2nd Quarter!

It’s so exciting to think we’re 1/4 of the way through the year! I think the students were excited to be back from Fall Break, and we’re all rejuvenated to get back to learning.

I’ll be finishing up the October lessons in the next two weeks. I’ve really been enjoying going into the classrooms. They’ve been able to share a lot that they retained from last year. I’ve also incorporated giving “Calm Down Kits” to each classroom, so we’ve been discussing the rules around the kits.

In November, we’re going to start on the 3rd bullying lesson. The topic varies from grade to grade, so ask your student what Mrs. Harris talked about! You can also look for the Home Links to come home with your student monthly.

It Finally Feels Like Fall!

I am so happy that the weather is finally cooler! It seems like fall took a long time to come. With the predictions being a long, cold, snowy winter, I’m trying to appreciate the nice weather even more!

We’ve been busy here at Everett with lots of learning! I have finished up all of the first bullying lessons, and have started Bullying Lesson #2. For older students, this lesson focuses on who bystanders are and how they can help when they see bullying. For younger students, we are talking more specifically about how to report bullying, and who they can report bullying to.

The groups I’ve been meeting with are finishing up, and we will be starting new groups second quarter. Second quarter is, afterall, just around the corner! I’ve also been lucky enough to meet with lots of students individually!

As a reminder, the Everett Goodie Hunt is Thursday, the 10th, from 6:00-7:00.

What are these papers?

If your student has brought home papers with a Second Step Bullying heading on them, they’re from me. For each lesson, there is a Home Link that goes home. These can serve as great conversation pieces with your student. The handout outlines the information we discussed in the lesson as well as prompts for talking about the material. These do not have to be returned, but are good information for you and your student!

What is Bullying?

What is bullying? This has been the focus of all my classroom lessons for the month of September. We discuss, at length, that bullying is when one student is mean to another, it happens more than once, and they haven’t been able to get it to stop. We talked about how bullying is different from just being mean, and that while both are problems, if someone is being unkind, a student can usually use problem-solving steps they’ve learned through Second Step to solve the problem. Bullying is when the problem keeps happening, they’ve tried to solve it and can’t, and is one-sided. Being one-sided means that a problem is considered bullying when one person is being unkind to another, but that person is not being unkind back. Having an argument with another, then, while is might be a problem isn’t bullying.

We will continue to talk about what bullying is as well as what to do when you recognize bullying in the coming months.

Testing, Testing, Testing

As I look at my planner next to me, it is FILLED with testing times for all students! Kindergarten through fifth grade are all taking MAP tests this week so that we can use the results to formulate individualized plans for students who may need extra help. Hopefully this will help all students meet our high expectations! During this testing time, please encourage your students to try their best. Also, please help your student do his or her best by making sure they’ve gotten lots of sleep and have either had breakfast at home, or are coming to school for breakfast. Remember, we open the doors at 7:40 for breakfast!

 

End of August

Wow! It’s already the end of August. Those three weeks went by quickly and yet so much was accomplished!

I met with each classroom to review who I am, what I do, and how to find me. We also spent time in kindergarten, first, and second grade distinguishing between big and small problems. We talked about how big problems usually needed an adult to help us, but we can solve small problems by ourselves. Third, fourth, and fifth grade took on the task of joining my 2019-2020 Counselor Classroom (a Google Classroom) so that in the future we can quickly get on the website and I can assess how much students learned during our lessons.

All grade levels also participated in a discussion of what rules are, why we have them, and examples of rules. This was the mini-lesson that is included with the district bullying curriculum. Starting next week, I will be going into classrooms to start these bullying lessons.

As a reminder, there is no school on Monday for Labor Day. Also, CLC clubs start on the 9th.

Changes are Coming…

Part of my schedule as a school counselor is attending monthly Elementary School Counselor meetings. This morning, we had our first meeting, and discussed, among other things, changes to the report card for this year. You may be used to the “Character Development” section of the report card from previous years. However, since the district has now been utilizing the Second Step curriculum for a few years now, it seemed to make sense that it was represented on the report card. Thus, this year you will see new criteria represented on the report card which matches the skills taught in Second Step!

PLC Day!

Have you ever wondered what PLC is all about? PLC stands for Professional Learning Community, and it is when teachers can meet. During this time, teachers often are able to collaborate with other professionals in the school such as speech language pathologists, resource teachers, and ELL teachers. The teams are also able to reflect on the teaching over the past month and use data to identify what worked well and what didn’t work so well. Then, they use that information to plan for continued learning and perhaps reteaching. Often there are long discussions about how to make sure every student is meeting expectations and different instructional strategies they can use. The tables are typically covered with student assessment data, computers, and caffeinated drinks!

First Week Down

Our first week is done! It was a week of learning, making and reestablishing relationships, and finding our groove so to speak. We worked to build our classroom and school communities and welcome many, many new students. We even survived our first daytime thunderstorm and inside recess!

As a friendly reminder, please work on establishing routines at home to help your student be successful. These routines might include: setting a wake up time that allows everyone to be ready for the day in time for school, getting to school on time with everything your student needs, making sure all students know where you will pick them up after school, finding a time and place for students to complete their homework (homework should be coming home by now for most grade levels), and establishing a good bedtime routine. I know in our house, we have a very tired boy who has been asleep by 7:00 at night, and sometimes is still sleeping until after 6:00 in the morning!

CLC?

If you are new to Everett, or even if you aren’t, you may not be sure of what CLC is all about. We have a fantastic CLC program. They offer after school care where they provide homework help, a snack, outside play time, and more! They also help coordinate the many, many clubs offered throughout the year at Everett which are FREE OF CHARGE!!! We are lucky to have such a great CLC program, and I would encourage you to call our office to learn more about the services they provide!