Counselor's corner

Month of February

This month's updates from your school counseling department!

National School Counseling Week

National School Counseling Week 2021, sponsored by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), highlights the essential contribution of school counselors within U.S. school systems and the tremendous impact they have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career. From February 15th-19th, we as a school counseling department want to promote how we are “ALL in for ALL students.” This means that we as school counselors provide a safe, welcoming environment to be yourselves without fear of judgment. We not only value diversity in race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, socio-economic status, and political affiliation, but choose to celebrate all! We will be promoting this message schoolwide with the help of our fantastic teachers and staff. Be on the lookout for ways our school will be honoring all students this week. We are thankful for ALL of our students and families that are a part of our Falls Lake community!

Black History Month

Falls Lake Academy is proud to join our nation in honoring Black History Month. The celebratory month also is known as National African American History Month, is an annual celebration of achievements by black Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of African Americans in the story of the United States of America.

Founded by historian Carter G. Woodson, black history week was first celebrated on Feb. 12, 1926, to commemorate and celebrate the contributions to our nation made by people of African descent. The date coincides with the birthdays of abolitionist/editor Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. During the U.S. bicentennial in 1976, black history week was expanded to a month-long celebration. Since then, U.S. presidents have designated February as National African-American History Month.

As an organization whose philosophy is a great education for all children, we champion this month as an additional opportunity to educate our students about the triumph of African American History!

training opportunity for parents

Hello Parents/Guardians of Falls Lake Academy: Do you want to learn how to better support our youth? Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed to provide information and tools for adults to recognize and support youth mental health. I am excited to be able to offer this certification training.

Youth Mental Health First Aid teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders in youth. This 6-hour training gives adults who work and or live with youth the skills they need to reach out and provide initial support to children and adolescents (ages 6-18) who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem and help connect them to the appropriate care. At the end of the course, participants will be a certified Youth Mental Health First Aider!

Generally there is a fee to participate in the training, however Falls Lake Academy is sponsoring all 20 participants. Due to Covid restrictions this training will be divided into two groups of 10. The instructors are Mrs. Amanda Moore, certified school counselor and Youth Mental Health First Aid certified instructor, and Melissa Stancil, Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and Adult & Youth Mental Health First Aid certified instructor. These trainings will run concurrently at Falls Lake Academy on March 6th, 2021. You will receive a confirmation email with your registration status and all necessary details regarding the day of training. If you would like to attend, please complete the registration google form below by February 19th.

forms.gle/rXF6vVByjnqhTG6E

SEL LEssons

What is SEL?

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

Elementary School

Grades 4-5: Integrity

Key activities we’ll be doing:

Explore the concept of “white lies”!
Examine honesty through literature!
Create a community of integrity at school!

Grades K-3: Responsibility

Key activities we’ll be doing:

Organize personal space at school!
Explore community based responsibility!
Act out environmentally responsible actions!
Create Kindness coupons!

If you have any questions about our Kindness in the Classroom lessons, please feel free to contact Ms. McGarry!

Middle School

6^th grade will participate in classes in February regarding “what emotions tell you and how emptions affect your decisions.”

7^th grade got to participate in classes regarding “conflicts and perspectives” last month.

8^th grade will participate in classes in February regarding “understanding stress and anxiety and strategies for managing stress.”

High School

9-12 grade students

We are well on our way in a new semester! Now is the time to intervene if you find yourself needing to improve your grades. Here is a great article with tips on how to do so. Also, don’t forget to reach out to your counselor for help!

14 ways to improve your grades if you are underperforming

Juniors

Now, is the time to start preparing for the ACT. Your test date will be between late February and late March. Ms. Keith will send information with details soon. In the meantime, please use the following links to help you start practicing and getting use to the test.

ACT

Kaplan

Don't forget to complete the "SEL Check-in/out Form" here!

Bullying Prevention

Elementary School

Into the Cloud™ is NCMEC’s flagship online safety product for children ages 10 and under. Using data from actual CyberTipline reports, each episode focuses on a different element of online safety, from strategies for handling cyberbullying to recognizing and reporting unsafe/inappropriate interactions and content. Into the Cloud™ presents important safety information in an age-appropriate and entertaining manner! Connect your child to their content here, or visit Ms. McGarry's Google Classroom!

College & Career planning

Elementary School

Click here to check out Paws in Jobland on CFNC.org!

Middle School

6th Grade- How Did They Get There?

7th Grade- Time Management

8th Grade- Your Learning Style

High School

Students and parents are encouraged to explore the redesigned CFNC.org website. This is a one stop shop for students and parents to plan for college, apply to colleges, explore careers and sort through resources to pay for college in the state of NC. Planning starts even before high school. Students with CFNC accounts are encouraged to login and click around! Students without CFNC accounts are encouraged to create an account! Go ahead! Explore!

Click here for up-to-date information that colleges, universities, College Board (SAT) and ACT are releasing about COVID-19 and college admissions.

Career Assessments

This is a great time to start exploring career options. Use this link to explore resources that will help you find out things that interest you as well as possible careers that match your profile.

Virtual College Visits

Click here for updated information about virtual college representative visits to FLA. Use this link to join zoom meetings when applicable!

Resume Writing for high school students: 101

Students often use resumes to apply to summer programs, college, internships, jobs and sometimes recommenders will request it when writing a recommendation for these programs. It is good practice to have a draft ready to go for these activities. It is also recommended to update your resume at least once a year.

Watch this video to gain a brief understanding of what a highs school student resume may consist of: How to write resume

Use this link for example resume templates and a more detailed explanation of a high school students’ resume.

***Reach out to Ms. Jackson for more assistance.

2021 Summer Programs & Other opportunities

Use this link throughout the year to explore programs that may be of interest to your student. These are great resume builders and wonderful opportunities to gain experience in areas you may be interested in the future.

This can also be found on Mrs. Jackson’s website under “Career Planning Resources”.

#Howtodeal

In this section, we will be including tips or tricks for you on how to incorporate self-care or social-emotional learning into your daily routine! We understand that during our time away from school, it may be a challenge to take care of YOU. So, here you will find some ideas to stay active, healthy, and mentally strong as we cope with this pandemic. Enjoy!

CASEL CARES is an initiative that connects our community with experts to address how SEL can be most helpful in response to today’s circumstances.

Dr. Deborah Rivas-Drake and Dr. Bloodine Barthelus engage in a heart-to-heart conversation around the pain and struggle of being a parent, particularly at this time, and the work that is required of us to mitigate racism starting at home.

Learn more: https://casel.org/weekly-webinars/