Mrs. Crabtree's Counseling Corner

While we are all quarantined and unable to reach our students face to face, it has been an interesting challenge trying to stay connected.  I am learning so much, and so thankful for the things I had in place even before we were quarantined.  Here are a few ways I am staying connected with students.  Google classroom:  I have been using google classroom with my grades 3-5 students for a few years.  Thankfully, it was loaded with lessons for them to review while I was adding new ones.  I only wish I had started this with K-2.  I am fearful about adding more to their little plates, so I will definitely be doing that once we return. Google Hangouts:   Google hangouts has been nice to be able to stay connected one on one with students.  I am able to text but in a secure place where they won't see my number.   Google Hangout Meet :  I did this today and was so excited to see my students!  I added the join link to ...

In a time when everyone gets a trophy, I am finding more and more students really can't handle losing a game, or not being the BEST at something.  Thankfully, Julia Cook has come up with this great book to help us address this.  In the book it refers to "you can't win a coin toss every time," so I ran with that and decided to help kids learn how to lose.  In this activity, I pair the students up, and one decides who is heads and one decides who is tails.  I give them one minute and let them play heads or tails as many times as they can.  They mark who won on each round.  Whoever has the most wins after the minute is over, wins the round.  Then I ask the students who did not win, to sit at the carpet.  We proceed to play again until only their is only one winner.  That winner gets to pick a prize out of my prize bag.  This is a risky lesson I must say, but it's proven to be very effective if I preceed the lesson with the following disclai...

   For years I have been hearing the debate between Guidance Counselors versus School Counselors.  I used to think it didn't really matter.  Boy was I wrong!!!  After reading the research behind why we need to change our title, I am convinced it's time to begin implementing this change.  This helped me so much in figuring out why we should be advocating for the change.   

This is my 12th year as a School Counselor, and this year is proving to be quite a challenge!  I have taken on more roles in my professional organizations, and am so grateful to do so. However, learning to balance both is taking some getting used to.  With that in mind, I gave myself permission to scale back a little on trying to come up with my own amazing lessons for Guidance.  Thank goodness I did!  I have discovered some wonderful resources and lessons that I just had to share!  PS...I don't make any money for endorsing any of these products.  I'm just a regular ole counselor who likes to share what she knows.  First, you MUST check out  Eve Coates ' Teacher's Pay Teacher's store!  She is amazing!  She has wonderful powerpoints on each of the 7 habits, as well as growth mindset, and so much more!  What I LOVE about her work, is how it's student friendly for grades K-5, and easily adaptable.  They almost always take ...

I knew that Google was amazing, but this year, I am learning even more amazing things that Google can do, and how to incorporate into my Counseling Program.  For starters, I have upgraded my School Counselor Request form and learned how to make it two or three forms in one.  I plan on doing a screencastify tutorial very soon!  This has been a game changer.  Now, students, teachers, and parents need only find one link in order to communicate their needs to me.  Next on my Google adventures is how I've been able to use Google Sites to develop Leadership Notebooks for all students in Grades 3-5.  Students are loving being able to add their data into this digital notebook, and I am certain this will be big selling point for parents when Student Led Conferences begin next month.  I helped all the students set up their site in Guidance this week, and they have each shared them with me.  This is allowing me to see right away how they are doing in their ...

This book is an excellent source for teaching how to Synergize.  I love using for students in Grades 1-3 because it offers insight into how to deal with difficult students in a group.  This week in Guidance, I spent the entire 30 minutes, just reading and discussing the book.  Next week, we will use what we learned this week, to practice Synergizing. I feel it's important to let kids practice this skill in a safe way.  Often times, the teachers is so busy making sure the content gets completed in a group, the actual skill of synergizing isn't easy to emphasize, which results in conflicts, power struggles, and misguided groups.  Here are some key points of discussion I used this week when reading this book. 1.  How many of you have ever had to work in a group with people you didn't care for? 2.  Have you ever had any one in your group that was bossy, gross, or not as smart as you? 3.  Sometimes we have students in our group that are not a...

It has been a crazy start to the year this school year; hence, the no new blog posts!  Now that the beginning of the year is behind me, I feel more refreshed and ready to share some exciting new things I have been trying this year.  My most favorite is I have added a new way for students to get in touch with me.  Typically, I have a hard copy of a school counselor request form.  This was great and all, but I had a hard time keeping all those slips of paper put away and filed, and often times, they'd get stacked under a pile of other things I had to get done.  So many times, I would forget to pull that student.  To resolve this, I created a school counselor request form (google forms are my best friend) for students to complete online.  From my school's website, the students can easily access this form, and submit it in literally seconds.  Then, the response goes straight to my email and I can easily access and organize all the students I am seei...

A fun activity for the little ones to keep them engaged.  After reading the story "The Day the Crayons Quit," as a class let the students come up and move the crayon to the column that shows what mindset that crayon showed.  The kids loved it!  Click here for the Powerpoint !

This lesson is great for getting a pre-assessment from your students regarding how they view bullies and targets.  It opens up the floor for lots of conversations and intersting discussions about stereotypes, and their own experiences with Bullying.  It helps me know what I need to make sure I touch on with that class and what I can leave out.  My goal is that the studnets are able to show me that they understand that oftentimes, a bully can be anyone, and bullies because they are hurting inside. Also, that a target, can be just about anyone!   Here's how it works:  Hand out the outline of the bully  or target .  Say:  Decorate your person according to how you think a bully or target really looks.  Give about 10-15 minutes for them to do so, allowing them to really explore how they view bullies and target.   Say:  Now, around the head write things you think that person might be thinking. Say:  Next, draw a heart...

Our kiddos are really struggling this year with Time Management!  I have done this lesson for several years, but today, I decided to add a Leadership Tool from the Leader in Me, and it's made all the difference.  What I did was I provided the students a list of activities to do and they had to put them into the Time Matrix.  The one I created looks a little different than what Franklin Covey suggests, because it is in kid-friendly language. Another new spin I put on this lesson was I added Julia Cook's book "Planning isn't my Priority and Making Priorities isn't in My Plan!"  The kids love it!!!  It helped me introduce the word Priority and really got the conversation started about how to begin setting them.  

I will never forget the day we had our informal review to determine if we could apply for "Lighthouse Status."  This is the Holy Grail of the Leader in Me Initiative, and an extremely high honor for any school that obtains it.  We had been implementing the Leader in Me for four years, and were just sure we were ready!  Well it didn't take long for us to realize... WE WEREN'T!  As the reviewer began to explain to us all the things we weren't doing right, and that we needed to "go deeper" and that it wasn't "ubiquitous" (I had to look that word up),  I have to admit, I was crushed! However, two years later, I am so glad she did!  We as a school decided to really tighten up on the suggestions that she gave, and made a goal that by 2016, we'd have it!  Well, in May of 2016, we GOT IT!  I wanted to share with you the top 5 things we did to deepen our implementation of the Leader in Me. Leadership tools are HUGE in the Leader in Me I...

This week I am working on making sure I am really understanding what my students need.  I decided to take this week to survey the students and try to get a true picture about what they like about Guidance, what they need from Guidance, and essentially their overall outlook on school and how they fit.  Unlike other "minute meetings" I couldn't pull each kid individually, so I did this with the whole class. I'm excited to share my results with you, but thought I'd share the survey in case you'd like to try it out.  Enjoy! Student survey Beginning of the year

It's been quite a busy summer, and I haven't had a chance to announce just how proud I am of my school for achieving Lighthouse Status!!!  It took us 6 years of learning, growing, and working together to achieve this milestone!  I can't wait to share with all of you the things that we learned from this final year that moved us toward our goal.  It's not just about knowing the 7 Habits, you have to live them!  Stay tuned for more posts about going deeper in the Leader in Me and how to move your school towards your goals!

Of course Julie Cook continues to be my go to Author for teaching my Guidance Lessons.  When I needed a quick safety lesson for my K-2 students, I was so happy to have discovered The Bubble Wrap Queen .  I love how the book doesn't talk about he scary scenarios that most personal safety books do.  It makes it fun and interesting and very easy for kids to remember safety rules.  Since I always like to include some kind of activity at the end of my lessons, I created this to tie it all in. Hopefully you will find this helpful as well.

Gina Crabtree @McNeillAdmirals selected as the Ky rep for 2016 School Counselor of the Year https://t.co/rNWv4M1Bqn pic.twitter.com/zSQZb22von — BG City Schools (@BGISD) November 12, 2015

I was shocked to learn that many of my students did not know what Peer Pressure meant. As if on cue,  I found this awesome book by Julia Cook to help me illustrate it.  The kids really enjoyed it!  I did it with Grades 3-5, and for Grades 1-2 we focused on making friends.  In order to make my life easier, I try hard to stick with the same themes for all the grade levels.  I hope you find this l esson plan  helpful as you move forward in your year.  

I have always felt like I had a good handle on the first Guidance Lesson for the Year.  This just comprises my lesson called " The School Counselor is. .."  Well, I have been doing this for 8 years, and my own daughter whose now a 5th grader told me, "Mom, I've heard that lesson since Kindergarten!"  Crushed, I decided I better spice it up a little.  So in the spirit of spicing it up, and OPGES I decided I'd let the students tell me what they think I do.  Yes you heard me!  I surveyed my students the very first week of school.  Now, let me back up and say that I only did this with 3-5.  I figured they've heard the same spill for years too, but the little guys need to hear my original lesson. I gave each student a post it, and told them to tell me what they think I do.  I explained they could recall a lesson I have taught, or how I've helped them etc.  If they were new, I told them to tell me what they thought I might do, or they were a...

After 8 years as a School Counselor I finally did it!  I made a brochure for my parents!  My hope is that parents will be able to see my roles in the school and utilize me in the best way possible. I want them to see me as  resource, and not just a "Guidance Teacher." Hopefully you will find it helpful as you develop one for your parents.

Having a growth mindset is one of the first things that the Seven Habits teaches us.  "I have a can do attitude."  In this lesson , I plan to assess how the kids are grasping the concepts of having  a growth versus a fixed mindset.  I've taken common themes and phrases in each mindset, and the students will cut and sort them.  I will allow them to work in groups in hopes that they will have a meaningful discussion as they work.

Last week, we learned about having a Growth Mindset.  This week, I am hoping to go a little further with this topic by using this "Star Wars' clip.  I found this amazing website called Step-up 2 thrive .  This site does a lot of work with Mindset and is helping me find resources to support what I am doing in the classroom.  LESSON PLAN:  REVISED TO MEET MY STUDENTS' NEEDS Tell students to do the following: (WORKSHEET PROVIDED ) 1.  On the side labeled,   On the side labeled, "Things that are hard", list things that you struggle with, or challenge you.  In the column labeled, "Things I say to myself about doing these things," have students write phrases they may say to themselves when something becomes difficult.  Here are a few examples:  I can't Too Hard There's no Way It's too much This is gonna take forever 2..  Show video clip:  3.  After viewing clip, Have students answer the following questions...