May is Mental Health Month

This is the fabulous bulletin board our school's outstanding volunteer based on some ideas my school psychologist and I gave her.  The purpose is to raise awareness that one in five children have a mental illness (for adults it is one in four persons).  It does not show in the photograph but the one child (above the number one) is popping out.  We wanted the one child representing having a mental illness to look just like the rest of the "kids." We really liked the theme "Open eyes, open hearts."  Our heart is 3D made out of quick drying clay with glitter added.  The background is green because that is the color of the ribbons for mental health matters awareness.  I hope all counselors will do something this month to increase awareness of the importance of mental health!

Career Cafe

Today was our ninth and final lunchtime Career Cafe for fifth grade.  This was a pilot for us (my part-time counselor organized Career Cafe for third grade).  Every presenter told me they enjoyed sharing their education and career with the students.  At least half of these parents had presented at our Career Fair previously and they told me they liked this much more. Students signed up in advance and the attendance varied from 20 to 41 today.  We heard about some very interesting occupations including a Forensic Scientist for the U.S. Marshall Service, and attorney who defends companies like Disney against knock-offs, an aerospace physiologist, etcetera.  I enjoyed all the sessions and was very impressed with the high level of questions the students asked the presenters.  We have a survey that all fifth graders will take tomorrow to give us important feedback to shape our planning for next year.  I will share the results soon.

Put-ups and Put-downs