NSCW18

It's NSCW again!
I'm a little behind this year due to a illness, snow days, and a never ending to do list. Here's a little sample of how we are celebrating!

Sharing - I always put together a newsletter with a little info. about why we celebrate, what school counselors do, and different challenges for the week.

Challenges- Each year I challenge my classes to participate not only with the ASCA signs, but also with trivia challenges along with the way. My questions this year were about stars and me, but they can also be about your role. One year I asked students questions that reviewed what we had been learning in class. For example - what are the 2 times we tell an adult (the 2D rule)? (answer: when something is dangerous of destructive).

Mystery Reader- Mystery reader videos are so fun. My teachers and staff read a book, but hide their face. We upload videos onto our announcement system Canvas for teachers to watch when time allows. If the class can guess the reader they win a prize. See an example of my amazing music teacher here:

This week I am the mystery reader and I read I Wish You More!

Teacher gifts:  I totally stole my idea from this great blog: http://www.rebeccapropes.com/2015/05/teacher-appreciation-gift-diy/

Visit this page as I continue to update what I am doing as the week progresses!

Happy NSCW

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sassy_school

National School Counselor Week 2016

It's almost time for National School Counselors Week- a week we can advocate for our programs, share with stakeholders how we can help them, and celebrate our awesome jobs. Here's my plan for 2016. What are you doing?

Me and my AMAZING practicum student

School wide weekly events and contests:

Monday- Teacher Treats
Here’s the scoop:
It’s National School Counseling week. Stop by the work room for a treat.
I found this cute treat on Pinterest that I'll recreate for my teachers.

Tuesday 
I love ...
I love being a school counselor because my students rock. Why do you love having a school counselor? Complete the sign and take a picture with your class/grade level team. Every class that sends me a picture or shares with me will get a special treat.

 Wednesday

K-2 Contest
Don’t forget to watch the Character Education mystery reader video. Teachers have your students guess and vote on who they think the mystery reader is for February. E-mail your guess (1 per class) and I will put the correct answers in a drawing for a prize.

*Each month we film a teacher or staff member reading our character ed book of the month. The students will guess who this month's mystery reader is.

Thursday

3-5th Contest
What is bullying? We often confuse bullying and conflict- ask your class to write the definition of bullying and e-mail your guess (1 per class).  I will put correct answers in a drawing for a prize.

*We've been learning a lot about bullying in recent months. I am looking for three parts to the winning definition: 1)it's negative, unwanted, aggressive behavior 2)it's repeated 3)there is an imbalance of power

Friday
Counselors encourage students #reachhigher! Wear your favorite college gear and take a #reachhigher selfie. Learn more about this amazing initiative at https://www.whitehouse.gov/reach-higher


*This idea comes from the ASCA Photo week challenge. I will also be doing the photo week challenge.
Get the signs and ideas here: https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors-members/about-asca-%281%29/national-school-counseling-week


Daily announcements:

I created daily announcements based on the ASCA suggested announcements check my announcements out here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_6T4rR2pFj5UnZKV1hrWDJURWc/view?usp=sharing

Newsletter:
To kick off the week I created a newsletter for my teachers and staff. Check out the entire newsletter here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_6T4rR2pFj5N3BEbjB1b3F5Snc/view?usp=sharing

 It gives an overview of events, explains why we have school counselors and explains that the week is designed to share about the program and is not an "appreciation week," includes an about me section, and fun things in our cooking theme.

Get more ideas here:
http://freespiritpublishingblog.com/2016/01/19/10-ways-to-celebrate-national-school-counseling-week/
http://freespiritpublishingblog.com/2013/02/07/counselors-corner-celebrating-national-school-counseling-week-part-2/

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. 

National School Counseling Week Link Party!

I love a good party! #NSCW14

To celebrate the National School Counseling Week Party I wanted to share one of my favorite lessons from the year and how I celebrated National School Counseling Week last year.

"The Invisible Boy" has to be on my list of" Top 10 Books Counselors Should Own and Use". I love it!

Check out my lesson plan here and with common core standards here. You can also get the game cards on my TPT store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Quiz-Quiz-Trade-Game-Cards-for-The-Invisible-Boy-1745395
Also, check out this video that my music teacher shared with me. It ties in perfectly.

Here's how I celebrated our special week last year.

This week we are celebrating Feb. 3rd-7th! What will you be doing?

Since I am at a new school I might be sneaky and recycle my ideas from last year. I plan on creating these cuties again and doing the trivia contest since students are still getting to know me!

Read more about the National School Counseling Week Party and how you can participate here!

Happy National School Counseling Week

It's National School Counseling Week!!Yay!!!

This year I decided I had to celebrate and advocate for my program (and all of you). So here is my week, what are you doing?

Monday:

Announcement:* 

This month’s Top Dog word is courage. Courage means being brave and meeting a challenge without giving in to fear.This week is National School Counseling week! Do you know about all of the special things school counselors do? Counselors help students face their fears and encourage students to be brave every day.

This week to celebrate National School Counseling week Ms. Filtness is hosting a trivia challenge. Each day we will read a trivia question about Ms. Filtness and her program. If you think you know the answer write the answer, your full name, and teachers name on a piece of paper and turn it in to Ms. Filtness by lunch. Winners will be announced at the end of the day.