5th Grade Guidance

I was recently introduce to the book One, by Kathryn Otoshi. This is the cutest and simplest illustration of standing up for yourself and others that I have seen. I knew I needed to share it with my older grades too! Blue is a quiet color, and Red is a hot head. No one stands up to Red until One comes along and shows the colors how to "stand up and count". I shared it with 5th grade and then we watched a video clip of students performing the story. The students then worked in small groups for a fun discussion. How can you become a ONE?

Amy Barker
School Counselor

6th Grade Guidance

I was recently introduce to the book One, by Kathryn Otoshi. This is the cutest and simplest illustration of standing up for yourself and others that I have seen. I knew I needed to share it with my older grades too! Blue is a quiet color, and Red is a hot head. No one stands up to Red until One comes along and shows the colors how to "stand up and count". I shared it with 6th grade and then we watched a video clip of students performing the story. The students then worked in small groups for a fun discussion. How can you become a ONE?

Amy Barker
School Counselor

3rd Grade Guidance

3rd Grade spent several lessons learning about Bullying and how to be a defender of their classmates. I was recently introduce to the book One, by Kathryn Otoshi. This is the cutest and simplest illustration of standing up for yourself and others that I have seen. Blue is a quiet color, and Red is a hot head. No one stands up to Red until One comes along and shows the colors how to "stand up and count". I shared it with 3rd grade and then we watched a video clip of students performing the story. The students then worked in pairs for a fun discussion using dice. How can you become a ONE?

Amy Barker
School Counselor

1st Grade Guidance

1st Graders learned about the importance of being honest. We watched the video story, Howard B. Wigglebottom and the Monkey on His Back: A Tale About Telling the Truth, by Howard Binkow and Susan Cornelison. 1st Graders worked in small groups to identify honest/dishonest scenarios. We finished our lesson by dancing to a fun Howard B. Wigglebottom song!

Amy Barker
School Counselor

4th Grade Guidance

How can you become a ONE? 4th graders have worked on learning what it means to be a bystander and how to be a defender for your classmates.  I was recently introduced to the book, One, by Kathryn Otoshi. Blue is a quiet color, and Red is a hot head. No one stands up to Red until One comes along and shows all the colors how to "stand up and count". After we read the book, 4th graders watched a video clip of students performing the story. The students then worked in small groups discussing the characters.

Amy Barker
School Counselor

2nd Grade Guidance

How can you become a ONE? 2nd grade learned about standing up for themselves and others. We read One, by Kathryn Otoshi and watched a video clip of students performing the story. Blue is a quiet color, and Red is a hot head. No one stands up to Red until One comes along and shows all the colors how to "stand up and count". The students then worked in pairs for a fun discussion using dice.

Amy Barker
School Counselor

SK Guidance

SK learned about tattling! They learned the difference between tattle and warning. We read A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue, by Julia Cook and learned the 4 Tattle Rules. SK had fun making their own Tattle Tongues using tongue depressors!

Amy Barker
School Counselor

2nd Grade Guidance

Do you let your anger out fast or slow? Second graders learned about ways to let their anger out slowly. We read Angry Dragon, by Thierry Robberecht and used an angry face balloon to demonstrate letting our anger out fast and slow. The students named him "Mr. Red Face"! We brainstormed ways to let our anger out slowly and wrote them on our dry erase boards.
(reading a book, being alone, breathing, talking to a friend, ignoring, etc.)

Amy Barker
School Counselor

SK Guidance

SK learned how their behavior affects others around them. I introduced a very special book, How Full Is Your Bucket?, by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer. Each of us has an invisible bucket. When our bucket is full we feel great. When it's empty we feel awful. SK brainstormed bucket fillers and filled a bucket!

Amy Barker
School Counselor

4th Grade Guidance

Fourth graders talked about feeling Angry. We read Angry Dragon, by Thierry Robberecht to get our minds thinking about how we experience anger. Students used a dry erase board to describe the following about anger: color, what it sounds like, feels like and looks like. They loved doing this and did an outstanding job with their descriptions! Students worked in pairs and used dice to talk about appropriate ways to handle anger.

Amy Barker
School Counselor

5th Grade Guidance

5th grade students completed a career exploration activity. They worked in pairs to interview each other using the Develop Your Future questionnaire. Questions pertained to their ideal work environment, dress for work, work hours, etc. We also had a few minutes to investigate careers using the Young Person's Occupational Outlook Handbook and People at Work.

Amy Barker

School Counselor

6th Grade Guidance

Sixth graders explored feeling Angry. We discussed 3 anger responses (aggressive, passive, and assertive) and students identified examples of each response. We also discussed appropriate ways to handle anger at school and at home. The students had fun playing a dice game and sharing about their experiences with each other.

Amy Barker

School Counselor

3rd Grade Guidance

Lego fun! Third Grade learned about working together, communicating, and listening. Students worked in pairs attempting to build identical Lego structures using only verbal communication.

We finished our lesson with a group discussion about what made the activity difficult, how they handled feeling frustrated, and how they could apply what they learned when working and sharing space with their classmates. 

Amy Barker

School Counselor

1st Grade Guidance

First grade learned how their behavior affects others around them. We read How Full Is Your

Bucket?, by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer. Each of us has an invisible bucket. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it’s empty, we feel awful. In the story, Felix learns how easy it can be to fill the buckets of his classmates, teachers, and family. First grade students worked in pairs to identify bucket fillers and bucket dippers. 

Amy Barker

School Counselor

4th Grade Guidance

Lego fun! Fourth Grade learned about communicating and listening. Students worked in pairs

attempting to build identical Lego structures using only verbal communication. We finished our lesson with a group discussion about what made the activity difficult, how they used communication to help their partner build the correct structure, and how they could apply what they learned when working with others. 

Amy Barker

School Counselor

2nd Grade Guidance

Do you bite hooks or do you swim around them? Second Grade talked about how to handle mean teasing and put-downs. We read Simon’s Hook, by Karen Burnett. We also watched a video message from Grandma Rose and practiced biting hooks and swimming around hooks. Which swimming around tool works best for you? do little or nothing, agree, distract/change the subject, laugh/make a joke, or stay away.

Amy Barker

School Counselor

1st Grade Guidance

Stand Tall First Grade!! First Grade talked about confidence. We read Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon, by Patty Lovell. Molly Lou Melon’s grandmother gives her wonderful advice about feeling confident and “standing tall”.  When she moves to a new school, she uses the advice from her grandmother to win over a big bully. After our story, the students completed an “empty faces” activity. They completed the drawing by showing how they look when they are feeling confident and standing tall.

We learned that you could stand tall when you stand up for yourself, stand up for others, try something new, or succeed when you thought you would fail.

 Their pictures are adorable!

Amy Barker

School Counselor