This is the side wall in my office where I used to store the Family Resource Packs. I moved them to bins in our teachers lounge and had a bulletin board installed over the summer. I covered the board with a heavy fabric and hung our tier 1 Second Step posters. In the fall I just added some foam apples which I now swapped with mittens. I will probably do stars or flowers next. It is very helpful when I am doing individual or group counseling to refer to one of these posters si I can reinforce one of the critical skills taught in classroom lessons.
This is my office door depicting the counseling program's theme, iHELP. The kids love peeking in the window labeled "Live Cam of Dr. McCormac."
I teach all the K-2 students the basic components of the Conscious Discipline. The breathing icons are free posters consciousdiscipline.com/resources/
I bought blue Wobble Stools in three sizes to help keep my young friends in one spot. I offer them the choice to sit on chair (with an exercise band) or stool.
My door sign reflects our iHELP theme and logo. I post our Mission Statement and Annual Calendar in a similar iHelp frame.
To make sure the students use the flexible seating options in a safe manner I review the anchor charts I made and use them as a reminder of expectations, until I am sure they know how to use them.
From a color psychology perspective, blue is a peaceful
color that can cause the body to produce calming chemicals. Blue is reliable and responsible. Some studies have
found people are more productive in blue rooms.
That said I wish I could paint my cinder block walls blues, but since
that is not allowed, I am trying to bring more blue into my office.
I have added a blue cloth on my computer
table, blue desk lamp, tranquil blue class light filters (I tried 2 but have ordered 2 more), and blue curtains. I already had blue
chairs, a blue carpet, and half a wall full of blue Family Resource Packs. It
is not that I want my office to be a blue room, but I do want it to be well
organized and visually pleasing. It actually feels more calming and hopefully
will reduce tension.
I got the idea how to make a simple
valance to soften the white blinds on my windows from Pinterest. It is just 2 table runners held up by pipe
cleaners attached to top of blinds attached with safety pins. The blue light filters are available through
school supply catalogs and Amazon.
I am lucky to have a good size window so I can grow real plants which I love. I try to keep multicultural pictures and artifacts in my office to show that I celebrate diversity. I keep my most frequently used books on these open shelves. The top of the book shelf has things I want the children to explore or props I use in counseling. I have very cool 3D puzzles the children love, kaleidoscopes to illustrate change, a play microphone to help some students find their voice (an autistic child loves this), stress fidget objects, 3 sizes of rocks to determine how big a problem the student thinks it is, a sand tray, and puppets.
I have a large puppet collection. The only puppets I use in classrooms are the ones from Second Step I use the rest with small groups and some individual students.
My ABC Feelings rug is great! I have had students read and discuss the feelings, pick 2 they have the day they see me, and toss a bean bag and use that feeling in an I statement in small groups.
I have good feeling pictures on my rug but this set of "I Feel..." had 12 other emotions showing not just faces but body language too so they are now on my cabinets. Children can stand on the feeling that describes what they are feeling or point to one of these child drawn emotions.
This corner of my room is my work station. All our staff have posters with out favorite books. I had mine taken outside on our Buddy Bench that I arranged so that when students comment about the poster I can remind them about procedures for the buddy bench. I selected Charlotte's Web because I loved that book in elementary school and it has so many great text to self connections regarding friendship.
