Spring Wear to Work Gear & Counselor Showcase

If I haven't said it enough, I really enjoyed doing The School Counselor Wear to Work Series.  During the series of posts, I had hoped to share early spring work gear, but wouldn't luck have it that we had an extra long winter (in the south), so now that it's warmed up I can share even more pictures that you amazing school counselors have sent in (and I have some of me in my spring work gear)!  Here goes:

Noelle, Robin, Judy & Barb:  Grade 5 & 6 School, Ada, MI (LOVE the color coordination among the team & I was told it wasn't planned!)

Takeshia:  School Counselor Grades 6-12,  Fairburn, GA

Shirt: Old Navy, Capris: JC Penny, Shoes: JCrew

Shirt & Belt: Old Navy, Skirt: Banana Republic, Shoes: Gap, Necklace: Belk Dept Store

Necklace: Belk, Shirt: Old Navy, Blazer: JCrew Factory, Pants: Calvin Klein (Macy's), Shoes: Nine West

Yes you can mix patterns! Shirt & Skirt: Old Navy, Necklace: Belk, Shoes: Cole Haan

Scarf: World Market (this was my giveaway scarf), Cardigan: JCrew, Camisole: Banana Republic, Capris: JC Penny, Shoes: Gap

Shirt & Skirt: Thrifted, Necklace: JCrew, Shoes: Old Navy

Shirt: Old Navy, Skirt & Shoes: JCrew, Necklace: Belk

So is my like of stripes showing this spring or what?






















Pin It

Read & Tried... Kindness Lesson & Activity

In continuation of our Random Acts of Kindness Lessons, counselor intern Kelly and I decided to continue kindness/getting along with others lessons with our friends in 1st grade.  We used the idea that school counselor Emily shared on the School Counselor Blog Spotlight.  We read the (fabulous) Have You Filled A Bucket Today book by Carol McCloud, which I love reading.

Reading "Have You Filled A Bucket Today"

We also showed a cute and fun song video clip I found on Youtube to reiterate being a "bucket filler".

Click here to view the video

We sat in a circle (I had to make a mental note to wear pants since I LOVE skirts), where we used a ball of yarn to make a "web of kindness", where each student gives a compliment to a classmate, while tossing and holding on to the yarn being passed around (hence the web).  As Emily shared, the students felt so proud to give and receive compliments.  For our class visits, I assigned everyone a person to give a compliment to.  I typed the student's names on an Avery address labels template, then cut the names out which I put in a cup and let them pick out of.  If they happened to draw their own name, they just picked another name.  That way nobody had that "last picked" feeling.

Names

Names cut out and about to be put in a cup.

Giving directions on our web of kindness

Our web...next time I'll use a brighter color of yarn, it's hard to see in this picture.  

I was amazed how well the students sat quietly and held on to their string as others gave compliments. I was extra excited seeing the smiles, cheers and head nods as students received compliments from their classmates. This was a lesson that I read about, tried and loved.  Thanks Emily for sharing!

Pin It

School Counselor Wear to Work Giveaway!

Can you tell that I really enjoyed writing about my school counselor work fashion?  Well I certainly did, so much that I'm doing a fashion related giveaway!  Since the weather's (finally) warming up I've been wanting to wear a light, fun and colorful scarf that can be worn both inside and outside of school (remember to buy clothing pieces that can be worn in multiple "looks"). I bought the scarves (1 for me and another for the giveaway winner) from the store World Market. 

Scarf from World Market

Here's a couple of "looks" the scarf can be worn in (I apologize for not having pics of me in the actual outfits, but I was on a time crunch to get these taken and you know how we school counselors have to do what we have to do...):

If I were to wear this scarf to work with a....skirt (skirts are my fav):

Cardigan: JCrew, Camisole: Banana Republic, Belt: Old Navy, Skirt: Thrifted

Shirt: Old Navy, Belt & Skirt: Thrifted

Shirt: Old Navy, Belt: Gap, Skirt: JCrew Factory

If I were to wear this scarf to work with....capri/cropped pants:

Shirt: JCrew, Capri Pants: JC Penny

And if all else fails, we all have this "black & white" outfit:

Shirt: Old Navy, Capri Pants: JC Penny

If I were to wear this scarf to work with...a dress

Dress: Old Navy

Vest & Dress: Gap ( I probably wouldn't wear the vest to work but would for an outside of work setting)

After seeing a few ways to rock the spring scarf in and out of work and if you can totally see yourself wearing it, please enter the giveaway below.  If you're the winner, I'd love to see how you're wearing the scarf (I won't post your pic unless you'd like me to).  Also fellow blogger and fashionable school counselor Melanie from The Stylish School Counselor is doing a #stylishschoolcounselor challenge via social media where you post your outfit of the day (#ootd).  Please join in, I love getting ideas of what others are wearing to work. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway Pin It

The Countdown Until Spring Break (Staff Pick Me Ups)

Despite the snow days and the unexpected time off Spring Break just seemed like a (very) distant dream.  Well this year to pump up the staff for the exciting break, we did a countdown with a daily theme for the days before spring break (similar to the 12 days of Christmas, which we also do and I'll share later on).  Several teachers and myself thought of this and we also had help from our PTA.  So here's what we did:

-Hawaiian/Island Day, wear your favorite tropical themed shirt, hat, etc.  Kelly and I had on fresh leis straight from Hawaii that someone brought back for us from their trip right before this (how convenient).

Check out our "official" leis.  They are absolutely beautiful & I loved being able to smell fresh flowers all day.

Our staff really got into this!

-Guess the number of (spring) M&M's in the jar and the person closet to the actual number wins.

-Island Snack Themed Day (sponsored by our PTA)

Pineapple juice with umbrellas, I can almost see the beach!

-Spring "Prom" and Photo Booth Day, we LOVE a photobooth opportunity at JYJ!  We have an awesome staff member who was a former journalist & photographer who took pics of everyone.

-Easter Egg Hunt Day, there were 5 plastic eggs hidden throughout the building (a parent hid them) and if you found an egg you won a prize.  I actually won a gift card from finding an egg!

-March Munching Madness Day, wear your favorite college team shirt and bring in finger/snack foods to share with the staff.

-Staff "Sailing" Spotlight Day, write a note to a staff member to brighten their day and for a special touch we had Lifesavers candy to add to the sailing effect.  Each staff member was assigned a person to write a note to.  It was so nice to receive a little pick me up note during the week.

-Wake Up and Read PJ Day, this was the end of our district wide book collection drive and both students and staff wore PJ's.  Our school collected over 4,000 books to donate!

This was soooo much fun to do and went over well with the staff as you can tell from the pics.  We may have to do a another countdown for other school milestones, stay tuned.


Pin It