Grrr...growls and snarls and anger resources

One thing I love about my county is that once a month we all get together and share our resources! This month we talked about anger! Here are some highlights and our counselors favorite resources:

Books

When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry

The Grouchies

Angry Arthur-  https://vimeo.com/76617063


Workbooks
Conflict Resolution Activities that Work- Lots of great role play activities on conflict resolution.

Potter Pig In Control- great for K-3.

How To Stop Before You Pop- great for grades 3-5.

Groups To Go- a great Marco product for small groups.

Websites

KidsHealth.org- this is a great tool for parents, teachers and students.  The articles  have re aloud options and even re aloud in Spanish option.

Missouri Career Education- a good resource for lesson plans especially for small groups.

Brain Pop- great videos, activities, and surveys (for your data) on anger.

Kelly Bear- tips for students and teachers.

The Do's and Don'ts of Teaching Children Anger- great article by Huffington Post

Scholastic

Videos

Gotta beat that stress

Helping students with stress is one of my favorite lessons. I think it's the former yoga teacher in me and the fact that teaching them means I naturally get to  practice as well.

Here are some of favorite resources:

Activities/Printables

*Free Spirit Publishing has so many great resources and printables, including:

*This Frustration Triangle - this is great for classroom lessons as well s small groups

*Pebble relaxation- For the life of me I can't remember where I found this! Anyone know?  It's a great visual activity to do with individual students.
You could also follow it up with activity from mindful kids. 

* Foam shield- I use this as a visual in small groups to talk about what coping skills they can use to "protect them" from stress. I found them in the dollar section of Target (aka where my paycheck goes).

*Relaxation stations- I love doing this for older students. We start with a class wide calming activity (see Go Noodle references below) or watch the Brain Pop on stress. Next, I set up stations around the room and  play calm music. The students silently work at each station and switch every  3-5 minutes. At the end they write for me what station they liked the best, why, and how it helped them relax.

Here are my favorite stations:
*Coloring sheets/Mandalas- there are one million coloring books out there now, but you can find a lot of sheets online.

*Play dough

*Journaling- Sometimes I leave it open for the students to journal on their own and sometimes I will prompt them. You can find lots of gratitude journals online and lots of gratitude prompts here 

* Brain Pop activity

*Reading- I will set out lots of books on stress and relaxation and allow them to read quietly.

*Breathing- I will put out the 5- Start breathing cards and let the students practice breathing

Technology

* iPads- if you have a few ipads you can always set up an iPad station and allow them to explore some fun apps.  Here are some ideas- Kids Relaxation and this amazing list from Common Sense Media 

My brain is full....

Just had to share this idea from my week. I had a student who has a lot going on and described it as his "brain being full." So I was like lets draw about all the things filling up your brain. Check out the product:

 Next we drew a cartoon about a brain cell who goes to the day dream movie theatre. I love the idea of "what's playing" and what movie did the brain cell pick- what insight!!

Time for you to go book shopping!

Yesterday was a super fun night of getting my counselor nerd on. The amazing author/illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka did a book reading, illustration drawing, and book signing in town. 

Some people swoon when they see a movie star and apparently I have the teacher version of that because I was a red, nervous wreck. 

Some of you might know Jarrett (yes yes I am pretending we are close friends now just like I did with Michelle) from his Lunch Lady series.  It's a great graphic novel about a Lunch Lady who happens to also be a super hero (aren't they really in real life too!) This is a book series that even your most stubborn readers will love. If you are looking for an amazing service learning project to go with the books  look no further- check out how my BIONIC teamed up to help our school librarian create an amazing luncheon for our staff. Need more inspiration check out this guide for using graphic novels in the classroom. 

So Jarrett just wrote and published a new picture book that is perfect for every school counselor. "It's Tough To Loose Your Balloon" is a wonderful way to talk to your students about feelings, cause and effect, positive attitudes, and mindset.  Check out the book trailer below.

Pet Grief

Loosing my cat Sprigg was without a doubt one of the hardest times of my life. She was almost 21 when she passed. I can't imagine what a mess I'll be when I loose Brooklyn and Boss. 

Pet grief is one of the hardest parts of my job. I have a few books, but just reading them can bring tears to my eyes. 

So, after hitting a wall trying to find resources for my students after the loss of a pet I created this memory book activity. This booklet contains a cover plus 7 pages for your students after the loss of a pet. This memory book is perfect for small group settings, for work with individual students, or to send home so parents can do it with their child.

Here is a sneak peak.

Get your copy at my TPT store:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Remembering-A-Furry-Friend-Pet-Memory-Book-1767503

Catching our breath.

When Brooklyn gets excited she whimpers. When she see's a cat, another dog, children, or anyone over the age of 40 her whimper quickly turns tragic. It's loud! Then the whimpers get faster, she starts pacing, and before you know it she's panting. I love her, but man is she an anxious little girl.

So today I put together some of my favorite resources for those in our lives and schools (or maybe even for you yourself) that are anxious:


            Strategies For Relaxation

5-Star Breathing: This simple breathing technique includes a good visual for students. It's easy to follow, remember, and use. I created a full scale sheet for practice and smaller stars for students to take with them/tape to their desks.





Belly Breathe with Elmo- This video from Seasme Street is still one of my favorites to show! The song is catchy and my first graders always make me play it over and over again. We watch it together once first, then I play it again and ask them to join in the belly breathing. They always want more, so I tell them as a reward at the end of class we will play it one more time.







Good ole fashioned stress balls! I love having stress balls around my office and so do the kids. They also tend to disappear, so I try and stock up whenever I can. You can get some cute stress balls on Oriental Trading (about $15 for 24),  you can make custom stress balls for about $1.15 each at Office Depot, and you can find several versions (some hysterical but not school appropriate) on Amazon, including this silly one.  I have also used play dough and attempted to make my own at school (it was fun but messy). Lastly, whenever there is a career fair, an armed forces information day, or free event with business prompting themselves I try and stop by because often I can
get one or two free stress balls.


Apps

Breathe 2 Relax-  This app allows students to follow along as they take deep inhales and exhales and learn how to belly breath. You can lengthen or shorten the counts of each inhale and exhale, so I think it's interesting to talk about how my inhale my differ from others, how long is too long, how long is not enough to calm down, etc. Ideally each student could have it on their own iPad, iPhone, etc. When I used it I only had one iPad so it was pretty funny to watch us all sit around the iPad like we were around a campfire and practice. The students got a kick out of it through. In high school this is a good resource for your students to put on their own phones.

Squeeze and Shake Stress Relief- When I was a high school counselor I remember letting many students "borrow" stress balls. The longer I am in this job, the more I realize there is no "borrowing."This would be a great app for middle school age through adults. It's a virtual stress ball! It also vibrates the phone which is great for any kids with sensory issues you might be working with. I am going to recommend this to our SPED department. Be warned though, it's not a free app (it's 99 cents) so you want to make sure students aren't buying it on their phones and then have the parents send you the bill.

Read about more apps here

Using Loyalty Cards!

Last year I discussed the idea of branding your program. It has been a huge success for me. Not only do I have fun, but it's a great way to subconsciously show just how school wide my program is. One of the cheapest, easiest resources I have used is Vistaprint.  They are fast, cheap, and have lots to choose from.

I especially love their loyalty cards. You can do so much with them. See:

Each individual student I see gets a reminder card. I put them in the teacher's box so they remember too!

In the first blank box I will write the date of the first meeting. Then at the end of each session we write the date for the next time we will meet. Doing it at the end helps them remember the meeting date and helps me if there is a last minute date change. They also use it as a hall pass to see me.  

This is one of my favorite uses. I use it with all ages. My favorite way to use it is through consultation with teachers. It's fantastic for student's whose behavior isn't ideal, my ASD, ADHD students, etc. I use it as a punch card. I encourage the teachers to create by in by punching the card every time they see the students do anything great the first few weeks. Ideally they can complete an entire card in say three days. The early success helps with the buy-in as we make the goal harder and harder. They may get anything as a reward: gum, certificate, note home to parent, whatever. Then we make it harder and harder and the goal more challenging so eventually they are used weekly. You won't spend more than $20 on 250 cards so don't worry about running out.