Lesson 1: meet the counselor

August 29, 2022

I love to start every year off with a refresher about my role here as the School Counselor at Andrew. We started our lesson off with our 3 mindful breaths. We use a Hoberman Sphere and practice taking 3 breaths in through our nose and out through our mouths. This is a great transition piece to get student's ready to refocus and calm their bodies before the start of every lesson.

First, we did a fun ice breaker. I used a beach ball and wrote a bunch of get to know you questions on it. For example:

1. What's your favorite ice cream?

2. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go?

3. What's your favorite subject in school?

Students passed around the beach ball and wherever their hand landed they had to answer the question underneath. I always enjoy starting my first lesson with a interactive game! Students have a blast as well.

Next, we talked about how the counselor can be useful to them in their learning. We discussed what our weekly guidance lessons will look like, how they can come and see me for an individual session if they or their teacher have some concerns, as well as the student group work I start mid-year. We talked about my confidentiality rules. As the counselor I have a specific code of ethics I abide by when working with students. All conversations stay confidential except for these four exceptions:

1. Someone is hurting you

2. You want to hurt yourself

3. You want to hurt someone else

4. You give me permission to share with another adult

We break this down for them to better understand, I explain that my job is to keep them safe and these rules help me do that!

Lastly, students filled out a questionaire for me to better get to know them and help me best understand if any students need to be added to my individual roster.

It was so great getting back into the classroom with our 4th graders!