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. 

Personal Safety and Body Language with a furry twist.

I was so excited today to present on incorporating animals into school counseling programs. It also gave the opportunity to re-watch one of my favorite videos on dog safety. I love this video because it shares a lot about the body language that dogs try to tell us. It's short, fun and educational. I would encourage you to share with your students as you do your safety lessons!!

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bstvG_SUzMo

I need a class in crafty

Seriously, I feel like one of my grad school classes should have been "how to get your craft on in an elementary school."

I'm not crafty at all, but I do know awesome when I see and I can click a camera and share it so here we go.

This year's theme at our school is "making masterpieces" and our teachers have really gone all out:

Our school is "Lotts" so it's not a misspelling. The caption is "Creating Lotts of Masterpieces in 4th Grade." Genius.

 

I love coming down the hallways and seeing these fun paint cans. The students names are in each color. 

It really brightens up the halls and makes them fun.

5th grade has some "Masterful Creations"

They covered the clothes pins with these cute paint brushes from a border. These little details make me so happy.

Tid Bit From My Day

By giving up my teacher chair I had exactly enough chairs for my 5th grade class today (which is a miracle bc I've been short for a lot of classes.) Anyway the kids kept fighting over them and spent at least 5 minutes upon entering my room sitting down, moving, sitting down, and again moving. Finally I couldn't take it so I say "guys let's not get all Goldie Locks and the 3 Bears up in here- its not too big, it's not too small, they're all just right bc they're all just chairs." Sadly the stares I got back meant my humor had been lost on them.

Brooklyn Barks at Open House

This past Friday we had our school's open house. I created a handout for parents and one for teachers. What do you normally do at your open house or to introduce yourself to teachers?

See teacher newsletter here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_6T4rR2pFj5eU1kQkJaV25wX0k/edit?usp=sharing

See parent newsletter here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_6T4rR2pFj5TU5UaGRIb0dWOWM/edit?usp=sharing

My office is coming together! #classroomsetup2014

classroomsetup2014

I am broke and I ran out of border! So… I used paint chips to make my own. What do you think?

The color scheme is black, white, and bright green in my office this year.

Tried to make my shelves look fun this year.

I am obsessed with these jars for storage. Every time I am in Home Goods I get another one.

Books and bookmarks.

I attached a binder clip to each fabric box that says what the topics of the book are. It makes for easy organization.

Individual counseling area.

My Office Sneak Peak

So half way through the summer I decided I wanted a black and white office.
So I have spent many a day working on it. Here are some sneak peaks #classroomsetup2014

I'll post more soon!

Donor's Choose Project Update

Thanks to an incredible local Horace Mann Agency Owner I only need $153 to reach my Donor's Choose project goal to get technology in my classroom this year. TODAY is the last day to have your donation matched (using the code INSPIRE). So if only 8 of my friends/those of you that support education donate just $10 (and don't forget enter the promo code INSPIRE on the payment screen to have your donation matched) I will get my wish granted! Please share with everyone you know who supports education!!! I know my students would truly appreciate enhancing my classroom.www.donorschoose.org/msfiltness