Counselor's Corner

4th/5th guidance

Our students have been working on the concept of respect for self and others for several weeks. As a result I am glad to report that fewer students are coming to my office to report that other students are treating them disrespectfully. In addition, students are implementing strategies that they have learned in class to advocate for themselves instead of immediately involving an adult. I hope you are seeing more respectful behavior at home as well as your 4th and 5th graders interact with siblings. The fifth graders have asked me to tell them about middle school and all that is involved in the transition. So this week we will begin to talk about the changes that they can anticipate physically, emotionally, socially and academically. They have shared with me that they now consider themselves rising 6th graders and no longer authentic 5th graders. I am looking forward to answering their questions and I am encouraging them to speak with you regarding any concerns or issues they may have regarding this change. For more information regarding this transition to middle school you can to to www.cobbk12.org; click on school counseling; click on fifth to sixth transition. After spring break 5th grade teachers will send home registration materials for you to sign. Remember that your student can not be registered for 6th grade unless all their immunizations are current.

Fourth and Fifth Grade Guidance

Dear Parents, It is exciting to see the lovely Spring weather finally reach us! Of course the season brings thoughts of new beginnings and fresh starts. As mentioned earlier our students have been focusing on respect for self, others and for school property. This week I am bringing closure to our discussions and I am reading a classic piece of literature by Hans Christian Anderson, The Ugly Duckling. I have asked out students to look at the story from a new paradigm, that of respect for self and others. I wanted them to understand that this theme in life has been around for a very long time. I also wanted them to draw parallels between the story and our Steps to Respect lessons. I wanted them to understand, again, how destructive saying disrespectful things and and engaging in disrespectful is to others. Children's literature is an amazing tool to use in getting simple, yet powerful truths across to children

4th and 5th grade

Dear Parents, We have spent the last several weeks focusing on respect for self, for others and for school property. In general students know that respect is an important value that they have learned about at home, however they are not always certain how to implement it in relationships with their peers. We have talked about many ideas central to treating others with respect: speaking the truth to others;telling others when we don't like how they treat us; realizing that we don't have to befriends with everyone but we do have to treat everyone with respect; good conduct on the bus is central to respect for one's peers; excluding others on purpose to be mean is disrespectful; making fun of someone's physical features is disrespectfull. We have talked repeatedly about the definition of bullying and used it as a guide line in determining what behavior is acceptable and what is not acceptable. We have also focused on the difference between tattle telling and reporting. Telling on someone to get them in trouble is tattle telling, but telling to keep someone safe if called reporting. We want all of our students to be wise reporters. We are also treating the concept of assertiveness instead of aggressiveness.I am pleased to report that students that said  they were being treated disrespectfully in the beginning of the year have been using positive strategies to advocate for themselves. They report that the disrespectful treatment by others has stopped. Please let me know if I can be of service to your student or to your family.

4th/5th grade guidance

Dear Parents, I love telling you what amazing children you have! They have been extremely interactive during our guidance lessons as we have continued our learning and discussions regarding respectful behavior towards ourselves, our peers and our familes. They agree that respectful behaviors and attitudes must be taught and and practiced regularly in order to become part of one's character. They have shared practical examples from their personal experience of times that they made right choices and times that they didn't. We discuss and consider if it were to be done over what a better way would be. They are maturing and growing as they are now able to work out peer conflicts without arguing or involving a teacher. They are confidentthat they have the skills to resolve conflict. I have asked them to be expecially vigiliant over the holiday break and to make certain that they treat their family, especially their siblings, with the respect that they deserve. I hope that you will see the difference in their interactions at home.

4th and 5th grade guidance

It is a great time of year, isn't it? I have enjoyed working with your students this term. Your students are a great bunch of kids! They are respectful, mannerly and great conversationalists! In our classroom guidance activities we have been focusing on respect as the foundation of all healthy relationships. Helping students understand their part in being respectful to others and the necessity of expecting others to be respectful to them has been challenging. Of course we know that friendships are extremely important to young people. It is important for them to recognize that everyone has rights and responsibilities, alternative points of view and individuall differences that impact their relationships with their peers. Our goal is to help them negotiate these issues and learn how to make and keep friends. I can assure you that you would be proud to see how wise they are and what good values they possess. These are the gifts that you have given your children. You are to be applauded!

  

Happy New Year

Welcome back to a great new school year at Nicholson! This year I will have the privilege of working closely with your 4th and 5th students.I am amazed at how much children grow over the summer months and how  mature they have  become in such a short time. I will be going into the 4th and 5th grade classrooms twice a month to teach a 45 minute classroom guidance activity. During the course of the year I will teach life skills lessons that will focus on academics, personal/social skills and career awareness. The overall goal of this instruction is to positively impact your student's achievement. During our Fall term I will be using the Steps to Success bully prevention curriculum in the classroom. I am excited about making our students aware of healthy choices in the area of friendships. Please feel free to contact me if you have any school related questions or concerns you would like to discuss. Please note that on Tuesday, September 31, @ 9:30 we will sponsor a brief parent workshop to share helpful study skills interventions to use with your student. I look forward to meeting each of you this year.

4th and 5th grade guidance

Our 4th and 5th grade students are such a wonderful group of young people! Parents are to be applauded for sending students to school with such a solid academic foundation.As I spend time in classes working with students I am amazed at their preparedness and willingness to participate in classroom discussions. They have very well thought out ideas and they are able to express themselves in an extremely clear way.

Fourth grade students are enjoying learning about relationships. We have studied the importance of having healthy friendships and strategies for improving self esteem. Our lesson this week focuses on positive peer pressure which seems to be a new concept for them. They understand negative peer pressure quite well, but have never considered that they could be the source of influencing their friends in positive ways. We discussed ways to influence others by our healthy attitudes and behaviors. We trust that practicing healthy attitudes and habits will have a positive influence on their ability to learn and their academic achievement.

Fifth graders are very interested in learning the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. We are discussing the attitudes and behaviors that help kids to become more successful in school and more responsible family members. We have learned: be proactive; begin with the end in mind; put first things first and think win win. Not only is it helpful for them to understand these concepts but it is important for them to practice these strategies in the classroom and at home. Our rising 6th graders can take these best practices with them to middle school and become students of excellence from the very first day. As always our goal is to prepare them to be life long learners.

4th and 5th grade guidance

Greetings to all! Our fourth grade students are such a great group of kids and such eager learners! We have been focusing on healthy relationships with friends. We are trying to understand how to treat friends with respect and how to ask for the respect that we deserve to have ourselves. Using words of kindness, giving compliments and helping others are all ways that communicate value for ourselves and others. This week we are going to be talking about self esteem and some strategies to use to increase self esteem. The students are very eager to learn about the idea of friendship being a choice.

The fifth graders continue to study the "7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens". We have learned about being proactive, beginning with the end in mind and putting first things first. This week we will focus on having a Win/Win attitude. It is exciting to see how they are embracing these new ideas and how they are implementing them in their personal lives and at school. I am hoping that these strategies will help them be better students now and in middle school.

Fourth and Fifth Grade Guidance

Dear Parents, I received the loveliest and sweetest cards for Valentines Day from your children. I brought them home to share with my family because they were were so special. Their art work, poems and kind words were very touching. You need to be very proud of your children because they took their time and energy to encourage me as their counselor.

Fourth grade guidance is continuing to focus on the theme of healthy relationships and healthy attitudes with peers at school. During our classes this month we have learned that friendship is a choice. We can choose a person with positive character traits to be our friend and we don't have to let someone with negative character traits be our close friend. If someone is unkind and disrespectful to us, then they are not a good person to become our close friend. We also discussed that we have a choice to believe  the positive things others say to us and we can disregard the unkind things others say to us. Our next class will focus on self esteem, where it comes from and strategies to improve how we see ourselves.

The fifth graders are enjoying studying the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. We have studied Habit #1, Be Proactive and Habit #2, Begin With the End in Mind. This week we will focus on Habit #3, Put First Things First. We discussed what these ideas mean and then students were asked to consider how the particular habit applied to their lives now and how they will apply these new habits in the future. Students are learning that these habits, when used in school and at home, bring positive results. Our goal is to address the barriers to learning in order to improve student achievement.

4th and 5th grade guidance

Dear Nicholson parents, Many of your children were very tired on Monday. They shared what a great time they had on Sunday enjoying the Super Bowl with the family.(I was tired too) The fifth graders are learning about the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. We have studied Habit #1, Be Proactive. At present we are studying Habit #2, Begin With the End in Mind. Students are aware that practicing positive, proactive habits and behaviors leads to positive results in school, at home and with friends. I hope that you will see some of these "can do" attitudes and behaviors at home.

Parents, please be aware that on March 6th @ 6:00, the McCleskey administrators and counselors will meet with you in the Nicholson cafeteria. The purpose of this brief meeting is to discuss your student's transition to middle school. This is an important visit and we encourage you to attend this brief meeting.

Our 4th grade students are so animated as we discuss personal relationships. They are learning that they can choose the peers they want to have as friends. Although they need to treat each person with respect, they are understanding that some acquaintances may not be appropriate for them. I asked them to consider their friendships and to make certain that their friends treated them with respect. If not, then they should not make that person a close friend. Your student learned that the friends that they surround themselves with will often reflect how they feel about themselves. They seemed very interested in this new concept of having a choice regarding friendship. I am enjoying teaching them and their active participation in our lively discussions.