the parents that attend my last two parent workshops on encouraging summer reading and writing a free packet.

* The students that mail their Stouie, blog about it, write about it, etc. will get to attend a special party in August with the real Stouie. How will students show me they completed the project? Well they can:

 *write/upload a picture to his Facebook page:  

www.facebook.com/FlatStouie

  *Instagram a picture #FlatStouie

  *Upload a picture to Twitter with the hashtag #FlatStouie

  *e-mail so we can blog about it

    stouie@nashvillepittie.org

http://pinterest.com/pin/11047961555729411/

This project is great for encouraging reading, writing, critical thinking, math, geography, and more! I really want my students to research famous celebrities, politicians, and other owners of pits. Wouldn't it be amazing for someone like Kevin Bacon to have a picture of his pit with our flat pit. That's my dream. In fact I created a board of everyone I want to meet Flat Stouie: http://pinterest.com/nashvillepittie/famous-pitties/

If you are interested in having Stouie visit your school just email: stouie@nashvillepittie.org and if you want to start your own project at school you can buy the entire 20 page packet on my Teachers Pay Teachers page here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Flat-Stouie-Packet-variation-on-Flat-Stanley

**Half of the proceeds will go to NashvillePITTIE and help us fund Stouie's trips to your school.

This summer we will be working on a book to go with the project so stay tuned. 

For those of you haven't heard of Flat Stanley read more here: http://pinterest.com/pin/272045633713867431/. Also when I looked him up on Pinterest the pins were endless.