School Counselor Resources: Lessons

As the school counselors, Mrs. Bryson and I will be in the classrooms providing lessons on academic, career, and social and emotional needs. Each year we schedule times in each classroom to provide monthly whole group lessons. We will provide lessons and materials for students and teachers relating to peace education, character development, and academic growth throughout the year based on the ASCA National Model, the Florida School Counseling Frameworks and the identified needs of each class at J. Allen Axson Montessori School.

2017 - 2018 LESSON TOPICS

October
Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
MindUp Lesson One ~ The Brain
October Parent/Teacher Newsletter link

November
Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
Child Safety Matters
MBF Child Safety Matters™ is a comprehensive, research-based, prevention education program that educates and empowers children and all relevant adults with information and strategies to prevent, recognize, and respond appropriately to bullying, cyberbullying, all types of abuse, digital abuse, and other digital dangers.

December

Upper Elementary
Mindful Awareness & Neuroplasticity
We read the book, So Few of Me, and discussed the difference between being mindful and having your mind full of thoughts, worries and overwhelming emotions. We practiced calming our amygdala using breathing exercises so that we can more easily access calm when we need it throughout the day.

January
Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary

MindUp - Choose Kind
We celebrated and learned more about kindness by participating in the Great Kindness Challenge and exchanging compliments during our lesson. Through the release of oxytocin and serotonin kindness has a positive, rewarding affect on the brain. Doing good feels good!
January Parent/Teacher Newsletter link.

February
Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
MindUp - Perspective Taking, Empathy & the Brain
We have to use our prefrontal cortex to be empathetic. We want that area of our brain where we think, reason and regulate our emotions to be strong, so we practiced being empathetic using scenarios and listened to a fun song about empathy. Just like most of the concepts we have been learning about, the more you practice, the easier it becomes. (Neuroplasticity 😁)

March
Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
Mindful Listening
After reviewing the 3 main parts of the brain we have been learning about this year (amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex), we learned about the reticular activating system or RAS. The RAS connects the brain stem to the PFC and other parts of the brain. It acts like a filter since the brain cannot process all of the information that comes at it at once. We have to pay attention to what we are paying attention to and practice tuning our listening brains to our teacher's voice and other important sounds. We played an active game called scoot to practice tuning our listening.

April
Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
Testing, Anxiety and the Brain
We played test taking scoot and practiced some relaxation skills in preparation for the upcoming testing schedule.

May
Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
Exploring college, careers and transitions

2016-2017 - District Specialist, School Counseling

2015-2016 - District Specialist, School Counseling

2014-2015 LESSON TOPICS
September
Primary / Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
Meet the school counselor
Sept/Oct Newsletter

October
Primary / Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
Learning about empathy

November/December
Primary / Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
Growth Mindset and the brain

Nov/Dec Newsletter

January
Primary / Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
The Great Kindness Challenge - How will you show kindness?

February
Primary / Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
Listening lessons - Let's practice and grow our listening abilities
January/February Newsletter

March
Primary - Responding to Anger
Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
Practicing test strategies with BINGO - calming strategies

April
Primary / Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
Age appropriate child safety lessons

May
Primary / Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary
Exploring careers and future possibilities

2013-2014 LESSON TOPICS

August/September
What does a School Counselor Do?

September
Primary Lessons - Tattling vs. Telling

September Newsletter
Lesson Plan:

October
Lower Elementary Lessons - Don't Bite when it comes to Teasing
Connect to the website for the Simon's Hook book here.
October LE Newsletter

Upper Elementary Lessons - My Secret Bully
Dealing with relational aggression and strategies to respond to bullying. Cross the line activity here.
UE Oct Newsletter

November

Primary/ Lower Elementary / Upper Elementary - Conflict Resolution
The focus of these lessons is sharing problem solving strategies and learning to use the conflict resolution bridge as a communication tool when disagreements arise.

See the conflict resolution bridge template for LE/UE here. Here is the lesson plan and the newsletter. (You may have to click the download button in Google docs.) See the peaceful conflict resolution poster given to each upper elementary class during Peace Week here.

December
Students experience the value of listening through games and activities.
Overall listening lesson plan.
Upper Elementary - Listening Lesson and Middle School Newsletter
Lower Elementary - Listening Lesson game and following directions quiz
Primary *Class poster *Howard B Wigglebottom website

January
Lower Elementary - Goal setting
The students learned how to set a school related SMART goal and made action plans to achieve their goals.
Upper Elementary - Middle School presentations from James Weldon Johnson, Kirby Smith, and Darnell Cookman Medical Magnet

February
The Calming Kit - Choosing an anger response

Upper Elementary, Lower Elementary and Primary - Lesson on responding appropriately to anger with scenarios, book sharing and song. Each class received a "Calming Kit" with scented clay, a relaxing glitter bottle and anger choice cards. Talk with your student about ways they can calm down before responding in anger.

Anger Choice cards

March/April
Child Safety Lessons
Age appropriate lessons on keeping our bodies safe.

In the Primary classrooms we focused on making sure our bodies are treated respectfully because they are special. Primary Newsletter

In the Lower and Upper Elementary classes we talked about various forms of abuse and how we can respond to help keep ourselves safe. We discussed how bullying affects individuals and our school atmosphere and how we can be upstanders to help support our friends and reduce bullying.

April/May
Career Lessons
In the Primary classes we read LMNO Peas and answered the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" We also played career bingo and hope to get more exposure to jobs and career related topics at Vanhoy's Voracious Reading Celebration.

Lower and Upper Elementary students will have the option to research a career and begin exploring their personal strengths and interests as they relate to the world of work.

May
Transition Lessons for K, 3rd, and 5th grade students

2012-2013 LESSON TOPICS
September Lessons: Meet Your School Counselor