Counseling Connections: December 2016

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Rudolph (Bullying, Diversity)

I found a lesson from WWW.PACER.ORG using Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and decided to use the lesson with one of my 3rd grade classes today. I started out showing the students the YouTube clip of Rudolph being teased for being different from his peers. We then used the discussion questions from the teaching guide and talked about differences and shining bright. I also showed students the YouTube clip of the misfit toys and we talked about their feelings as well. If you don't remember the misfit toys, they are the toys who were banished to a cold island because they were unique and didn't look like the other toys. We then used the star template included in the Activity Guide and completed the sentence, My star shines bright because________________________.

Image result for rudolph the red nosed reindeer bullying

Connections:

YouTube Link: Rudolph Gets Teased by the other reindeer

YouTube Link: The Island of the Misfit Toys

Discussion and Activity Guide

Friday, December 16, 2016

Being Wendy (Careers)

I recently ordered the book Being Wendy and have been using it to plan career lessons for my 1st grade classrooms. Last year I used Career Critters but I felt like it would have been more suitable for my kindergarten students. Being Wendy is great because you can tie in some lessons on self-acceptance and diversity as well.

Book Description: Wendy lives in an odd town where everyone has to wear a box. These boxes are labeled with what each person does. The teacher wears a TEACHER box. The baker wears a BAKER box. Even the doctor wears a DOCTOR box! These boxes are worn for life and Wendy has to choose hers soon. How will she ever decide on just one box? She's interested in so many things! Wendy's moxie makes her break out of her box . . . And she sets the whole town on end when she does!

Connections:
Ms. Sepp's Counselor Corner posted some great discussion questions as well as a craftivity to go along with the story.

The Corner On Character also shared some great ideas about "thinking outside the box".

If you want a lesson for older students (3-4) you could use this lesson: schoolcounseling.weebly

http://www.sparksinslp.com/blog/thinking-outside-the-box

Being Wendy Prezi

Friday, December 9, 2016

Snowflake Bentley (Perseverance)

Snowflake Bentley is a biography about the life of Wilson Bentley, a self-taught scientist who photographed thousands of snowflakes and studied their uniqueness. While other children built forts and pelted snowballs at roosting crows, Willie used an old microscope to look at flowers, raindrops, blades of grass, and snow. Willie's parents bought him a camera that made it possible for him to photograph the snowflakes. His first pictures were failures but mistake by mistake, snowflake by snowflake, Willie worked through every storm. Even though Willie didn't give up, that winter ended and he still wasn't able to accomplish his goal. He finally accomplished his goal the second winter, but he still faced obstacles. Sometimes the snowflakes were broken and he had to wait hours before finding one that was just right. If the shed was warm, the snow would melt. If he twitched a muscle, the snowflake would break. If he didn't work carefully and quickly the snowflakes would evaporate. Willie's work was greatly respected near the end of his life. He came to be known as the world's expert on snow and other scientists raised money to help him publish his book. I have used this book to teach two different lessons. The first lesson is on Diversity and the second is on Perseverance. You can purchase the book HERE.