Annual Children’s Home Gift Drive! December 3, 2008
Posted by escounselors in Grades 2, 3, Grades 4, 5, PK, K, 1, Parent Talk Articles, Puxi.add a comment
Dear Puxi Elementary Parents,
The Elementary Counselors are busy talking about Kindness in the classrooms in December. We would like to invite you to participate in our annual GIFT DRIVE for our local Children’s Home! We start collecting on Friday, December 5th. Here is how you can help:
- Wrap up your toy or clothing item with wrapping paper, and label your present. Indicate whom you would like to receive your present: boy/girl and the age. Make sure the gifts are new, or “almost new.”
- You or your child may drop off the presents in the Elementary School. Place them near one of the Christmas Trees in the main lobby of the ES. The new fifth grade student leadership group, the “Eagle Leaders,” will work together with the High School Community Service to collect and deliver the presents to the Children’s Home in mid-December.
Thanks & be sure to get your gifts in before December 16!
Happy Holidays!
Eileen Knobloch (PK-1)
Kristina Anderson (2-3)
Dan Everett (4-5)
Puxi Elementary Counselors
Problem Solving and Coping Skills in October and November November 19, 2008
Posted by escounselors in Grades 2, 3, Grades 3, 4, 5, Grades 4, 5, PK, K, 1, PK, K, 1, 2, Parent Talk Articles, Pudong, Puxi, Uncategorized.add a comment
“He pushed me.”
“She called me stupid.”
These are typical comments you might hear on the SAS elementary playgrounds in Pudong and Puxi. While many adults wish that words like these were never spoken, school staff know that learning how to resolve conflicts such as these and cope with the uncomfortable feelings conflict often brings is an important part of life. That is why the SAS elementary counseling staff has designated October as conflict resolution month and November as a month of coping.
On the Pudong campus, the PK-grade two students have been introduced to Kelso and his problem solving wheel while the upper elementary students have been experiencing literature based guidance lessons. Pudong students have been role playing solutions to problems, identifying feelings, and discovering how to handle those feelings. They have been defining bullying and working out ways to address it. Students have been reading books like Mean Soup, When Sofie Gets Really Angry, The Bully Book, and I’m Sorry.
On the Puxi campus, students PK – grade 5 have been reminded that at SAS we talk, walk, and squawk to solve our problems. There are many ways to talk - use an I message, make a joke, compromise, agree, apologize, say, “So”, stand up for yourself, share, play scissor/paper/rock, or take turns. There are a couple ways to walk – ignore or move away. And there is an important way to squawk – ask an adult for ideas to help solve your problem. Each of these ways is captured on a classroom poster entitled “The Talk, Walk, Squawk Bag of Tricks.” The students have used role plays to practice I messages, solve problems and practice standing up to bullies. Students have also learned to recognize and name feelings in themselves as well as in their peers. They have been learning how to express and manage those feelings through exercise, art, and conversation. While learning these important skills, students have been reading books such as Say Something, Blue Cheese Breath and Stinky Feet, The Zax, The Hurt, and Today I Feel Silly.
As parents, there is a great deal you can do to support your child during a conflict. Validate your child’s feeling by naming it. “It sounds like you are angry because your friend pushed you.” Then give your child an opportunity to solve the problem. “What are you going to do?” If your child doesn’t have a plan, you can give them choices. “Some children might walk away. Others might give an I message. Some children might make a joke. What would you like to do?” Finally, ask your son or daughter to let you know how it works out after they’ve tried their plan. Help them to understand that sometimes you have to try several strategies before you find the one that works for you. Once they’ve settled the issue, help your child recognize that he or she is a problem-solver.
So the next time you hear comments like “He’s mean!” or “She’s cheating,” from your child, remember these are teachable moments. Acknowledge your child’s feelings and then help them practice the conflict resolution and coping skills they have learned during their October and November guidance lessons.
Eileen Knobloch – PK-1st Counselor, Puxi
Kristina Anderson – 2nd-3rd Counselor, Puxi
Dan Everett – 4th-5th Counselor, Puxi
Edward Woods – 3rd,4th, and 5th Counselor, Pudong
Gloria Bissmeyer – PK – 2nd Counselor, Pudong
Student Leadership at Puxi Elementary October 28, 2008
Posted by escounselors in Grades 4, 5, Puxi.add a comment
We launched a new Student Leadership Group this month at Puxi Elementary. Ed Woods will be starting a Leadership group at Pudong this year as well. Last week at Puxi, the 5th grade classes came together for an assembly about Student Leadership, led by Counselors Dan Everett & Kristina Anderson. In the assembly, 5th graders watched a video describing the new Student Leaders Group. Interested students were encouraged to sign up on a list in their classroom until Wednesday October 15th in the afternoon. Then, on Thursday October 16th, those interested came to a meeting to fill out an “application.” This application asked two basic questions regarding leadership. Their written answers, and their teachers’ feedback about their responsibility and behavior, were the guiding criteria for their selection. Only two (2) students were chosen from each classroom, for a total of 14. (alphabetically: Joseph Buenning, Derek Chan, Goldie Davoudgoleh, Chae Rin Han, Sam Harder, Noah Knobloch, Kith Lee, Harrison Park, Marisa Peters, Jacob Tala, Muriel Wang, Sophie Wang, David Wei, Hannah Wong)
The main function of this group will be to organize and take the lead on community service and school projects. They will also help to motivate all 5th graders to take part in these projects.
We are excited to provide students this opportunity for leadership. Unfortunately, 14 is a small number when you consider what a fantastic group of children we have in our 5th grade! We had over 80 applicants! However, next year at SAMS…they will have plenty of opportunities!! Student Forum, Ambassadors, and even “MC-ing” middle school assemblies! Our intention is for this new program to be empowering for the entire 5th grade, as they consider their own behavior as “role models” for the rest of the Elementary School.
Counselor’s Corner All about Friendship in September October 28, 2008
Posted by escounselors in Grades 2, 3, Grades 3, 4, 5, Grades 4, 5, PK, K, 1, PK, K, 1, 2, Parent Talk Articles, Pudong, Puxi.add a comment
“In order to have a friend, you must be a friend.” This is the message that elementary school counselors have been discussing with students on the Pudong and Puxi campuses during their guidance lesson time. Friendships are a very important part of elementary students’ daily lives as they play, work, and learn together and therefore an important topic to discuss with them at the beginning of the school year.
This past month students in all grades have been brainstorming different characteristics that they should look for in a friend and have come up with great ideas such as someone who is helpful, caring, and trustworthy. They have also been discussing traits that they don’t like in a friend such as a person who is bossy, tells secrets, and doesn’t play fair.
Fourth grade students on the Puxi campus have been enjoying videoing “friendship commericials,” promoting what it means to be a good friend. Second and Third grade students wrote “friendship wanted ads” for what kind of friend they are looking for and younger students have been putting together a book of what it means to be a good friend. Students on the Pudong campus have been exploring how different cultures show friendship and made friendship bracelets to give to their friends.
Counselors have also been running lunch groups for new students to SAS which gives them an opportunity to make friends in a smaller group setting. New students enjoy eating lunch and playing a board game with their new friends. Counselors will also being running friendship lunch groups throughout the year to help students continue to make connections with classmates and work on social skills.
Listed below are some great friendship themed books that students enjoyed during their guidance lessons in the month of September.
How Humans Make Friends by Loreen Leedy
Matthew and Tilly by Rebecca C. Jones
The Brand New Kid by Katie Couric
Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
How to Lose a Friend by Nancy Carlson
Dan Everett – Elementary Counselor, Puxi
Kristina Anderson - Elementary Counselor, Puxi
Eileen Knobloch – Elementary Counselor, Puxi
Sarah Pearlz – Psychologist, Puxi
Gloria Bissmeyer – Elementary Counselor, Pudong
Ed Woods – Elementary Counselor, Pudong
Jan Cantrill – Psychologist, Pudong
Learning about Wellness in PK, K, and Gd 1 April 24, 2008
Posted by escounselors in PK, K, 1, Puxi.add a comment
The month of April began with an important personal safety lesson. The students of PK, K, and Grade 1 spent their time learning the three touching rules, identifying trusting adults, and practicing ways to say, “No!” The students learned that they have a right to keep their private body parts safe and what to do if someone tries to break the touching rules. Then the guidance lessons moved the focus onto other aspects of wellness such as what it means to be healthy. Students discovered that eating nutritious food, getting enough sleep, exercising, and connecting with others in order to share our feelings are all ways to keep ourselves healthy. However, there are two things in today’s society that can interfere with our good health - TV and video games. To help us remember all the other ways of being healthy, our elementary students joined the Turnoff Week campaign and gave up TV and video games for one week - April 21st-April 27. While this was a challenge, our students showed amazing discipline. Well done, kids! Our final focus for the month of April was on maintaining healthy relationships which enable us to connect with others. Friendships are like gardens. To be healthy, we must take care of them. The students practiced ways to take care of their relationships.
PUXI Grades 2 and 3: CAREER EXPLORATION April 8, 2008
Posted by escounselors in Grades 2, 3, Puxi.add a comment
Students are never too young to start thinking about what they want to be when they grow up and that is exactly what we have been doing the past two weeks in guidance lessons. Students have been exploring different interests they have and how those relate to possible future careers.
Second and third grade classes had good discussions about how they already hold very important jobs, as students! They work 7 hour days, have a 5 day work week and sometimes even have to work overtime with that dreaded homework. Their bosses (or teachers) have certain expectations of them that they must meet in order to be successful at their such as finish their homework, follow classroom rules, and listen while teacher is talking. And believe it or not they even get paid!! They get paid in learning new knowledge that helps them move onto the next grade, then to middle school, then high school, hopefully to the university of their choice and then if they are lucky and have worked hard learning all of that important knowledge onto their dream job!
Students had fun pondering what their dream job would be if they could have any job in the world. Many students found themselves wanting to be authors and illustrators after our visiting authors and illustrators were here at school. Other students dreamt of being engineers, artists, professional athletes, teachers, veternarians and there was even a possible future school counselor in the bunch!
Once students had thought about what their dream jobs would be we broke it down a bit more to discuss how their interests are related to what careers they will be interested in in the future. Students brainstormed different things they like to do and different things they do not like to do, they also considered which school subjects they enjoy and which subjects they do not enjoy. We then matched their different interests with different possible careers with a career/interest survey. Students had fun learning about a variety of careers that matched their interests.
Careers Pudong-Grades 1, 3, & 5 March 21, 2008
Posted by escounselors in Grades 3, 4, 5, Pudong.add a comment
Ask a first grader “what do you want to be when you grow up?” and most have an answer and respond quickly: “professional soccer player,” “dancer”or“I want to have a job like my father and mother.”
This past month the students have been investigating Careers. The students have been involved in activities that allow children to learn information about themselves and the world of work. Awareness to help them explore who they are as people, how they interact with others, and how school relates to the world of work has been our focus.
The first grade classes have been learning about Community Workers in our own community. We were given a tour of our cafeteria and kitchen by Mr. Charles. The children were surprised to hear about the 35 different workers and the many jobs. We then met other important persons in our school community, like the secretary and the principal. We made a list of the many different jobs in our school community. Books read and discussed were, Community Helpers A to Z, What do People Do all Day? and Lily’s Plastic Purse.
The third grade students took inventory of their job interests, skills and subjects. Discussions followed with personal interests that will help them to be successful and skills they now have to do well in the job they may choose. School subjects they are now learning help them to prepare for the job they would choose. They followed up the activities by visiting web sites that provided information on what a chosen career requires such as education, availability and salary.
Conflict Resolution Pudong-Grade 1, 3, & 5 March 21, 2008
Posted by escounselors in Grades 3, 4, 5, Pudong.add a comment
Conflict Resolution was our theme for this past month. Over the school year the children will be using some skills learned in our lessons dealing with conflicts. Kelso the Frog came to SAS bringing along his friends (puppets), each came with a conflict they experienced and how they solved them using KELSO”S Choices. The program helps students differentiate between problems they can handle on their own and those requiring adult intervention. Several positive ways to deal with difficult situations are taught. Nine choices to work from include: Walk away, Ignore the problem behavior, Tell the person to stop, Talk it over, Make a deal or compromise, Share and take turns, Go to another game or activity, and Apologize. If these solutions do not take care of the problem, students can ask a grown up for help.
The students also shared some of the problems they encountered at school and at home. Additionally, we role played, drew pictures, and identified and talked about feelings associated with conflicts.
The upper grades learned strategies on how to work out conflicts in their relationships with family and friends. They participated in activities that identified conflict triggers, role played some scenarios to be better listeners and practiced observing behaviors that help us in our relationships. Identifying our feelings and managing those feelings.
Awareness was also a big part of the discussions and stories shared. As in the lower grades, it is all about the choices we make to solve our conflicts.
Careers Pudong-PK, K, 2, & 4 March 20, 2008
Posted by escounselors in PK, K, 1, 2, Pudong.add a comment
March is our month to learn about our strengths and interests. We then begin our conversations about how these can relate to future career choices.
Fourth graders segued from exploring their own diversity and strengths into beginning the conversations about career choices. First they completed a ‘book’ where they showed, amongst other things, their interests and strengths. This then led into the beginning of exploring different types of careers that might relate to their interests. Students completed a short questionnaire based on John Holland’s theory of RIASEC. This gave them some ideas of areas of interest for them. Together, students brainstormed different career options that were in their areas of interest.
In Grade 2, students also completed an activity that explored their own diversity. Working together, using their cooperation skills, students worked on a career riddle activity. Following this activity, students together brainstormed strengths for different career choices. After completing an interest questionnaire, students were then given the task of creating their ‘dream job’ and sharing what would make it a dream job.
In PK and Kindergarten, students were read the stories When I Grow Up and Jamal’s Busy Day. Students also colored in career choices in different colors to identify if they were very interested in the job (green), maybe interested in the job (yellow), and not so interested in the job (red). The Career Charades game was played, too, where students took turns acting out a job and their peers had to guess what career person they were.
Spend some time sharing your career interests with your child. Help him/her to understand the connection of interests and strengths to career choice. If possible, consider participating in a ‘take your child to work day’ activity!
Next month we focus on Wellness (healthy mind and body) and Personal Safety. Please watch for information on Edline, this website, Parent Talk, and in a letter to come home!
PUXI Grades 2 and 3: DIVERSITY March 18, 2008
Posted by escounselors in Grades 2, 3, Puxi.add a comment
February was a month for celebrating diversity. Discussions in guidance lessons centered around the idea of accepting each others’ differences and celebrating what makes each of us special and unique.
Students in grades 2 and 3 first talked about different characteristics that make them unique such as where they were born, what they want to be when they grow up, what their favorite subject in school is, etc. They were then given the job to find 10 pe0ple who had different answers from them. Students were surprised to find that a lot of their classmates and friends had different answers from them proving that you don’t have to have exactly the same interests and characteristics to be friends. In fact if everyone was the same, the world would be quite boring, wouldn’t you say?
In our second week of celebrating diversity, students explored the concept of prejudice and how different prejudices can have a negative impact on our world. We defined prejudice as judging someone or having an idea about them before you actually know anything about them. We discussed the negative ramifications of prejudging people with the help of Dr. Suess’ book The Sneetches. Students also shared with the class different times when they were prejudged and what that felt like. We discussed the importance of getting to know someone for who they are before they form an opinion about them based on their nationality, color of skin, gender, age, clothes they wear, etc.
During our third lesson on diversity students utilized their acting skills in role plays revolving around different bullying situations. Sometimes kids get bullied at school because they are different. We discussed how we want SAS to be a safe and comfortable place for all students and what students can do if they see bullying occur in their classroom or out on the playground. Students practiced using “I” messages to ask the bully to stop and also asking an adult for help in the role plays. There were some Oscar worthy performances as the student enjoyed acting out the different scenarios.
