CHARACTER COUNTS! Week October 22-26, 2012

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States do hereby proclaim October 21 through October 27, 2012, as National Character Counts Week. I call upon public officials, educators, parents, students, and all Americans to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

At our school , we celebrated character a different way each day this week.  We tried to make it engaging and meaningful for the students.  Each fourth and fifth grader got a lesson from the counselor reviewing the 6 character traits and an activity that was sent home to share with parents. 

In celebration of character, students were encouraged to wear the following articles of clothing in a joint school-wide effort to support character. 

22 Monday:  “Sock It To Bullying”- Students wear their most “funky or decorative” socks

 

23 Tuesday:  “Wear a smile and share one with a friend” (School picture day)

 

24 Wednesday:  “Slip Into Safety”- Students wear their slippers during the school day   

 

25 Thursday:  “Hats Off To Helping Others”- Students wear their most “favorite or funky” hat

 

26 Friday:  “Show your character colors”– Students wear a color that represents one of the six pillars of character by grade level: K (blue), Grade 1 (yellow/gold), Grade 2 (green), Grade 3 (orange), Grade 4 (red), Grade 5 (purple).

The week was a success and definitely heightened awareness of our character education program.

Bullying Foldable

We have a well established bullying program based on the Steps to Respect curriculum so students at every grade level get lessons from the counselor about this important topic.  In fifth grade one lesson is on Bystander Power.  To make the lessen more engaging and memorable while I do a Smart Board lessen on the three types of bystanders the students complete a three part foldable (This takes me 5 minutes for all classes instead of 5 minutes per child out of a thirty minute lesson).  I pre-fold and cut the paper so all they have to do is label, draw, and explain.  As we learn about each type they write 2 bullets about that type of bystander and do a quick illustration to show understanding of the concepts.  For example a Passive Bystander - watches and does nothing and - provides an audience.  The drawing is a silent face of a person.  I want them to draw the bystander not the student who is bullying to focus on the bystander response. We do the passive and Harmful Bystander then talk about how these tow are the same and different, then move to the Helpful Bystander.  The students like creating their own booklet and were eager to take them home to share with families.  They are told to discuss how 2 of the categories are part of the problem, but one is part of the solution.

We had our first Career Cafe today for fifth graders during lunch.  Our first parent guest was Aerospace Physiologist who trains aircrews on the physiological hazards of flight. Our presenter was a female Air Force Corporal who got her college degree via an ROTC scholarship. We had 22 students sign up and attend which was good although we could have handled up to 30.  The preparation was not time consuming and those who elected to attend were very interested.  Six of the boys gave up almost their entire recess asking questions and trying on gear.  Next month our guest will be our school resource officer.  We took the advice from other blogs to start small.  This year we are doing Career Cafe at only two grade levels, third and fifth.

Favorite Icebreakers for groups

My co-counselor and I are still starting some first round groups through the end of the month.  We try to see as many students as possible in groups rather than individually because of our high case load.  The first few session of any group should have an ice breaker or energizer.  Below are my current top 5 favorites:

Name and Activity – The first group session we want to learn the names of the members and something about them.  An engaging way to accomplish this is have each person say their name 3 times in any type of voice they want to use while acting out something they enjoy doing during free time.  The counselor might model Mary- Mary-Mary in a high squeaky voice while pretending to read a book.  The entire group repeats the sequence Mary-Mary-Mary matching the type voice used and doing the actions.  After everyone has gone, then repeat the names 3 times and actions together

Silent Interviews - Divide the group into pairs - try to make mix the group into pairs of children who don't know each other well. Ask the members to introduce themselves to their partner. Instruct the group that from this point forward, speaking is not allowed..  This includes whispering, mouthing words, and making sounds, too! The counselor should model I like jogging by pointing to eye, making a heart with both hands, and jogging in place Inform the group that they must tell their partner 3 things about themselves without speaking, similar to a charades game. These things cannot be physical characteristics. Once all of the partners have finished miming to each other, call everyone back into a circle. Ask each pair to verbally introduce their partner to the group, as well as the three things that they learned (or think they learned). If you are working with very young children, you can do this as a group activity, where one child acts out a hobby for the group to guess.

Snowball Fight - Members write 3 things about themselves on a sheet of white paper. They do not write their names on the paper. Wad it up and on your command, have a "snowball" fight (aim below the waist). At the end of 1 minute, each student grabs the nearest snowball.  They open the ball and read and try to guess who wrote it.

Two Facts (Nonfiction) and One Fiction – The counselor models first by stating 3 things about self, but one is not true. Make sure you model the type of things that fit with the group goal.  Example: I have one best friend, I have moved 3 times, and I love to bike ride. This version of two truths and a lie is a good way to reinforce the concept of fiction and non-fiction and get to know group members.

Venn Diagram of Students - Divide students into groups of three or four. Give each group a large sheet of butcher paper and a different color marker for each person. Have them draw a Venn diagram with an oval for each student. The students in each group are to discuss what their similarities and differences are. After the discussion, they are to fill in the diagram showing their similarities and differences. If a group has a hard time getting started, give them some guidance by asking questions such as, "What is your favorite music?", "When is your birthday?", "What sports do you like?, or "Where were you born?"

Unite Against Bullying

These are the t-shirts our Pupil Services team is wearing for Unity Day today.  Our school social worker made the transfers and ironed them on for us.  We like the Committee for Children’s heart shaped world as the dot for the “I” in Unity.  Our students and staff are wearing orange too. It takes a school wide effort to combat bullying.  We use the Committee for Children’s Steps to Respect materials as the foundation of our bullying prevention program. Bullying can be prevented if we all work together to change the culture.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month

The End of Bullying Begins with Me: that’s the message during PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Month in October. It’s a time when communities can unite nationwide to raise awareness of bullying prevention through events, activities, outreach, and education. Tomorrow is Unity Day on which staff and students are encouraged to wear orange. That’s when scores of people around the country will join the movement to “Make it Orange and Make it End!” In 2011, Ellen DeGeneres promoted the cause on television by wearing orange and reminding millions of viewers about the importance of bullying prevention. Facebook supports the cause during October by providing users with information on PACER activities on its safety, educator, and privacy pages. The Committee for Children web site offered this poster as a free download.

Death of a Parent

Our crisis counseling team and a very caring teacher, spent last week responding to the crisis of a sudden death of a student’s parent. In a situation like this, there should be a single point of contact at school and a designated family member for communication purposes.  The school should not insert itself into the family; the school's role is to support the child. The child was in school every day and required support through the toughest week of this youngster’s life.  Five percent of children lose a parent to death by age 16.  At a time like this, it is critical to give the child as much control as possible.  The child should help decide who is told, how sympathy will be expressed at school, and if the child wants to be present when the news is delivered.  Because the child who lost a parent a week ago was very young, I insisted a letter go home to the parents of students in the class the night before I spoke to the class about what had happened.  Having a classmate lose a parent rocks the security of all children in the class. Also other children who have had significant losses or have a parent battling a serious illness need to be informed.  If possible, this type of difficult news needs to be delivered by parents who can reassure their own children that if anything would happen to them there is a plan in place. Our crisis team functioned well this week and we were careful to debrief one another daily.  A crisis takes so much extra energy so were are all happy we had a three day weekend to recover.