Elementary School Counseling
  • Home
  • Marissa's Blog
  • Individual Counseling
  • Small Group Counseling
  • Classroom Counseling
  • School-Wide Programs
  • Storybirds
  • Store
  • Resources
  • Contact Information

Book Review: Pickles and the P-Flock Bullies

12/30/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
I recently read a book called Pickles and the P-Flock Bullies, a story about a young Orca named Pickles and her new friend, Stitches, a harbor seal. The pair meet a group of seagulls who invite Pickles to join their group, but ridicule and push away Stitches. Pickles is left to decide if she should stick up for her friend or join the "cool" P-Flock seagulls.

What I found exceptional about this book is the honest conversation about how easily we can be manipulated by negative forces, such as bullies. When a strong personality invites you in, it's hard to refuse and even harder to stand up and call out their bullying behaviors. When in this difficult situation, Pickles finds herself joining in with the crowd, further humiliating her friend.
Pickles and the P-Flock Bullies is a book written with beautiful detail and imagery that your students will find themselves both relating to and enjoying. I would most likely share this with my 3rd grade classrooms and conduct a follow-up activity with foam fish, similar to this one.
Picture
Students would sit in a circle, if possible, and take turns "fishing" out of the pile of foam sea creatures. There are a few ways that you could structure this activity, but I would probably number the fish so that each one corresponded with a specific type of question. Some of the questions would be about the story (summarizing, details, etc.), while others would be how the story applies to our day-to-day school lives. These could be situation-based questions to see if a student could decide how to respond to bullying or simply discussion starters to open up an honest class conversation about the topic.

Overall, I definitely recommend this book!

Are you an author? Do you have a book that you would like me to review on my blog? If so, contact me at marissa@elementaryschoolcounseling.org. I'd be happy to check out your work and spread the word to my readers.
0 Comments

Check-In

12/30/2014

34 Comments

 
Picture
This is something new that I've started in my individual counseling sessions. It serves a few purposes - it helps me gather data on how effective the sessions are, helps students self-reflect, and works as a discussion starter.

My students have really taken to this check-in method and I've definitely noticed a positive change in their ability to reflect and process what is happening around them. My next step is to take the data from the year and see if the self-reflections match each student's behavior and overall performance.

I print this check-in page on the back of my session summary form. That way, all of my notes for the session are in one place.
Picture
Individual Counseling Check-In
File Size: 116 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

Session Summary (Individual)
File Size: 23 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

34 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    My name is Marissa Rex and I am a 1st Grade teacher and an elementary school counselor from Ohio. I hope you enjoy my site!

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Archives

    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Academic Support
    Advocacy
    Anger
    Awards And Recognition
    Beginning Of The Year
    Behavior Management
    Book
    Bullying
    Career
    Classroom Counseling
    Collaboration
    Contests
    Creativity
    Deployment
    Divorce
    Documentation
    Feelings
    Friendship
    Gifted Education
    Giveaways
    Grade Level Transitions
    Grief
    Guest Blog Post
    Illness
    Incarceration
    Individual Counseling
    Interview
    Lgbt
    Linky Party
    Meetings
    Moving
    Natural Disasters
    Parent Involvement
    Positive School Behaviors
    Professional Development
    Reviews
    School Counseling Office
    School Staff
    School Wide Program
    Self Care
    Self Esteem
    Service
    Small Group Counseling
    Testing
    Video
    Video Podcast
    Vistaprint
    Volunteer Opportunity
    Website Recommendation


    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Follow Me on Pinterest

    Tweets by @ESCorg

    Picture
    Picture
    Photobucket
    Picture
    Picture
    Teach.com
    Picture

    Picture
    Picture

    Ebates Coupons and Cash Back
2012-2017 Elementary School Counseling.org
FAQ        Contact        About