Category:

Shaun the Sheep

4/24/2017

Shaun the Sheep is a cute character from Aardman Animations. On the Shaun the Sheep YouTube channel, you can find short videos that your students will love. I use them in my small groups to reflect on positive school behaviors and interpersonal skills. When students earn a "lunch in the school counselor's office" reward, sometimes I show these clips while we eat. Each clip sparks great group discussion about what it means to "play fair," show good sportsmanship, treat others with respect, and more.

You could also use Shaun the Sheep during your classroom lessons to introduce a new concept, transition to a group activity, or close a lesson.

Here are some of my favorites...

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Ideas

4/14/2017

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What Do You Do With An Idea? is a wonderful book that explains how ideas can be exciting and scary, all at the same time. In the story, the main character likes their idea, but is worried about what other people might think or say.

Often, we spend so much time stressing about putting our thoughts and feelings on the table that we keep potentially AMAZING ideas to ourselves. Our students are no different. My goal is to encourage my creative, enthusiastic elementary kiddos to be confident and assertive; I want them to know that their opinions matter and that without them, the world would be a boring place, full of the same old ideas and the same old conversations.

You could open this lesson by showing the "Ideas Are Scary" commercial from GE. It grabs your attention and gives a clear symbol of how ideas enter the world, grow, and flourish.

Then, after reading the book, have a discussion with your students about why ideas are scary. Have they ever felt like they needed to keep their thoughts or feelings to themselves out of fear that someone might judge them? I wanted to focus this conversation on ideas that could make our school a better place - ideas that may seem impossible or silly at first.

The students write down their ideas and add a picture to illustrate the impact of that idea (i.e. starting a buddy bench at school, sitting next to someone new at lunch, picking up litter in the hallway, etc.).

My Idea (PDF)
File Size:	97 kb
File Type:	pdf

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Tarra and Bella: Loyalty Lesson

3/28/2017

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New Lesson Posted!

This is a fun lesson about loyalty!
Check it out here.

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Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

3/27/2017

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New Lesson Posted!

Check out this lesson on "dedication" here!

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The Color Monster

3/19/2017

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New Lesson!

I just posted information about this classroom lesson in the "Identifying and Expressing Feelings" section.

It's based on The Color Monster, an AMAZING pop-up book about understanding your feelings.

Check out the lesson details at the link above.

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Mind Yeti

3/14/2017

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I heard about Mind Yeti a little over a year ago when one of my colleagues tried it out. Her K-2 students loved it, so I thought I'd learn more. Once I began exploring the features, I was hooked!

For school counselors, this resource can be used individually, in small groups, during classroom lessons, and for the moments you need to close your door and "reboot" after a rough school moment. That's the beauty of Mind Yeti!

Mind Yeti provides both a free resource and paid premium service. Through Mind Yeti, you get guided mindfulness sessions to help kids calm down, focus their attention, and transition to new activities. As I'm sure you've heard, mindfulness in the classroom can help create a happy, calm and positive culture. When you have a tool like Mind Yeti, it's easy to integrate mindfulness strategies into your day.

Session categories include: Calm Down, Focus, Get Along, Reset, Create, and Go to Sleep.

I've used Mind Yeti in a variety of settings, but my favorite has been during a 6th Grade classroom lesson. I have a "Relaxation Experiment" for the students and I incorporated Mind Yeti sessions. The students love the calming voices, soothing music, and overall content of the sessions.

Share How You Would Use Mind Yeti!

I'd love to hear about it in the
comment section below!

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Hello, World!

3/12/2017

16 Comments

Hello, fellow school counselors! I can't believe how long it's been. I've quietly added to and organized parts of my site over the last 2 years, but for the most part, I've been absent.

So, what have I been up to?

Well, I have an almost three-year-old and a fourth-month-old. I started my 8th year as a school counselor. I acted in 5 plays: The Heiress, Blithe Spirit, The Birds, Circle Mirror Transformation, and Steel Magnolias. I took some much-needed "me time." Overall, I tried to heal from my website-related anxiety. I became so worried about everything I posted that it truly hurt my quality of life. Now, I feel like I can come back, even if just once in a while, and actually enjoy the process.

I want to thank you for being such an amazing group of readers. I am lucky to have your support, enthusiasm, and professionalism in my life. Please know that while I may not be able to respond to all of your emails, I still appreciate you - it just comes down to how much time I have available to give. Now that I have 2 kids, I'm sure you can imagine how much time that adds up to. ;)

Here are some things I just added:

You can find all of these "Is it Rude, Mean, or Bullying?" lessons here.

16 Comments

Recent Additions

2/21/2015

4 Comments

Over the past few days, I've posted a bunch of new resources on the website portion of my site. Here are the recent additions:

1.

This is a classroom lesson for early elementary that discusses what it means to be excellent. I used the book Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great, which is hilarious! I HIGHLY recommend it! After reading the book together, students filled out cupcakes with their strengths, which went on a class poster (left).

You can find the full explanation of this lesson here.

2.

This lesson is geared toward middle to upper elementary and allows for a lot of whole group and small group discussions about anger and bullying. The angry bird theme is a great way to grab your students' attention, creating a buzz of excitement that you need for a lesson that involves so much reflection.

The full lesson can be found here.

3.

LEGOs and following directions go so well together - why didn't I see this before?!

I created a lesson for a third grade class to help them practice giving and receiving directions, while also emphasizing WHY it's important to do those things well.

The lesson, which can be found here, includes a PowerPoint (with a short video) and interactive worksheet (left).

4.

The Best Teacher Ever is a great way to discuss "gratitude," especially in a school setting.

For this classroom lesson, we read the book, then created cards and a special video message for the classroom teachers. It's a feel-good lesson that, as a bonus, boosts staff morale.

For more details, click here.

5.

This is a great opportunity to help students self-reflect. The idea of an iceberg came from a popular Challenge Day exercise where students think about what it means to live "above the water line," and stop hiding who they really are. We want to be comfortable in our own skin, because that is where we can feel true peace and happiness.

On this paper, students write what other people see (top of the iceberg) and what they hide (bottom of the iceberg). This can be an emotional activity, so be prepared for a longer session, if needed. You could also use this paper with small groups or classrooms.

For more ideas like this, click here.

6.

Need a creative way to recognize your students' positive behaviors? Then try a photo booth! You can make a customized backdrop quickly, easily, and inexpensively.

For more information about my school's photo booth project, click here.

4 Comments

Hero vs. Villain

2/16/2015

18 Comments

I loved this lesson! I used it with a 3rd grade classroom, but it could definitely work 3rd-6th.

I went through the PowerPoint (below), which involves students thinking about why we look up to heroes and what those heroes have to overcome to make the right choices. Also, the students must participate in an interactive "choose your own adventure" part of the presentation, where they must choose the correct response to a difficult school-based situation. Typically, students know the best choice, so for fun, I go through the negative responses to show that side as well.

I ended the lesson with a self-reflection paper (left).

You could also use the self-reflection paper in an individual or small group setting. When students understand their behaviors, they are more likely to control them, rather than be controlled by them.

PowerPoint
File Size:	1918 kb
File Type:	pptx

Download File

Reflection Paper (PDF)
File Size:	119 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Reflection Paper (WORD)
File Size:	55 kb
File Type:	docx

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Book Review: Pickles and the P-Flock Bullies

12/30/2014

0 Comments

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.

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.

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Shaun the Sheep

Ideas

Tarra and Bella: Loyalty Lesson

New Lesson Posted!

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

New Lesson Posted!

The Color Monster

New Lesson!

Mind Yeti

Share How You Would Use Mind Yeti!

Hello, World!

Here are some things I just added:

Recent Additions

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Hero vs. Villain

Book Review: Pickles and the P-Flock Bullies

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