Pennies for Puppies Change War!

We really know how to work together for a good cause!

FES students raised $397.71 during our Pennies for Puppies Change War last week!

The winner of the Change War is…

2nd GRADE!!!!!!

Your pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollars added up to more than the other grade levels'! Way to Go 2nd Grade!

Get ready for state testing!

This was a big hit with our 3rd grade students experiencing state testing for the first time! 

IKNOW Test Taking Strategies!

After testing each day, our Peer Helpers took posters and the corresponding treats to 3rd grade classes. The daily treat themes were:

You're on a Roll! - Tootsie Rolls

No Dum-Dums at FES! Our scores will rock! - Dum Dums (suckers)

Blow that test out of the water! - Blow Pops

Punch that test! - Sour Punch Straws 

Personal Space

I LOVE Julia Cook books! Personal Space Camp is one of my staple books/lessons I grab when a student is struggling with personal space. 

We actually practice the strategies as we read through the book. They especially love the body tracing!

Oh the Places You'll Go!

We are all familiar with the book "Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss. I decided to use this book in January to talk about goal setting for 2nd and 3rd Grade. We read the book and created hot air balloons with pictures of things the students would like to do, be, or achieve.

When we were finished, we had a colorful wall display of FES students' goals for life.

Good Morning Sunshine!

FES Peer Helpers bring a little sunshine to the Kindergarten and 1st Grade halls in the mornings! Students earn "treasures" before school for good behavior. This is part of our school's PBIS.

This picture shows the Peer Helpers' badges and buckets of treasures.

We Did It!!!!

What a way to end our "Too Loved to Do Drugs" day at school! A huge thank you to the City of Fairhope for providing the bucket truck for the picture! Another huge thank you to all the teachers at Fairhope Elementary for making this happen! One last thank you to the students for being so patient!

"Too Loved to Do Drugs"

2nd and 3rd Grade students are learning about healthy habits and unhealthy habits. I first explain what a habit is. Then we brainstorm a list of healthy habits and unhealthy habits. We talk about how some habits are ok in moderation, but if they are done too much then they become unhealthy (eating chocolate, playing video games...). We move right into reminding ourselves that we have Friends, Family, and people in our Community who love us way too much to ever let us choose to do drugs.

I then give each student a red, yellow, and white piece of paper. They are instructed to write the name of a friend on the red paper, a family member on the yellow paper, and a person from the community on the white paper.

We glue each student's papers to our chart in order to help us remember that we are surrounded by friends, family, and people in our community who love us. Each class takes the chart back to their room to hang on the wall for the rest of October.

The idea for the chart came from a post on Pinterest showing a worksheet for students to complete. I just decided to create one chart for each class instead of copying papers for everyone.

Get It Together!

This is the only way I know how to at least attempt to keep up with everything that comes my way each day. There is a piece of me that would love to transition into using technology (iPad) for all of this, but I have to admit that a larger piece of me likes the traditional binder! 

There are tabs in the binder for: calendar, schedule, daily agenda, phone log, and resources. This is also where I keep a copy of our school's master schedule so I can refer to it when scheduling classes, small groups, and individual students. I'll add links to the daily agenda and phone log when I figure out how to do that! I'm still new at this whole blogging thing!

Welcome to the Counselor's Office!

I am very blessed to have a room large enough to separate into the different areas necessary for running a comprehensive counseling program.

Lots of shelves for books, games, bubbles, etc.

Large sectioned bookshelf to hold counseling picture books! I especially like my Julia Cook books! There are several copies of each book so that teachers can check them out for their entire class to read. Each book sits in a plastic bag to make it easier to keep up with.

No, my desk is not always this neat! In fact, most of the time you can't even see the top of the desk!

Legos! These are a must have!

Sand tray! Another must have!

Small group area of the room.

Whole group area of the room.

Sensory basket

Counselor's Corner

I keep a bulletin board in the teacher's lounge to hang the counseling schedule for the month, FES "Gold"en Rule, cute quotes, and monthly character education traits.

Counselor's Office - Bugs theme

Bugs, Bugs, Everywhere! This year's school-wide theme is BUGS! What better bug to choose for the counselor's office than a Ladybug? A counselor is the LADY you come to when something BUGS you. 

Counselor's Office - Pirate Theme

I love decorating for each new year! However, as most of us know, decorating takes time! So, I decided to make something sturdy enough to last the whole year AND interchangeable from year to year. Here's what I came up with for our Pirate Theme.

Red Ribbon Week!

Red Ribbon Week

October 21-25, 2013

In honor of “Red Ribbon Week,” FES students and teachers will wear something special each day to show that we are saying “NO!” to drugs.

Monday   “Make Footsteps Worth Following”

– Wear your favorite shoes

Tuesday  “Too Bright to Choose Drugs”

– Wear neon clothing

Wednesday   “Don’t Let Drugs Mix You Up"
 – Wear mix-matched clothes

Thursday  “Too Loved to Do Drugs”

– Wear red (as much red as possible)

Friday   “Turn Your Back on Drugs”

– Wear your shirt backwards