Friday, January 29, 2016

Friday Freebies (Social Filter)

Red, Yellow, and Green Thoughts Visual

Social Skills Freebie   Filter Out  "Tame The Monster"

Filter the Thoughts worksheet

All of the links below connect you to some really great lesson ideas!
Our SOCIAL FILTER by Jill D. Kuzma : (find more PDF worksheets by Jill HERE)








Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Valentine's Day Themed Counseling

I like to use themed-lessons throughout the year.  Valentines day is coming up so I have been preparing lessons that correlate with the "holiday".  These are a few of the books that I use during the month of February:

I did an entire post about The Day it Rained Hearts last February. You can find that post HERE and you can order the book HERE.  How cute is this bulletin board by myclassroomideas.com?
The Day It Rained Hearts In First Grade Valentine's Day Bulletin Board

Crankenstein Valentine is a cute story about a boy who doesn't want to do Valentine's activities.  He has a bad attitude about all things related to the holiday.  Here are some activities that would go well with the story:

Crankenstein Valentine {Freebie}

Crankenstein Story Common Core Activities-February

Arthur's Heart Mix-Up:  This book doesn't seem to be available to purchase directly through Amazon at the moment but most school libraries have books from the Arthur series.  You can also purchase a used copy on Amazon.  This is a cute book for leading a discussion on empathy, compassion, friendship, problem-solving, mindset etc...  Aruthur is working on his science project when his dog, Pal, messes up his project.  Arthur is "heart broken" about his project.  Arthur's friends cheer Arthur up and help him finish his project.  

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Counseling Vidoes

I often use movies or movie clips s to reinforce my counseling lessons.  Here are some of my favorites:

  
  Natural High:  Natural High is a nonprofit organization that spreads a message that it's cooler to say yes to a natural high and no to drugs.  Natural High captures the stories of role models-word renowned athletes, celebrities, artists and musicians who believe in a drug-free lifestyle-and create captivating videos and research based curricula for educators and parents, completely free of charge.

Auto B Good:  I use these videos with my 2nd graders.  Auto-B-Good is a character development series featuring animated vehicles, each with his or her own personality.

Berenstain Bears DVD's:  I use these videos with k-1 students.  Each DVD has several episodes and each one teaches a lesson/moral/value of some sort.  

Veggie Tales:  These are great videos to use with k-2 students.  These are the educational series and are not religious.  Each tale teaches a valuable lesson.  Larry Boy and the Fib From Outer Space is my favorite of the bunch and teaches about honesty and lying.  Are You My Neighbor? is about respecting each other even though we all have our differences.  The Story of Flibber-o-loo is about empathy and compassion.  Each of these videos has a downloadable discussion guide and coloring sheet as well.  

The next series of videos are the videos that I use when teaching careers to middle school students.  The Careers Video Tour needs to be updated so I'm not sure that I would recommend it.   The other three videos are great!  My favorite is From Sports to Career.  I also like the Major Decision Career Series from New Dimensions.

The Wumblers is another series that I use.  I use these videos in small group or individual sessions.  The Wumblers devote each lesson to making the world a better place. 

Other Movies that I have used during counseling sessions:
Inside Out:  Check out the Helpful Counselor's post:  20+ counseling themes found in Inside Out
The Lorax:  Citizenship/Perseverance
Monster University:  Career and College Readiness.  Check out http://monstersuniversity.com/edu/  as well.  It is made to look like an actual college webpage and there are a few activities.
Mean Girls:  Relational Aggression (I only use clips from this video as there are parts of the video that are not age appropriate)
Odd Girl Out:  Relational Aggression (I only use clips from this video as well)
X-Men:  First Class-Self-Esteem (I only use clips from this video.  You can find a lesson from Elementary School Counseling using X-Men: First Class HERE.)
Buddy Learns to Listen:  Listening grades k-2
Buddy Learns to Play Fair:  Sportsmanship/Fairness grades k-2
Buddy Learns from his Mistakes:  Consequences of a Poor Attitude grades k-2
You can also visit Elementary School Counseling's Amazon Store for some great movies!  Make sure you check out her blog as well!

The Helpful Counselor also posted about counseling themes found in Star Wars:  The Force Awakens

If you are a high school counselor make sure you check out this list of lifetime movies.  There are discussion guides and resources that go along with them!

The Pioneer Woman blogged about must see movies for counselors when her own daughter was pursuing a counseling degree.  There are some great recommendations in this list!

Amazon Prime is currently offering a 30-day FREE trial of Amazon Prime!   With Amazon Prime, you get unlimited, instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows.  In addition, your free trial will give you access to free 2-day shipping and other Amazon Prime benefits.  You won't be charged anything for your free trial as long as you cancel it before the 30 days is up.  If you choose to keep your membership you will automatically be upgraded to a paid prime membership at the end of the free trial.  Th is a great opportunity to check out some movies for free!

*To cancel your free membership you will need to do the following:
  1.  Go to https://www.amazon.com/gp/primecentral.
  2.  Click Do not continue.
    • Note: If you don't cancel your Amazon Prime free trial, you will be automatically upgraded to a paid membership plan at the end of the trial period. You can find this date listed on the left-hand side of the Manage Your Prime Membership page. You will still have access to your Prime benefits until this date.










Monday, January 4, 2016

Goal Setting and Self-Reflection

It is a new year and we've just about reached the half-way point in our school year.  This is a great time to do some self-reflection and goal setting.  After returning from our holiday break, my sessions are going to focus on just that!  All of my students have counseling goals so it is a good time to review those goals, reflect and make adjustments.  I'm connecting to many goal-setting lessons and most of them have a New Year's Resolution theme.  I am using goal setting terminology verses the whole New Year's Resolution terminology but I thought some of these lessons that were New Year's themed were fun and could easily be adapted to focus on goal setting.  The Helpful Counselor wrote a blog post about the difference between goals and resolutions HERE.  Oh, and all of the materials below are FREE!!!


New Year's Resolutions and Goals Mobile 2016 Edition {FREEBIE}

New Year's Writing Project for Elementary Students

New Year Writing & Goals Activities for 2015 - Free

FREE New Year 2015 - SMART Goal Setting Flip Book

My Self-Reflection Report Card {FREEBIE}

Student Goal Setting Checklist

New Year's Resolution Tab Book

Student Goals

2016 Goals Calendar: A Printable Planner for Tweens With Executive Functioning Issues:  At first glance this just looks like an ordinary calendar with lines off to the size.  Make sure that you go to the end of the pack where there are goals along with a list of ways to reach each goal!


http://www.themiddleschoolcounselor.com/:  This is a great post about setting SMART goals:)
(image and materials found at http://www.themiddleschoolcounselor.com/)