Study Habits

This is a great resource for small tier 2 groups for learning, study skills, and organization. It has 8 sessions which is the length of most of my groups. The activities are engaging and helpful. It is written by a former ASCA school counselor of the year. Check it out at https://youthlight.com

Study Skills and Organization - SUPER Students

I started my last small group for the school year this week.  We have school through the third week in June so I can do 8 sessions.  I use this resource by Chanaca (Youthlight) for my theme. I like the SUPER Formula: Self, Understand, Personal, Effort, and Results.  We go over the formula and set a goal in the first session.  This group is for grade 4. It is my third study skills group for the year in that grade.  Parents get very concerned after each report card about the impact of missing assignments which always creates a burst of referrals. For my study skills groups in grade 3 I use "STEP UP to Better Grades" by Zorn (Youthlight). For grade 5 I primarily use "Study Strategies for Early School Success" by Sirotowitz, Davis & Parker (addwharehouse). I'd love counselors to post a comment if they have good study skills resources.

Organizing thinking and writing: School Success Skills

In my Step up to Success groups with third and fourth graders, most of them do not construct decent paragraphs.  I have adapted this from the color scheme used in Step Up to Writing where these colors are used to highlight sentences.  I have found that a visual like the house helps some learners understand why the first and last sentences are so important, rather than just highlighting them with a green marker.  I do like the Step Up to Writing program because it is multisensory and meets the needs of more learners.

Study Skills Group Tips

My study skills groups for grades 3 and 4 meet during lunch so I have to maximize our time.  We have met once a week for the entire second quarter and will continue through the end of the third quarter.  Many of the students in these groups are in our gap group.  To engage them immediately I frequently do an opening activity where they each get one or two items that serve as a prompt.  Sometimes we sort them (helpful not helpful) and sometimes they read it aloud to the group and explain.  This past week I gave them each 2 foam flowers with strategies or concepts we have already discussed for a review.  They like getting something tangible to hold (not just a piece of paper) and I am always looking for them to say how they can apply what we learned.  They had to say why the one they had was important for school success. I then have the entire list with explanation typed out and copied in advance for them to add to their folders that go home at the end of each quarter to let parents/guardians know what we covered. The foam works well because you can wipe it off if they get food on one.

Study Skills Groups at Lunch - Organization

I run 4 study skills groups at lunch (2 for grade 3 and 2 for grade 4).  To maximize time and attendance I have a few tricks.  Each member has their own folder.  On the left is their pre-assessment and an attendance sheet.  As soon as they sit down (before opening lunch) they mark their own attendance.  The columns indicate: present, did not come, absent from school.  They make a note if there is a reason they were in school but did not come to group (example: taking a make-up test).  This has made a huge impact on attendance and responsibility getting to the session every week.  We meet the same day of the week for the entire second and third quarter.  These groups are my SMART goal for the year and where I am hoping to have outcome data for the counseling program.  In the right pocket is a pencil, their goal. and any papers we do or a summary of each session.  At the end of the first quarter we cleaned out the folders and sent the work home (with a cover note from me indicating the child's attendance at group and what we are working on next).  We wrote goals at the beginning of the second quarter when the group started and wrote new ones at the start of the third quarter.   Some students revised the original goal but others had met the first goal and set a new academic goal for third quarter. So far so good for all 4 of these groups. I think it is important to model the importance of various aspects of organization.

No Longer a Dilly Dally by Carl Sommer

A book you might want to check out for a character education lesson on responsibility or for an academic lesson if No Longer a Dilly Dally.  There are several lessons available online that use this book
www.ncyi.org/ The book is also used for an activity in the book by Robin Zorn (ASCA Counselor of the Year) to teach good study habits. I bought Robin's book at ASCA and am planning to use it to develop a study habits group for grade 3 this coming school year. STEP UP to Better Grades (Space, Tools, Ending, Pay attention, Understanding directions and Practice) can be used for small groups or classroom lesson. It has a CD with parent letters, power points, and reproducible pages.It is available from youthlight.com