Second Semester Club Day Selection

Information about Club Day was sent home and e-mailed to parents on Monday, December 7, 2015. If your child misplaced his or her form, you can print another one from my website by clicking here.

Instructions for Entering Club Choices Online
Click on your child's grade level below to enter their Club Day choices online. Remember, students need to turn their Club Day Selection Forms in to their homeroom teachers signed by a parent by Tuesday, December 16th.

Students will know what Club they are in on or before Tuesday, January 26th. If you have any questions, please let your child's teacher or Mrs. Blake know by e-mailing lauren.blake@trussvillecityschools.com.

November/December Lessons

Due to the holidays and numerous days out of school during the months of November and December, students will participate in one counseling lesson for these months.  Fourth grade students will be engaged in the second lesson in our bullying unit entitled "5 Ways to Stop a Bully".  Fifth grade students will participate in a lesson entitled "It Hurts".  This lesson focuses on rumors, gossip, teasing, taunting, and bullying.

Please check back next week for a blog post about these two lessons.

4th Grade - Red Ribbon Week Lesson 2015

Please read my previous post about the purpose of our Red Ribbon Week lessons before reading this post.

The lesson began with the students completing a pretest to assess what they know about drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

Next, students viewed a video entitled Your Body, Your Health, and Drugs published by Cerebellum Corporations.  While watching the video, students learned the difference between healthy and unhealthy choices as well as some of the dangers of using drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.  When the video was over, the students took the posttest and we discussed the answers to the questions above.

After we discussed each statement, I posed the question "What is peer pressure?"  Students discussed this question in their groups,  In order to illustrate the concept of peer pressure, the students watched a clip from an episode of Full House in which Stephanie is offered a cigarette while in the 6th grade.  Students were asked to take note of the tactics the girls used to try to get Stephanie to smoke as well as the steps Stephanie took to get herself out of the situation.

We discussed the reasons why peer pressure works.  We discussed the fact that peer pressure does not only pertain to drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.  Negative peer pressure occurs any time a peer tries to get you to do something that you do not want to do or that you know is not right such as calling someone a name, watching a movie you know you are not supposed to watch, playing a video game you know you are not supposed to play, etc.  We discussed effective strategies for dealing with peer pressure and students were given an opportunity to think about how they would deal with peer pressure in various situation.

Our lesson ended by discussing three of The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey.  Students were encouraged to discuss today's lesson with their parents and ask them any questions they may have on the topic.  Students were also reminded that I am available to discuss any concerns they  have on the topic and were reminded how to make an appointment to meet with me.

Thank you for your support of the school counseling program.  I know this is a sensitive topic, but it is one we must teach our students about so they have the knowledge and the skills to make safe, healthy choices.

5th Grade - Red Ribbon Week Lesson 2015

Please read my previous post about the purpose of our Red Ribbon Week lessons before reading this post.

The lesson began by asking the students to discuss the following questions with their small groups of 3-4 students:

• What does it mean to be healthy?
• What are some things we should not do, things that would hurt the way we think and act?
• What might happen to someone who smokes?
• What might happen to someone who drinks beer or other alcoholic drinks?
• Do you know of any other drugs that might keep us from being healthy and taking care of ourselves?

After around 5 minutes, we discussed the students' thoughts on each of these questions as a large group.  Students viewed a picture of a smoker's lungs compared to the lungs of a non-smoker and we discussed the health risks associated with smoking.  Students also viewed a picture of a 15-year-old male brain who does not drink alcohol compared to a 15-year-old male brain who drinks alcohol.  We discussed the dangers of drinking alcohol, especially as it pertains to underage drinking.

Next, the students viewed a video entitled The Boy Who Was Swallowed by the Drug Monster.  The story was written by the mother of a man who started using drugs at the age of 8 to cope with issues going on in his life.  The video is in the format of a picture book being read to the students and they are able to see the dangerous effects the drugs had on the boy and how the drugs changed his life.  The video is a very powerful video marketed for students in grades 3-5 and it shows students how a person can become addicted to drugs even after trying it one time.

After the video, we discussed the reason why Vince began using drugs in the first place - his mom and dad had gotten a divorce and Vince did not know what to do to make himself feel better about the divorce.  We talked about the fact that there will be times in life where we just don't feel happy and we need to know what to do during these times to get through them without getting ourselves into trouble.

Our lesson ended by discussing three of The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey.  Students were encouraged to discuss today's lesson with their parents and ask them any questions they may have on the topic.  Students were also reminded that I am available to discuss any concerns they  have on the topic and were reminded how to make an appointment to meet with me.

Thank you for your support of the school counseling program.  I know this is a sensitive topic, but it is one we must teach our students about so they have the knowledge and the skills to make safe, healthy choices.

Red Ribbon Week 2015

Dear Parents,

We hope that your child’s school year is off to a great start! We have already had some great lessons during counselor time that we hope will help prepare your child for certain social situations he/she may face. One of our upcoming lessons that we are required to teach by our state standards falls during the national Red Ribbon Week campaign.  This lesson occurs during the month of October and will focus on both healthy/unhealthy choices for our bodies and the dangers of drugs & alcohol.  These age-appropriate lessons will cover healthy versus unhealthy foods and other things, as well as drugs, medicines, and the difference between them.  We also will discuss that safe medicines should be given only by a trusted adult. They will also learn that alcohol is a danger for young bodies, so if they don’t know what it is, they should ask! As always, we look forward to working together to keep our children safe and informed so that they can continue making good choices throughout life!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Rachel Cox Osburn (K & 1^st Grade Counselor)

Rachel.cox@trussvillecityschools.com 205-228-3219

Mrs. Christy Naylor (2^nd & 3^rd Grade Counselor)

Christy.naylor@trussvillecityschools.com 205-228-3221

Mrs. Lauren Blake (4^th & 5^th Grade Counselor)

Lauren.blake@trussvillecityschools.com 205-228-3387

·         Alabama Counseling Standard: (K-12) Personal/Social Competency:

PS:C1.8- Learn about the emotional & physical dangers of substance use & abuse.

·         National Red Ribbon Week Information: http://redribbon.org/about/

4th Grade Bullying Unit, Lesson 1

This school year fourth grade students will participate in a unit of study on bullying when they come to counseling class each  month.  I am using lessons and videos from The Bully Proof Kit put out by Human Relations Media.  During the month of September, students participated in the first lesson of the unit called "Are You A Bully?"  The objectives for this lesson are listed below.

• Identify common bullying behaviors
• Better understand why some people resort to bullying
• Distinguish between teasing and bullying
• Determine the types of bullying we have occurring at our school and when/where this bullying is taking place
• Identify one thing we can start doing NOW to treat others better

The lesson began with the students completing a pre-test on bullying to assess how much they know about what makes a bully a bully.  Next, students watched a video from The Bully Proof Kit entitled "Are You A Bully?"  During the video, students witnessed kids their age going through situations including being teased, being left out, having a rumor spread about them, and being intimidated or threatened by other children.  After each video segment, we discussed what was taking place in each situation, why the bully was acting that way, and how the child being treated unkindly felt.  The students realized that many of us are guilty of displaying bullying behaviors and we do not even realize it!

After the video concluded, students worked in groups to write a definition of bullying.  They also worked with other students to identify what kinds of bullying we have going on at Paine Intermediate and when/where the bullying at our school usually takes place.  They recorded their thoughts on their handout and turned the handout in to me at the end of class.  I will use these handouts to identify bullying situations in our school and will share the results with school administrators so we can work together to combat any issues going on at Paine Intermediate.

 At the end of the lesson, all students were asked to answer the following question:  What is one thing you can start or stop doing today to treat others better?  I stressed the fact that all of us are not bullies, but we can all do something small each day to brighten someone's day and to make others feel valued.

The next lesson in our unit on bullying will be entitled "5 Ways to Stop A Bully".  This lesson will take place during the month of November.  In the meantime, if students feel that they are dealing with a bully, they should tell an adult immediately so we can help address the situation. I look forward to continue working with your children.  If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

5th Grade Lesson - Conflict Resolution

During the month of September, fifth graders participated in a lesson on conflict resolution.  Through class discussion and watching a video entitled Solving Conflicts with Teachers, Parents, and Peers (Human Relations Media, Inc.), we determined that conflict is normal and is not always a bad thing as long as we handle it appropriately. We discussed how poor communication leads to conflict and misunderstanding.  This includes the words we say but also our actions and body language as well.  We discussed guidelines for talking it out effectively and how to apply the "Rules of Fair Play" to conflict situations.  We also discussed the fact that we are responsible for our own actions and reactions.  This is Habit 1 from The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, Be Proactive!

Selected slides from the PowerPoint presentation I used for this lesson are pictured below.  It is my hope that students remember the conflict resolution skills we discussed in this lesson and begin to apply them in their daily interactions at school and at home.

What do you see in the picture above?  Some students saw two faces looking at each other whereas others saw a table, candlestick, and birdbath. 

What do you see in the second picture?  Some students saw a lady's face whereas others saw a man playing a saxophone.  In life, we see things differently, just as we saw different things in the pictures above.

The lesson reinforced the fact that we cannot solve conflicts when we are angry.  We discussed taking time to calm down and think before we try to solve a conflict.  We also talked a lot about the use of "I" statements.  Instead of telling someone everything they did wrong in the situation, rephrase what  you want to say and tell them how you feel or how it appeared to you.  For example, instead of saying "You are mean because you left me sitting all by myself in the courtyard", say "I felt left out when you went to play with her in the courtyard.  I felt alone and upset because I didn't have anyone to talk to."  By rephrasing our statements, we are not accusing the other person of anything and we allow the other person to really see how we feel.

Thank you in advance for reinforcing these conflict resolution skills with your children.  We will continue to work on conflict resolution here at school and help the students learn to apply these skills in their everyday lives.