The goal of weekly classroom guidance lessons is to provide a space for students to learn about emotional regulation, friendship, conflict resolution, careers, stress management, goal setting and much more! Here is what we are learning about in the final months of the school year.

April/May - Careers and cooperative skills

As we wind down the school year, we are going to shift our focus in our classroom guidance lessons to career and cooperative skills. Students will learn about different career clusters and options within those clusters. We’ll explore how God gifted us, as well as how we can glorify God and impact others for His Kingdom through our career choices. We will also spend time focusing on how our school habits prepare us for our future careers. As part of our career focus, we will also participate in Career Day on May 8.

February/March - Personal health and safety

Third Grade

During the months of February and March, we are going to focus on personal safety and health in our classroom guidance lessons. We’ll begin by addressing personal hygiene as our bodies grow and develop, such as the importance of showering/bathing regularly, wearing deodorant, and good dental habits. We’ll also partner with our school clinic to learn what hygiene supports they can offer at school. We will also talk about healthy habits, such as getting good sleep, eating nutritious meals/snacks, and moving our bodies. 

Following our discussions about healthy habits, we will discuss personal safety.  We’ll begin with a discussion about personal boundaries with touch and differentiating between safe touch, ouch touch, and private touch. We’ll talk about safe adults and we’ll even have a visit from Lieutenant Weidman from the Uniontown Police Department on March 21. He’ll talk to us about how police officers keep us safe and what we can do if we ever get separated from our families in public. The premise of these lessons will be to discern safe adults and situations; they will not be rooted in a spirit of fear.

We will slide in one lesson about stress management and test taking as our students approach their Iowa assessments in the beginning of March.

We will wrap up our conversations in March by talking about having a healthy balance with technology. Additionally, we’ll talk about our “rings of responsibility” online. This would include keeping ourselves safe and healthy online, how we interact with our community (people we know) online, and how to be safe if we come across people we don’t know. 

Each of our lessons during the months of February and March will be filtered carefully through a developmentally appropriate lens and rooted in God’s Word. We want our students to grow in wisdom and discernment as they take care of themselves and interact with others (James 1:5, Ephesians 5:6-10, 1 John 4:1, Romans 12:2, Matthew 7:24, Philippians 1:9-10). If you have any questions about any specific lesson or topic, please reach out to Miss Hughes at ahughes@lccs.com or by calling extension 3436.

Fourth Grade

During the months of February and March, we are going to focus on personal safety and health in our classroom guidance lessons. We’ll begin with a discussion about personal safety situations and safe adults. The premise of these lessons will be to discern safe adults and situations; they will not be rooted in a spirit of fear.

We will then begin a discussion about having a healthy balance and having healthy boundaries with technology. We’ll address our media choices and talk about safe online gaming. For these discussions, we will acknowledge that different families have different permissions and expectations with technology. Our intention will be to equip students with safe online decision making skills for whatever they are given permission to engage.

We will also include one lesson about stress management and test taking as our students approach their Iowa assessments in the beginning of March.

Wrapping up our unit on personal safety and health, we will have a conversation with the fourth grade students about puberty and their developing bodies on March 8. For this lesson, Mr. Green will meet with the boys, while Mrs. Fink and Miss Hughes meet with the girls. Boys will learn about male development, while the girls will only learn about female development. More information will be sent home at the end of February. 

Each of our lessons during the months of February and March will be filtered carefully through a developmentally appropriate lens and rooted in God’s Word. We want our students to grow in wisdom and discernment as they take care of themselves and interact with others (James 1:5, Ephesians 5:6-10, 1 John 4:1, Romans 12:2, Matthew 7:24, Philippians 1:9-10). If you have any questions about any specific lesson or topic, please reach out to Miss Hughes at ahughes@lccs.com or by calling extension 3436.

Fifth Grade

During the months of February and March, we are going to focus on personal safety and health in our classroom guidance lessons. We’ll begin with a discussion about personal safety situations and safe adults. The premise of these lessons will be to discern safe adults and situations; they will not be rooted in a spirit of fear.

We will then include two stand alone lessons. One lesson will address social isolation and our need to be connected to others. We’ll also discuss how to reach out to those who seem socially isolated. This lesson provides a foundation for suicide prevention, however we will not directly be discussing or mentioning suicide. The second stand alone lesson will address stress management and test taking as our students approach their Iowa assessments in the beginning of March.

We will wrap up our unit with a discussion about having a healthy balance and having healthy boundaries with technology. We’ll address our media choices and talk about online friendships. For these discussions, we will acknowledge that different families have different permissions and expectations with technology. Our intention will be to equip students with safe online decision making skills for whatever they are given permission to engage.

Each of our lessons during the months of February and March will be filtered carefully through a developmentally appropriate lens and rooted in God’s Word. We want our students to grow in wisdom and discernment as they take care of themselves and interact with others (James 1:5, Ephesians 5:6-10, 1 John 4:1, Romans 12:2, Matthew 7:24, Philippians 1:9-10). If you have any questions about any specific lesson or topic, please reach out to Miss Hughes at ahughes@lccs.com or by calling extension 3436.

Sixth Grade

During the months of February and March, we are going to focus on personal safety and health in our classroom guidance lessons. We’ll begin with a discussion about substance abuse awareness. We talk about smoking and its harmful effects. We’ll also learn about different types of drugs and how they can impact your body. We’ll also look at the importance of using prescription medication appropriately. Our goal will be to provide awareness and responsiveness, not a spirit of fear.

We will then include two stand alone lessons. One lesson will address social isolation and our need to be connected to others. We’ll also discuss how to reach out to those who seem socially isolated. This lesson provides a foundation for suicide prevention, however we will not directly be discussing or mentioning suicide. The second stand alone lesson will address stress management and test taking as our students approach their Iowa assessments in the beginning of March.

We will wrap up our unit with a discussion about having a healthy balance and having healthy boundaries with technology. We’ll address our media choices and talk about online friendships. For these discussions, we will acknowledge that different families have different permissions and expectations with technology. Our intention will be to equip students with safe online decision making skills for whatever they are given permission to engage.

Each of our lessons during the months of February and March will be filtered carefully through a developmentally appropriate lens and rooted in God’s Word. We want our students to grow in wisdom and discernment as they take care of themselves and interact with others (James 1:5, Ephesians 5:6-10, 1 John 4:1, Romans 12:2, Matthew 7:24, Philippians 1:9-10). If you have any questions about any specific lesson or topic, please reach out to Miss Hughes at ahughes@lccs.com or by calling extension 3436. 

January - Relationships

For the month of January we are going to shift our focus to healthy relationships in our classroom guidance lessons. In our lessons we will be talking about the qualities of a good friend, navigating conflict, how we communicate, and having empathy. 

December - having a Growth MINdset

It’s hard to believe that we are already in December! It did come to our attention that some parents were having difficulty  accessing our school counseling website. We were able to fix the issue and you should be able to view the website now using this link. We update it quarterly with a counselors’ corner article, monthly with classroom guidance newsletters, and it also has a variety of available resources as well. 

As we wrap up this calendar year, the focus of our classroom guidance lessons will be on having a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset. A growth mindset has a strong desire to learn, loves challenges, and sees failures as a way to grow, learn, and stretch our abilities. A fixed mindset doesn’t like to try new things, avoids challenges, and assumes that character, intelligence, and creative ability are unchanging. Having a growth mindset aligns with Scripture. As Christians we know God sometimes calls us to hard things and to persevere. We also have the perspective that our failures and challenges not only help us grow, but also show us how much we need God.

In fourth grade we also launched our girls’ friendship group this week. Please note that only half of the girls will participate in this session and the other half will participate beginning in February. In grades five and six we also launched our worry warriors group as well this week. 

Additionally, our fifth and sixth grade leadership teams have hit the ground running this past month. Beginning December 1, they will be selling popcorn every Friday during lunch. They have also been promoting school spirit and are preparing a kindness week for February. In just a few weeks they will also be hosting a service and missions project by hosting a Christmas party for our kindergarten students and third grade students from Firestone Park Elementary School in Akron. What a beautiful opportunity they will have to show the love of Jesus to our own students and the ones visiting from Akron!

Mrs. Keene and I also wanted to take a moment to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas! While this season of the year can be full of joy, sometimes it can highlight struggles and difficulties. If you see your student struggling with anything, please feel free to reach out to us. Also, if your family is facing any difficulties, please reach out to us. We do have a Care Team at LCCS to offer extra support to families. We earnestly desire to bear one another's' burdens.

November - Gratitude, Our Circle of Control, and Growth MINdset

November is going to be a busy month for our intermediate school counseling office. We have officially launched our 5th and 6th grade leadership teams. I’m thrilled with the group of students that we have this year and am excited to see them grow as leaders. We will also be launching two new small groups as well at the end of the month. In fourth grade, we are going to start a small group for the girls to grow their friendship skills. In fifth and sixth grades, we are going to launch a small group for students that struggle with worry. 

In our classroom guidance lessons we are going to begin the month with a gratitude challenge. Not only do we see an example of gratitude in the Bible, scientifically gratitude also improves our well-being. We will also spend some time learning about our circle of control and then begin a new unit focusing on having a growth mindset.

October - Identity and Bullying Prevention

The month of October is National Bullying Prevention Month. We believe it is important to address bullying prevention at LCCS, however we think that is even more important to impress upon our students the why behind it. Our lessons this month will focus on our identity in Christ and how God created us with a purpose. We want our students to see their value in who God made them to be but also value others as God made them to be. To address bullying prevention, we will also explore different kinds of bullying, how we can change if we are bullying others, how to respond if bullied, as well as how we can be upstanders, or those who stand up for others. 

September - Zones of Regulation

As beings created in the image of God, we experience emotions. However, God did not intend for our emotions to control us. He instructs us to be discerning of our emotions, self-controlled, and to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 17:9, 1 Peter 5:6-11, Galatians 5:22-23). Emotional regulation helps us to recognize our emotions, identify the source, and at times, submit those emotions to God. At LCCS we use an emotional regulation tool called the zones of regulation. The zones of regulation help us to categorize how our brains and bodies feel into different zones. When we understand how our brains and bodies feel, then we are able to better regulate ourselves. Throughout the month of September, we will explore the different zones of regulation and how to recognize when we're in them, how being in the different zones can create expected and unexpected behaviors, how others feel when we exhibit expected and unexpected behaviors, and what tools we can use to regulate ourselves when we are in the different zones.