What's Next....

First off, I would like to say "Happy Summer!" Long live the days of long summer nights, laying by the pool, checking off to do lists, and tons of time with family and friends. If you are reading this right now...."You SO deserve it!" I started my summer off right (even though I will work 4 days a week for about 3 weeks more). I foresee many pool days with big hats and Starbucks with the hubby and the kiddos!

Second, I would like to thank you all for your support. I can't believe The Stylish School Counselor has grown in followers and FB likes even though I have been missing for the last couple of months. Y'all, I just can't even....
Your support has been absolutely amazing and your emails checking on me have been down right sweet! Two years ago I never would have imagined I would be TPT'ing it up and using a blog to network with some of the coolest educators around the world!! I have made some wonderful friends through blogging!

If you read my post about my little mid-year change (you can read it HERE) then I am sure you can imagine why I have been missing! So, what came of that temporary position? I got the job as an assistant principal intern. In our district, if you get hired you are an intern for two years and then after that you are an official assistant principal. It is an awesome set up. You have two years to see if you are what they want as a leader and on the flip side, you have two years to see if it is what you really want to do. I see it as a win-win situation! I will miss counseling but must say that it has actually been a huge part of my job still. I have to share this picture of how sweet our amazing counseling director and her assistant are. They surprised me at school with flowers and gave me hugs when it was announced. I can't even begin to say how much I will miss them. Absolutely amazing. But who is to say I won't venture back to counseling one day. I am 32 so who knows what the future holds.

So, you may be thinking..."What does that mean for The Stylish School Counselor?" This site will continue. I love blogging. I love networking with you all. I love sharing ideas. I will always share counseling ideas. You can never STOP being a counselor no matter what you do. I feel that being a counselor is engrained in my heart and is extremely vital in my days as an AP.

I love fashion, so wear to work series will continue (hopefully with Andrea at JyJoyner Counselor), my TPT store will continue strong (I will be adding counseling, lesson plans, and instructional resources), and sharing counseling ideas will continue. I would love to see the site evolve into a one stop place for educators that still has a heart for counseling. I would love your ideas on whether I should keep the name or change it. You can vote below!!!!

VOTE HERE

I am also collecting ideas as to what units or things in my TPT store you would like to see! You can add ideas HERE!

I hope you all have a wonderful summer! I will hopefully have a summer wear to work series in the next week for those of you who are still working and want ideas on a professional but laid back summer look!  And of course, since I have been MIA, I have a little Bully Free mini poster set for you all for FREE for a limited time (FREE until June 9th)!!!! These would be great to have printed large at Costco to grace your hallways or even framed in your office area. These would also be great for teacher classrooms!

You can get your set FREE HERE until June 9th! Happy Summer!!!!

Haters Gonna' Hate....

Resiliency is something that I feel students are just really struggling with these days. The ability to bounce back...and the coping skills to become stronger. I was thinking long and hard about this the other day because "bless their hearts" my heart breaks for them. I was sitting at my desk after many conversations that day wondering what I could do? How can I help them see that this is only temporary? Why are kids not as resilient as years past?

Then it hit me. These kids deal with a whole ugly side of bullying, judgement, and attacks. They deal with technology. I can't imagine as a kid to deal with drama at school and then have it follow you home 24/7 because that's how long these kids usually have their phones on them on top of whatever is going on at home and with school work.

When I was in school (I know I am officially old for saying that), kids could escape the name calling or the comments at home but now it's on a whole new level. It's funny because when I talk to kids and we work on coping skills, I always tell them..."Haters gonna hate."

The kids give me a super awkward look and then say, "You're so right, Mrs. Acker!" Of course, this is after laughing at me (an old person who is a mommy and watches My Little Pony and Pokemon every night...don't judge)!

One of the things I discuss with students when we discuss coping and building resiliency is that there are negative people out there and we can't change or conform to their opinions about us because some of those negative people will STILL have something rude to say regardless. We use YouTube, online articles, and Instagram as examples. I spoke with a kiddo the other day about the new Taylor Swift video that they loved. We discussed the comments on the video and if they thought there were more negative or positive.

We then talked about how our actions and choices affect what people say. Will it stop all rude comments if we are wise in our decision making? No, not always. But we can find confidence in knowing that we are doing what we can do to make things better for ourselves and there will always be "haters."

I refer to this so much that I made a sign. Is it cheesy. Maybe. Is it a good saying? Oh yes! So for Cyber Monday...I am sharing a freebie with you along with a long story and example. Ha!

 You can get your own HERE! 

I think it's important to show our students that there are negative people and we can't let them control how we feel about ourselves or the decisions that we make. We can be respectful and show kindness in the face of negativity and after that....it's out of our control. We can't control other people's feelings...we can make an impact but we can't control them.

It's also important for parents to understand the difficulties that our kids face these days by educating them through parent meetings and providing resources.

Here are some helpful resources for you to use: 

Article on Helping Teens Manage Technology:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/five_tips_for_helping_teens_manage_technology

Article on Building Resiliency in Children:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/emotional-wellness/Building-Resilience/Pages/Building-Resilience-in-Children.aspx

25 Ideas for Teaching Your Kids Resiliency: (Great for Younger Kids/Toddlers)
http://creativewithkids.com/25-ideas-for-teaching-your-kids-resiliency/

Many of you have asked or emailed to see what I have been up to. I just love y'all! I love seeing my counselor friends on Instagram so you can find me there when I don't blog as much! My username is: melroseacker or you can click the icon on the top of this page.

So...what have I been up to? I have been enjoying Thanksgiving break with my sweet family and friends and getting excited for the Christmas season! I was able to attend an awesome counseling conference at the beginning of November and got some amazing ideas from the impressive presenters which I will share in another post! Other than that, I am just being thankful for each day...

Sweet time with sweet kiddos

Fun with friends

Getting ready for Christmas!

Enjoying a little Starbucks before the conference

Thanksgiving with my biggest blessings

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and take time for YOU to relax during this wonderful yet busy time of year!! Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

Who is Counting Down??

Do any of you have summer fever yet? If I said no, it would be a lie. I absolutely love my job but I am ready to lay out, bring my kiddos to the splash park and library, and have tons of play dates with my BFF!!

Lately, I have been trying to reflect on this year and plan for next year. I have ideas of things I want to implement next year and want to make sure I jot it all down while it's fresh on my mind. Often we have lots of ideas but when we start back and get overwhelmed with beginning of the year stuff, we forget all of those great initiatives!! I am so buying a cute notebook like this to start jotting down ideas this summer. Do you ever just have an idea come to you randomly? I do all the time. This way, I can carry this around and jot it down as it comes to mind.

These cute monogrammed journals along with other cute stuff can be found HERE at The Sister Studio!

 One thing that brightened my week last week were these sweet notes from students. I asked if they were required to make them and their teacher said no which melted my heart even more.

Today, I am focusing on Bullying Resources. I think Bullying Education is so important in school not for the obvious reason of educating our kiddos for prevention but also so parents and kids actually know what bullying is.


At my last school, I held a parent meeting on bullying. I felt it was vital for them to know what bullying is. I used to have many reports from parents and kids on things that were not even bullying and were more one time discipline issues. So we discussed a couple of things:


1. Location (is it at school or home)
2. Occurrences (was it a one time thing or has it happened numerous times)
3. Nature (are they ignoring them because they don't want to be their friend and are being respectful about it or are they purposely excluding them)







We then discussed how to handle various situations and I provided parents resources to take home. It also helped at the beginning of the year to put a name with a face so that we, as the counselor and parents, could build a good relationship.

In the younger grades, I think education on Bully Prevention is SO important. This may include guidance lessons, announcements, words of the week that focus on character, and small group activities.

I must say that I love these websites. They have games, activity ideas, and cute videos for all age groups:

http://www.pacerkidsagainstbullying.org/#/home

http://www.stopbullying.gov/kids/webisodes/


And these are some of my favorite books on the topic:

 

These would be fun to do book studies on in middle school for small group sessions:

 

I also have a new Bully Free Kid unit in my TPT store!! You can find it HERE!

I tried to make it kid-friendly, easy to print, and ready to use with no prep!!

I also wanted to share a great new product for your stylish needs!! : )

A sweet reader sent me the 3D Fiber Lash Mascara by Younique. It is absolutely amazing. I had heard about it but I wasn't sure if I would like it. Luckily, she sent me one to try out and review and I am officially in love. If you know me, I am always looking for good eye makeup to emphasize my smaller, almond shaped eyes. This makes a huge difference and one of my students asked if I was wearing fake lashes. Hey I try to look stylish...but ain't nobody got time for that...haha!

I don't know......#middleschoolduckface/puzzledface....lol

Add caption

I am not sure why I look much more tan in one pic than the other but it made my lashes drastically fuller and longer. The one on the left is plain ol' mascara (and I have a crazy eye) and the one on the right is the fiber lashes. I have super fine, short lashes so yours may look totally more amazing. For my short lashes.....this is big!

I am never going back...it is so worth it!!! I think that with makeup the eyes makes the biggest difference!!

If you would like to purchase it, contact Jennifer Simard at 978-479-9494 or at

• https://www.facebook.com/Younique4lashenvy
• www.4lashenvy.com

I can't imagine using any other mascara now. So thanks Jennifer for giving me some fab lashes!!



Before I go I wanted to share an easy way to dress up on a jean day without being too overdressed. Our awesome principal gave us the rest of the year to wear jeans!!! On Fridays, I will totally wear a t-shirt and jeans but I am hoping to get creative the rest of the days!

Here is a simple outfit with a little bit of sass.

I got a simple black peplum top on clearance at Charming Charlie, blue skinny jeans (well not on me...haha) on clearance at Target, leopard wedges at Kohls many years ago, and a blue chain style necklace from my fav place, Groovy's.


I hope you all have a great rest of the week and enjoy these last few weeks of school. Enjoy your kiddos and don't forget to jot down all of your great ideas for next year!

Counselor Connect Linky Party

Hey, y'all!!! I hope you had a relaxing weekend. I spent time with my little family shopping and hanging out...it was so nice! Mondays are so hard but when you have a job helping kids it makes it so worthwhile and those Mondays don't seem so tough anymore. I don't know about you but it's so stinkin' hard to get ready and going in the morning but once I am at work I am energetic and running around a million times a minute! I thought it would be fun to have a little Counselor Connect Linky Party! So link on up, copy the questions and answer them, and grab the link below and let us get to know you!

1. Name and blog?
Why, hello....I'm Melanie @ stylishschoolcounselor.blogspot.com


2. What school level are you at?
Elementary

3. Favorite counseling technique when a student does not want to talk?
art, writing, games, puppets.....PLAY THERAPY

4. What is a professional growth goal?
To be an LPC and to attend the play therapy institute at the University of North Texas (where play therapy pro Dr.Garry Landreth is) and one day I think it would be cool to be a high school counselor but right now elementary has my heart!

5. Why did you want to be a counselor?
I wanted to make a difference in the lives of students, of course! When I was in high school, I had a tough time sorting out feelings and dealing with the tragic death of a classmate. My school counselor at the time was so wonderful and always made me feel like I had a safe place to cry, just talk, and she made me feel like my feelings were always valid no matter how big or small something was.I want to be that person for a child.


6. What theory do you use?
In a school with an extremely large case load of students, I use solution focused but I also love me some Adlerian.

7. What is your go to activity?
I always have a student draw a picture of their family and it is so amazing what you get from that...

8. What is your favorite part of your job?
I would have to say small group counseling. I love to see the cohesion of the group and it's so cool getting to know the kiddos. It's awesome to build those relationships with the students and see them build strong relationships with each other.

9. What are some of your favorite counseling resources?
counseling blogs, pinterest, Solution focused therapy by Dr. Linda Metcalfe (book)

10. What do you do when you're not being a super counselor?
I am a wife to my amazing husband and mommy to my sweet kiddos (Grayson is 5 and Ella is 2). I also teach Sunday School, love to be with our families, shop, and rearrange things in my house when my hubby won't let me shop anymore...lol! I also love Starbucks and manicures.


11. One thing you are proud of this school year?
I am really proud of a program I just began second semester. It is called the Bully Police and students apply to help patrol the halls and report any bullying in the school. So far it has been working wonders and all the kids want to be on it. Bully Officers are given little tickets to report bullying and I am in the process of making badges so kids in each grade will know who to go to if they need help coming to me about bullying or reporting it. I have a bucket in the front office and the Bully Officers drop it off there and I check them each day.

12. What are other ways you communicate?
I have a personal blog: http://whatshappeningintheackerfamily.blogspot.com/
You can find me on instagram@ melroseacker
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/melaniea82/
Teachers Pay Teachers Store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Stylish-School-Counselor

Hope y'all enjoyed and I can't wait to see who links up so I can get to know them! Have a wonderful week and don't forget to take some time for you!!!!