Counselor's Corner
Ms. Barb - Animas Valley Elementary
Quote of the Week
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be!" ~ Shel Silverstein
Animas Valley Elementary School Counseling Program
As the school counselor I meet with each class once a week for counseling. In these guidance lessons, your student is actively in engaged in learning multiple skills and strategies to deal with issues such as how to handle bullies, conflict management and resolution, anger reduction, social friendship skills, how to make positive choices, how to recognize emotions and how to deal with strong emotions in a healthy way. I incorporate brain gym and stretching exercises into the lessons to teach kids how their bodies relate to their state of mind.
I also offer support to both students and parents when difficult situations arise. I can help with social, academic and family concerns. Please feel free to call or stop by to discuss an issue or ask questions or just to say hello. My door is always open!
Character Building
Every week, at our Monday Morning Meetings, we honor students for positive character traits.
FOR GRATITUDE and APPRECIATION
- Kindergarten - Trishell Cayaditto
- Second Grade - Tori Brunvand, Josh Dearien
- Third Grade - Riley Mata
- Fourth Grade - Mariya Duchol
- Fifth Grade - Ryann Daly, Josie Surmeier, Garrett Little
Our new theme is CREATIVITY. Creativity is one of the wonderful things about life that brings joy and magic into our everyday reality, and it is free!! According to Wikipedia, creativity is a mental and social process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Creativity is fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight. An alternative conception of creativeness (based on its etymology) is that it is simply the act of making something new.
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." ~Scott Adams
"Without change, there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable." ~ William Pollard
FOR CREATIVITY
First Grade - Jesse Goens, Andre DiGiacomo, Liam Dubois
Third Grade - Alli Bruce
Fifth Grade - Danny Thompson
AND, our very own, Lynn Millar, art teacher and Gala Gaines, 5th grade teacher!!
"The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself." ~ Alan Alda
Current Counseling Lessons
This week we defined bullying: it is intentional, it is harmful and hurtful, it is chronic (happens over and over again), and there is a power difference between the parties. We learned that anybody can be a bully. It does not matter what size or gender someone is. You cannot tell by looking. We learned that there is physical bullying that involves the body (shoving, spitting, tripping etc…) and that there is mental / emotional bullying (teasing, name calling and leaving a person out of activities). We learned that there are 3 parties involved with bullying: the bully, the victim and the bystander. Students also learned that there are bystanders who do nothing for a variety of reasons (are scared, don’t care or think it’s funny) and then there are bystanders who do the right thing, which is to tell an adult and get help because bullying is a BIG problem and needs immediate attention from someone who can make the bully stop. We learned that if we see bullying that we are going to make a good choice and get help to make it stop.
Kelso's Choices
A General Overview
The corner stone of the counseling program is Kelso's Choices. We started the year learning and practicing these choices, and we do so every year. Repetition is important in solidifying these important concepts by the time students move on to middle school. Our students are supported and encouraged to continue to use the skills that they learned to deal with small and BIG problems throughout the year.
For small problems try:
* Go to another game
* Talk it out
* Walk away
* Share and take turns
* Apologize
* Ignore it
* Tell them to stop
* Make a deal
* Wait and cool off
Students also learn that if you have a BIG problem that is scary or frightening that they need to tell the closest trusted adult immediately!
Needed
Loving, responsible families to take Snowflake, the counseling guinea pig, home for the weekends. I would be thrilled to give your students the opportunity to take care of Snowflake on the weekends. This responsibility includes: feeding, watering, cleaning the cage and spending quality time with Snowflake.
Comments and Questions
Do you have a topic you would like more information on?
A question about school counseling?
A tip you would like to share?
If so, please feel free to contact me
(970) - 247 - 0124 ext. 3423
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