Students in all grade levels will have age-appropriate lessons in the following areas:
Self- Awareness
Identifying Feelings
Identifying Traits
Social Awareness
Recognizing others feelings
Empathy
Disagreeing with others
Respect for other people’s feelings and belongings
Self- Management
Monitoring Stress and coping skills
Growth Mindset - Developing Grit
Showing Self Control
Goal Setting
Responsible Decision Making
Communicating
Appropriate behavior
Following rules
Safety
September
Students in first grade take off in our counselor lessons learning ways they are everyday heroes! We discuss how many times people feel superheroes save the day but as we grow older, we learn super powers are just a fancy way to describe some one's personal strengths. Students identified the strengths they have including the power to be kind, be helpful, be smart as well as a variety of other gifts. Students created their own super hero mask and chest plate to display proudly the goal they have to practice their superpowers all year long!
Have you ever helped a child create a goal to build their strengths and share their gifts with others. Instead of a challenge to get better at a sport or a hobby, encourage your kids to bulk up their skills in kindness, empathy and helpfulness!
Students listened to the story Even Superheroes Make Mistakes to explore the ways they can use a growth mindset to turn a mistake into an opportunity to do better. We thought of all the ways we can change our mindset and develop a plan for the future when things do not go our way. Ultimately, we learn through this story that with a peaceful plan to calm our bodies, we can use our mind to solve any problem
Something fun to try... when a child fails it is just a First Attempt In Learning. Help to reframe this concept by celebrating small failures and help kids to see the learning in a fail. Also, acknowledge the mistakes you make and help encourage them to grow in learning.
October
Continuing on our superhero theme lessons, students listened to the story What Should Danny Do? a choose your own adventure book in which the main character uses his power to choose as his superpower to change his day from a bad day to a great day. Students in 1st grade love to make different choices for the main character and see how his day will turn out! We discuss how the power to control how a day goes is up to YOU!
Ask your kids... what is one way the power to choose has turned a bad day into a good day? Whenever a moment is challenging remember all the time left in your day to choose to have a great moment!!!
We continued on our theme and read the book Even Superheroes Have Bad Days. Students shared how when our day does not go the way we want we can choose to turn it around using helpful coping skills such as: deep breathing, going outside, exercising, talking to a friend as well as several other calming strategies. Students practice these strategies to help encourage them to take ownership of how they are feeling and ways to handle feelings that are unpleasant or challenging. Students played a fun game to practice these skills and use the strategy of laughter to brighten a day.
Pro-tip: make yourself laugh for 10 seconds straight and see how the brain helps you feel good as well as give some joy to those around you!
Did you know that October is Anti-Bullying month? We used this topic to explore with students how to identify bullying behaviors and how to stand up against bullying. Students practiced not only speaking up to a bully with a confident voice but also standing with a friend when another person is just being unkind. We practice scenario cards to understand positive ways and not so positive ways to help a friend deal with a bully.
Did you know that students learn from kindergarten on about the three aspects of bullying behavior to help determine if the behavior is mean or bullying? For behavior to be bullying it must be ongoing, purposeful/intentional, and involve an imbalance of power. The target of the bullying often experiences feelings of fear when near the bully. Unkind behavior is never ok but normal peer conflict helps students to build in resiliency as well as confidence.
November
Lesson Summary for 1st Graders on After the Fall by Dan Santat
In this lesson, students will explore the story After the Fall, which tells what happened to Humpty Dumpty after his famous fall. The book, written and illustrated by Dan Santat, shows Humpty’s journey to overcome his fears and find the courage to try again. Through this lesson, students will learn about resilience, courage, and the importance of facing challenges.
Comprehension: Understand the main events of the story and Humpty's feelings after his fall.
Discussion on Resilience: Talk about what it means to be brave and how everyone faces challenges.
Personal Connection: Share times when they have felt scared to try something again and what helped them keep going.
Read-Aloud: Read After the Fall together, stopping to discuss Humpty’s emotions and what happens in the story.
Discussion Questions: Ask students about a time they were afraid to try again and how they felt after overcoming their fear.
Art Activity: Students design their own "wall" and paper egg character. After decorating both, students can cooperate with one another by creating puzzles of their characters and letting classmates try to 'put them back together again!'
End the lesson by reinforcing that it’s okay to be afraid sometimes, and that with a little courage, they can try again, just like Humpty Dumpty.