What does a School Counselor do

I really enjoyed this chart because it clearly explains the roles of a school counselor at your school.  A huge thank you to The School Counselor Kind for putting this together!
 

Welcome Back Roadrunners!

I hope you all have had an exciting summer!  I am thrilled to continue working with your kiddos here at Lee Elementary as their school counselor.  It has been so nice to see so many familiar faces and meet many new ones at Friday's "Meet & Greet."

I will be doing lessons the first few weeks of school on getting to know the counselor, breaking the ice activities, the word “confidentiality” and also share with students the ways that they can notify me that they would like to visit.  It’s important to discuss with students things they may want to come talk to me about.

I work with every student individually, in small groups and in their classroom throughout the year.  As part of my effort to maintain consistent and clear lines of communication with parents, I will inform you if your child is repeatedly requesting to see me.  The goal is to meet with your child regularly at first and then slowly decrease services to an “as needed” basis or give you referral options.  My goal is to help your child be successful both academically and socially through scheduled counseling opportunities so please feel free to contact me with any background information you’d like to provide.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at jsepp@austinisd.org or (512) 414-1782. I also have a website, http://mssepp.blogspot.com with very helpful information about classroom lessons, learning about myself, counseling services, counseling calendar, frequently asked questions, helpful tips & useful links, online safety, No Place for Hate, SEL program, college & career info, state testing and Austin ISD’s mission statement.  Also, you  can follow me on twitter @RRCounselor.  I am happy to work with you to make your child’s time at Lee successful!

Lee Olympics: A Social Story

On Friday, May 1st we had our annual Lee Olympics.  Students rotate through different events and earn ribbons for participation and athletic achievement.  Since this is an all-day event, many students that are new to Lee or prone to anxiety might have some worries about Lee Olympics.  To ease their nerves, I create social story books for them to know what they expect.  I only include events that I know will happen in order to set them up for success.  Here's a sample of one book I made for a new kindergartener:

Test-Taking Foldable

In third grade we began our talk about the STAAR test.  Each year students come in with many false rumors about STAAR that often catastrophize the situation.  I like to take time to explain the reality of STAAR, answer all of their questions and dispel any myths they've heard.  After our discussion, I like to read Hooray for Diffendoofer Day written by Dr. Seuss, with help by Lane Smith and Jack Prelutsky.  What's great about this book is that it puts a silly spin on standardized testing and it also commemorates the legacy of Dr. Seuss, who was unable to finish the book before his passing.  There is a second part in the back of the book that explains how this story came to be, showing his original rough drafts and drawings.

In the story students love their school, their teachers and all of the quirky things they are learning.  But one day their principal informs them that they will have to take a test in 10 minutes and if they do not perform well their school will close down.  Agh!  Worst case scenario!  I won't ruin the story, but there is a positive message that comes from it and our students always sigh in relief that our testing is nothing like theirs.

After the story we make test-taking foldables that students can use to remind them how to put their best foot forward.  I downloaded the template from Savvy School Counselor on TeachersPayTeachers and let the students be creative with the title for each tab.  Here are some of their completed tips:

Grumpy Cat Visits Ms. Sepp

One of our 5th grade students came up with such a creative idea that I had to share!  We were talking about some of the other silly animal pictures with puns I have outside of my office and how it'd be fun to find one about Grumpy Cat seeing the counselor.

A few days later a large poster arrived in my office, created by the same 5th grader I had chatted with previously, and I was amazed by her creativity and initiative.  Check out what is now hanging outside my office:

Our New PEACE PATH!!!

Our SEL Department developed a Peace Path that students can use in the classroom to help resolve conflict with their peers.  You can take a look of how it works as part of our Peace Areas at Lee Elementary here.  While this is a great tool for students to use while they're in the classroom, students are left stranded out on the playground when they have conflict.  After campuses inquired about how to translate these skills to the outdoor playgrounds, our SEL department created stencils to create a sidewalk Peace Path (thank you, thank you, thank you)!

Here is a quick video I took walking through the Peace Path so you can see each of the steps.


It took 3-4 hours over 2 days to create the finished product with two people, myself and Joelle Andrew - an amazing parent volunteer/super hero.  :)  

Our playground Peace Path provides students, teachers and our entire campus a space and a method that is safe, sincere, and easy to follow for conflict resolution.  It is another effort towards student empowerment to self-regulate and solve their problems.  Ours is strategically placed between 2 of our playgrounds and has already been a huge hit with the Roadrunners!

Once completed I took out each class to teach them how to use it.  We began by brainstorming common problems that happen with our friends out on the playground:

I had students pair up and brainstorm a "problem" to resolve with their partner, real or fake.   Then we headed outside to practice!

Our Peace Path has been a huge success!  Not only are teachers on board and helping students through conflict resolution steps at recess, but children are initiating its use during our aftercare program and kids have even been caught & featured on Instagram!
 
Here are some individual shots of each step:

Counselor Appreciation Week Feb 2-6

I have been so SPOILED this week!  I've felt extremely appreciated and I've loved receiving notes from staff members, homemade cards from students, books, posters, lunch, iced tea, candy, videos, songs, hugs, collages and so much much more!  I am so lucky to work with each and every one of you at Lee Elementary and I want to thank everyone for supporting me and trusting me with your kiddos.

Here are a few pics from the week: