FREE Activities for HOME

With many schools closing around the country, educators and parents are working so hard to ensure they are taking care of kids! I can personally speak to how hard it can be to juggle working from home and "homeschooling" your own kids. I can't even imagine for parents who are having to work outside the home, as well....I am thinking of you all and sending positive vibes your way. 

I think we can all agree that staying connected to our students and providing easy to use activities is our goal. It is has been so heartwarming seeing the joy on students' faces talking to their teachers. I think the silver lining in all of this is how everyone realizes how vital our education system is. 

Today, I wanted to share some FREE resources with all of you. My husband and I write books over at Ackers Books. One way we wanted to share during this difficult times is to record videos reading our books. I am not sure if you knew this but there are copyright issues if you read a book and record it so we wanted to take that worry out of the way! Below are links to some of our recordings that you can use at home or to share with students (you have our permission)! We are also linking some FREE activities that you can share/use at home or school. 

The first video is from the book My PE Teacher is a Ninja. You can access the video below. 

The second video is My Counselor is a Princess. You can access the video below.

The third video is Hootie Lou (one of my favorite books). You can access the video below:

We also have FREE Activities linked on our website over at Ackers' Books. 

I hope these resources are helpful as we all navigate these new challenges. I hope you're all staying healthy, practicing self care, and are well. I am SO excited about the next blog post and a freebie that I can't wait to share!!!

Melanie

Negative Self Talk: The Awfulizer Book Giveaway & FREEBIE!

Negative self talk. This is something I think every person struggles with. I pride myself on having a positive outlook but can I tell you that negative self talk creeps in at times and it can sometimes limit what I do? I am an adult who is trained in mental health yet I am such a victim of this at times. So, how can we work with kids and teenagers with negative self talk?

I received this book a few weeks ago. It is called the Awfulizer: Learning to Overcome the Shame Game by Kristin Maher and illustrated by Robert Dunn.

Y'all, I am LOVING it. If you know me, I love all books but this one illustrates negative self talk and how to overcome it. The negative self talk is portrayed as a big, green, fluffy creature which won't be intimidating for younger children.

I have never utilized a book about self talk and shame. The book details strategies the character uses to overcome the Awfulizer and how to become an AWESOMIZER!!! This can also be tied in with having a growth mindset and grit.

This would be perfect for a small group lesson or a guidance lesson. After reading through this book, it got me thinking of how I could use it with a client or counseling group, so I created this FREEBIE that you can get HERE!

This is geared for students who can independently write or you can use this one sheet in a small group and the teacher can fill in the chart as the group members go around and share.

If you are interested in this book, you can check it out HERE.

Another thing I wanted to share that would be great to use for high school is this video. Although the animations look as if they are geared towards younger students, this is actually targeted for high school and even adults. As mental health professionals, we are all very familiar with good ol' Cognitive Behavior Therapy. If not, Cognitive Behavior Therapy is a treatment that helps clients truly understand their thoughts and feelings and how they affect or impact their behavior.

This 2 minute video gives two strategies that students or adults can use: 1. Distract    2. Combat
This would be great to show a group and then discuss or journal how they can utilize those two strategies when facing negative self talk.

I hope these resources are helpful for you to use in your school counseling program or in your counseling practice. I am excited to begin consistently blogging (my goal is every week)!!!

Take care of others and take care of YOU!

-Melanie

Counselor Introduction, My Counselor is a Princess, and #NSCW19

Hello, friends! Can you believe it is almost February? And that means celebrating one of the most exciting weeks of the year, National School Counseling Week. As a school counselor this was always one of my most favorite weeks. Not only is it a fun week to be recognized, but most importantly, it is an opportunity to highlight your school counseling program and the effects it has had on your campus.

Often times, I would create a menu of services or a cute, quick sheet highlighting things in the program, or fun facts such as our school has had 136 guidance lessons to date on these topics...or there have been 13 lunch bunch sessions. Not only is this a wonderful time to share what it is that you do, it is also a chance to advocate for the counseling program. I would also do an announcement each day sharing a counseling fact or something special about the program that week (Ex: we have learned about 3 important character traits so far at our school: respect, integrity, and kindness).

I would also give all staff members a certificate of appreciation for their support for our school counseling program. You can find some of my past links below:

2014
2015

You can also find ideas at ASCA's website HERE.

As I shared in my last post, my husband and I began writing books as a fun hobby. Our newest book is one I just knew I had to share with you all. It is called My Counselor is a Princess (HERE). This is a very light, simple read that discusses briefly what a counselor does. As with the other books in our series (My Teacher is an Elf HERE and My PE Teacher is a Ninja HERE) the students find some of her qualities to be that of a princess and wonder if that is what she really is. It would be great to use at the beginning of the year or during school counseling week as a fun activity.

Not only are we excited to release it right before National School Counseling Week but I have finally created a companion activity pack to go along with it on Teachers Pay Teachers. You can use the activity pack with or without the book. You can find it HERE

There are 5 activities (only 1 you would need the book for) and 5 posters. I must say the posters are my favorite and I will show you why! When I created these posters, I thought it would be important to not put the feeling word that most may think of when they see the pictures. I wanted these to be laminated and used in guidance to talk about feelings. Students may come up with great words aside from the usual mad or happy. They may think of frustrated, hurt, etc. These would also be great to have in a hallway or classroom.

The book and activity pack would be a fun. quick addition to your guidance lesson resources and if you do use it, I would love to see pictures. You can also now follow me on Instagram at @stylishschoolcounselorblog and also over @ackerbooks (side note: my husband's instatories crack me up)

 I hope you all have a wonderful School Counseling Week. I created and posted this earlier in the week but remember to take care of YOU. We cannot be our best and give our best if we don't take time for ourselves. Remember, self care is one of the top ways to prevent burn out. Even 15 minutes of yoga or singing in the car with a cup of coffee all alone...don't forget to invest in your well being.

Melanie

Mindfulness, Our Students Today, and a Julia Cook Book Giveaway!!

Friends...how is August almost here? I am hoping you had an opportunity to rest, relax, and rejuvenate. One of the vital parts of being a counselor is self care, right?

I was recently reading an article on mindfulness in children. With technology providing multiple distractions and immediate responses and gratification, mindfulness is something that we are losing touch of. I think we can all agree that this is very true with adults, as well.

So, how can we teach mindfulness to our students? There are so many benefits to mindful practice in our schools and with our kids. Below are a few easy ways to start:

• Start small with deep breathing and sitting in a relaxed position (start off with just one or two minutes). Have students close their eyes or focus on something for a minute. 
• Use a fun app. I have talked about Go Noodle before and I am sure many of us use it. It has a whole piece simply for mindfulness. They have tons of channels and one of them is called Flow. It has relaxation and mindfulness activities. 

• Use items to help practice mindfulness like sensory bottles, snow globes, or an hourglass with sand. Have students watch it settle and focus on it. Reflect on what they were thinking about and what it was like to relax and be mindful of the sand or glitter as it fell. 
• Use literacy to help students gain a better understanding. An amazing book to do this with is Julia Cook's new book Be Where Your Feet Are!! 

          I absolutely love this book. It is very unique because I have not seen many stories that focus on mindfulness. I think it is something we talk to kids about all the time but it can be hard to describe how it affects us. 

Julia Cook does a phenomenal job, once again, by really relating to how kids feel, giving vivid examples of what those feelings look like, and how to control them in a healthy way. She describes a young boy's day and how the many tasks and thoughts affect his day. I love the reoccurring theme and saying, "Be where your feet are!" It is an easy, catchy quote to teach students about being mindful and present. 

As I read this book, I kept thinking of the countless kiddos I have talked to that describe the very same feeling described by the character in the book. This is definitely a must have for your counseling libraries and would be great for a guidance lesson.  You can purchase the book HERE. 

To celebrate the release of this amazing, new book. I am giving away 2 copies to start your school year off with. To enter, like this blog post on Facebook and share. A winner will be announced this Friday, August 3rd. 

Have a wonderful rest of your week. It is such an exciting time of year full of being busy, don't forget to take care of you! :) 

Melanie

Magic Wand...

I don't know about y'all, but I love me some solution focused therapy. In a school setting, it is the most realistic theory to use for counseling. It's amazing to see how the good ol' "magic wand" question can open so much in a session. I like to use it with kids as young as 1st or 2nd grade depending on the child. I usually do play therapy with younger ones but with some this has been amazing, as well. I created a great visual/activity for the magic wand question and it looks like this:

You can get one in my TPT store here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Magic-Wand-Question
I have also been working on Career Day which I feel is one of the days that I get to plan and see how excited the kids are to experience it! It's one of my most fav days as a counselor. To prep the kiddos for Career Day, I am doing guidance lessons on Careers this month. I created a ABC Career book to do with my younger kiddos, which you can get for free here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Career-Day-Book

I also found these great books to use!

These are also some great sites to explore with your students:
http://www.careerkids.com/
http://kids.usa.gov/teens-home/jobs/index.shtml

I would LOVE any other resources that some of you may have because I am a little scarce in this area. Please feel free to share below or comment on Stylish School Counselor's facebook page! Have a great week!

Bully Police!!!

I am back and refreshed!! I had a wonderful spring break full of picnics, sunshine, and plenty of cuddling with my sweet little family. I was so excited to go back to work and get started on some projects like Career Day planning but it was so stinkin' hard to leave these little cuties.....

Last week was fast and furious and I felt like the whole school was in spring break mode on Monday but that didn't last long! I was finishing up guidance and I used the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? Have I ever mentioned how much I love this book?

I read this book and also found some great resources from the author. I was in heaven with all of the free printables! You can find those here: http://bucketfillers101.com/free-resources.php

I used these with my Put Ups and Put Downs activity. It was a nice review and I related the Put Ups to filling people's buckets and Put Downs to being bucket dippers. The kids loved the activity and I even had a student come tell me they were being a bucket filler all day! Melts.my.heart!!!


Now on to what you came here to see.....my Bully Police. It is nothing extravagant and nothing genius but oh.so.amazing!!!!  The second semester I came back rejuvenated and ready to tackle the issue of bullying. I kept thinking of what I could do that would be effective and not just for a short bit of time that would quickly fade. I remember thinking about Education Go Get It Week and how about 80% of my students said they wanted to be police officers. I thought, why not have bully police? It could be a group of kids who are leaders in the school who help report bullying and who are visible in their grade levels so that kids who may be scared to report bullying could go to them. I started out by creating Bully Police applications which you can find here for free: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bully-Police-Application

My Character Council members were automatically Bully Police since they were leaders with outstanding character. I did a trial run with them first and talked about it with the kiddos in guidance and on the announcements....before I knew it, the Bully Police was a hot  topic all around the school.

At first, I didn't think I would have many apply but I had almost 200!!! I didn't want to turn anyone away (even the bullies who may change from the experience) so I set up a rotation schedule. While they were waiting for their turn, students had to be on their best behavior to show they have what it takes.

All Bully Police are known to their classes and grade levels. They are even getting badges!!! Each member is given Bully Reports which you can find here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bully-Police-Tickets

They write the incident they see or students can report to them. The tickets go in a bucket in the front office which I check frequently. I just put a label on a bucket. You can also find the label here:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bully-Report-Label

Honestly, it is that simple. I rotate students weekly and there have been no issues with the bullies retaliating because they know I am behind them! I won't lie....I am surprised at how successful it has been and I am excited to see how much it will grow next year. I hope this helps for those who have asked and I hope this will be helpful in helping to create Bully Police at your campus!! 

Have a great week! I know I will be enjoying this 3 day work week!!! I am sure I will use it to study for my NCE! : (