Daily Reminders Magnet Board

No matter how many calendars or to do lists I keep, I do from time to time forget things (it's seems a little more often these days, but I digress).  A former counselor intern gave me this cute and cool magnetic message board.  At first I thought great I can put little notes, reminders and such on it.  That plan lasted about let's see....2 days!  I had a small board and a large amount of reminders & notes.  I got this great idea to make this reminder board for each day of the week.  I used something similar when I was teacher a few years back.  So this is what I did:

Magnetic Board

I typed a quick reminders template using Word for Mac (it took probably 10 minutes to type this).  I just typed the usual things that I have daily such as: classroom visits, students lunches, meetings, people I may need to call & other notes.  I typed the title "Monday's Reminders"once and changed the day of the week after printing.  I printed each day of the week on different color cardstock paper and laminated it.

Daily Reminder

The whole week of reminders

After trimming the laminating film from each day of the week I then glued some magnets I got in a race packet from our 5K several months ago (I also got extra magnets to use for future projects, hey they were free) on the back of each day of the week reminder sheet. By the way 2 magnets (shown below) came with the board, but having magnets on each day works great for me.

Free magnets, my favorite price!

Magnets that came w/ the board

Using glue gun to put on magnet

I write what I'm supposed to do each day with a dry erase marker (it's better to get a smaller tip dry erase pen, the ones used for a large whiteboard are hard for me to write with).  I can then wipe clean & reuse the same daily sheet...forever!  I use my Google calendar (agenda view) and transfer it to my daily reminders sheets.  I usually write my reminders for the following week on Friday's and it has worked great for me! 

Dry Erase Markers $4.99 for pack of 4

The finished product is below.

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Ice-Breaker with a Tech Spin

This year, I've made it my personal counselor project to update my ice-breaker activities with my students.  Yes I have the beach ball with the questions on it (brilliant idea) and I made the popsicle sticks with questions on them earlier so now I needed a jyj counselor tech-like ice-breaker activity.  So I had this great idea to use QR (Quick Response) Codes for my next ice-breaker activity.  QR codes, when scanned can take you directly to web pages, videos, pictures or documents without having to type in a web address. These cool codes are popping up everywhere... on TV, newspapers, magazines and even on various products.   So I thought of a way to incorporate QR codes into my ice-breaker.

Here's how I used QR Codes for my ice-breaker:

-I typed ice-breaker questions into Google Docs (use the presentation feature, it's just like PowerPoint).

If you need ice-breaker question ideas, click here.  

Ice-breaker question

-After I typed the question, I clicked the "share" button on my Google Doc, clicked available to "anyone with the link" and copied and pasted the link to share.  You will have to type each ice-breaker question into it's own separate file (so that it can have it's own link from Google Docs).

-I then went to the site Kaywa QR creator to make a code from the link (just copy & paste the Google link).  After you paste the link, click "generate free" and your new qr code will appear.

-I copied and pasted the QR code into a Word document.  (I used the Avery business card paper template).

Business cards I used, $6  from Sams Club. 

-I printed QR codes on business cards & laminated.

QR Codes printed on business cards

-I put the cards in a jar where the students can choose randomly which questions they scan to answer next.  I use Qrafter (free QR scanner app) to scan the cards.

Cards in a jar

This ice-breaker was a complete hit with my students (can be used on either individual or group counseling).  They LOVED it!  They liked that they didn't know what the question would be until they scanned it on the iPad.

Do you have any tech ice-breaker ideas?  I'd love to hear them!






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Red Ribbon Week Plans

What better age group to tell of the effects of living a healthy & drug free lifestyle than young (impressionable) students?   This year, thanks to Pinterest and reading other counseling blogs I had a better "game plan" on how I would celebrate Red Ribbon Week this year at my school (I'll have a post AFTER the week to share how it went).  It works out that Red Ribbon Week is the same week as our spirit week so that makes it even more special (we'll have lots of participation).  So here's my plan for the upcoming Red Ribbon Week:

-First on my agenda:  I spoke with my school's PTA about having a budget for celebrating Red Ribbon Week school-wide.  I was super excited when I found out that my budget was approved!

-Now that I had some money to spend, I had a banner made from Vista Print to hang in the front of the school so that everyone can see it.  The cost for the banner was around $28 (with 50% off).  I paid extra for outdoor vinyl and for clear adhesive hangers.  I'd rather pay a little extra and be able to use it for many years.  I asked the custodian (who's wonderful) to hang the banner at the front outdoor entrance of the school for all to see.

Banner made by Vista Print

-I ordered "Drug Free at JYJ" silicone bracelets   I know that you've probably received several Red Ribbon catalogs with all types of goodies to order (including the bracelets).  However, after comparing prices the wrist-band website was much cheaper (nearly $200 cheaper, plus you get 100 free bracelets for your order).  Now the logical thing to do would be to order red bracelets, but I'm just not much of a fashion rule follower.  So instead I got the bracelets in our school colors (blue & yellow).  I ordered 700 youth sized bracelets for students and 100 adults sized bracelets for staff.  As I mentioned earlier, I got 100 free bracelets which were split 50 youth/50 adult bracelets, total = 900 bracelets.

Drug free at JYJ bracelets

-I made "Red Ribbon Week" facts about making healthy choices and saying no to drugs our school's  televised morning news show and will have the facts in the news rotation that stays on the TV during the day.

-I made a "Drug Free at JYJ!" banner for students to sign.  I used white butcher paper and cut/laminated red letters to put on the banner (they can be used again, I'm using last year's letters this year too).  I'll have several red markers taped to the wall so that students can sign.

Last year's banner for students to sign

-I saw an awesome Red Ribbon Week bulletin board on Pinterest to re-create.   Before I go into details, I apologize in advance for the few pictures.  I was so excited about creating this, I forgot to take pictures along the way.

I used black butcher paper and cut a medium to large size piece in the shape of an iPod.

I typed "songs" that have a Red Ribbon theme onto a Word Document (landscape orientation, 1" Margins).  The list of songs is below.  Choose any song and highlight it in blue (just like on an iPod). 

Songs

To create the "iPod wheel", I traced a large circle and traced a smaller circle inside the larger circle.  I typed and printed the 4 symbols on the iPod wheel on the computer.  When I typed the symbols, I highlighted and made the text grey and background black (so it'll blend in on the black paper).  

Tracing circle patterns to make the wheel.

Menu buttons made using Word

I glued all the pieces together and laminated.  I made a sign that says "iTune Out Drugs" & "JYJ Rocks Drug Free" using Word.  

Finished Red Ribbon iPod

-A student made "ear buds" using white yarn to attach to the "iPod".  I'll be putting up the board on the wall space that I've converted into a bulletin board area outside of my office.

-Each day of sprit week will tie into Red Ribbon week and have a drug free, healthy lifestyle theme.

So that's my plans to celebrate.  What plans do you have to celebrate Red Ribbon Week at your school?


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Store Your Books With Style!

It's no secret that a "tool" in our counselor tool belt is books.  I absolutely love reading, reading to classes and just books in general.  In some previous posts, I've shared my love for books and have taken several measures to try to keep my counselor books somewhat organized.

After using my book crawler app to scan in my books and assigning them to a category (i.e. bullying, character ed, friendship, etc) I wanted to separately categorize the books.  Well wouldn't luck have it, the librarian at my school was doing some cleaning and had these book/folder holders on the staff, free giveaway table (wish I'd gotten there earlier to get more).

Free book holders!

Who knew that a little bit of scrapbook paper and adhesive spray could spruce up these book holders:

Spray adhesive on, let dry for 30-45 seconds before putting on scrapbook paper.

Spray adhesive, or any type of glue will work.

Add scrapbook paper and trim off the edges.  I used the leftover scraps to glue to the front.

Recovered book holders

I made some labels to put on the front of each box to identify/categorize the books.  I printed them on Post-It mailing labels (3 1/3 " X  4", 6 labels per sheet).

Labels, I found these on clearance ($6, I think) at Office Depot

Printed labels

If you'd like a printable copy of the labels (with the text above) click here.

Blank labels printable

If you'd like the blank labels printable with just the borders (where you can write what you choose on the labels) click here.

Here's the finished product:

I also used the labels to add to storage baskets (some with more books) in my cabinet.

Labels on storage bins (Target $6.99)

Total cost for the project:  $0, the book holders were free and I had all the other supplies already.  As I've said time and time again, free is my favorite price!  This was a super easy fix to add a little flare to the way my counselor books are stored.  I really wish that I had gotten more book holders because I have many more book categories (I know to act fast for next time)!

How do you keep your counselor books organized?

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Counselor Pocket Chart

A 1st grade teacher friend recently gave me one of her extra pocket charts (it's her very 1st year as a teacher and she had several given to her).  As I happily took the pocket chart, I already had an idea in mind of how to use it. I thought of a previous post on "I statements" from blog buddy Tabitha from Scrapbook of a School Counselor and how she used whiteboard sentence strips for "I statements".  I thought why not use similar statements on a pocket chart?

Pocket chart

Here's what I did:

-I started out with 2 "I statements","I feel" and "I like to"; I typed these statements in Word.  I cut and glued the "statements" onto sentence strips and trimmed the edges with wave trim scissors.

Printed "I statements"

"I statements" cut, glued onto sentence strips, trimmed with wave trim scissors

-I typed (feeling & action) words into a Word document and printed onto mailing labels.  I put the mailing labels onto colorful index cards (I put words on both sides of the cards).  I also made some blank cards so that students can write a feeling/action with a dry erase marker.

Here's a list of feelings words I used:  Happy, Awesome, Sad, Down, Angry, Upset, Fantastic, Great, Ok, Not Sure, Really Angry

Here's a list of action words I used: Play, Run, Play Outside, Read, Write, Hang out with friends, Hang out with family, Listen to music, Draw.

Feelings words printed on mailing labels

Feelings/Action cards

-I laminated the "I statements" and index cards.

-The pocket chart is now ready to go:

Finished product!

I LOVE this counselor pocket chart idea for students to express how they're feeling and what they like to do! I'm now thinking of other ways to use the pocket chart.  Do you have any ideas to share?  I'd love to hear from you.

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Great Group Ice-Breaker Activity

Getting to know your group, oh there so many ways to do that and here's another one:

I got ice-breaker questions (examples: What do you do for fun, What annoys you, What makes you laugh and so on) from my counselor intern from last year who did a very similar ice-breaker activity.  

I typed the questions into an excel spreadsheet, printed and cut them out. For a printable copy of the questions click here. 

Questions, typed in Excel (before cutting)

Questions after being cut

I painted Popsicle sticks (on both sides) different colors using craft paint and a sponge brush.  I painted sets of five sticks in each color.  I tried to paint 2 sets of colors each time (ex yellow then pink) because craft paint dries fairly quickly. As I finished the 1st coat of paint on 10 sticks I could then turn them over and finish the 2nd coat (if that makes sense).

Craft paints & sponge brush

Painted Popsicle sticks

After all the Popsicle sticks were painted and dried, I glued the cut out typed questions on the sticks using mod podge and also painted a top layer of mod podge to seal the paper on the Popsicle stick.

Glued questions on the Popsicle sticks

After they dried (I let them sit for an hour or so) they were all set to be used!  I put them in a small bucket that I already had (Target $1 spot).  Total cost for the project: $0!  I already had all these things, free is my favorite price!

Finished product!

These can be used in a group by assigning each student in the group a color based on the color of the Popsicle sticks. The students can go around the group and answer the questions on their sticks (this is why I painted 5 of the same color for a group setting).  This can also be used on individual sessions too (no need to worry about assigning colors, the student can just randomly pick).

 It took me 2 days (not full days) to complete.  I painted the sticks one day and glued another day.  For someone that isn't that crafty (but loves to read crafting blogs) this was a pretty easy project for me to complete.  With each "project" my counselor craft confidence is growing.

What ice-breaker or getting to know you activities to you use?

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Identify your Character Education Books

What better way to reinforce character education traits than with a good book?  As I've said numerous times, I love reading and love seeing students reading.  So I thought why not increase character education awareness even more through reading? My school's library is directly across the hall from my office and I frequent it quite often.  I'd noticed that book topics (examples: biographies, research, etc) had an identifying sticker on the spine of the book. So I thought of creating a sticker label that identifies that the book relates to character education.  I then shared this vision with the librarian (who I can't rave enough about, she's fantastic) and she said that it would be a great idea to have.

I bought some orange color coding labels at Staples ($6.79) and used the online template (it's a Word document) to type the words "Character Ed Book" on each label.

Labels

Typed labels using the template.

The librarian gave me a list of books in the library that would fall into the character education category (there were lots of qualifying books).  I put labels on some of the books, but we have parent volunteers who work in the library who put the rest on the books.

Books with Character Ed labels

I think that this will be an awesome and easier way for students to read more about showing great character.

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My 1st attempt at a bulletin board

I'll admit that I wouldn't consider myself much of a fan of doing bulletin boards.  My high school level teaching experience just didn't really require me to do so.  By moving to the elementary level it was just a matter of time before bulletin boards would catch up to me.  So here's my 1st attempt at a bulletin board.  I don't actually have a physical bulletin board to decorate, but there's a nice (empty) wall space next to my office that I just made into a bulletin board type wall space.  My school offered to get a bulletin board installed for me but I passed up the offer.  I wasn't quite sure how this bulletin board would turn out and once you get a bulletin board installed, I'd have to keep/maintain it.  If this doesn't work out, it can easily be "converted" back to an empty wall again.

Thanks to the tips and ideas from fellow counselors on various blogs and Pinterest I had the courage to create a bulletin board.  My inspiration was from a bulletin board I saw on Pinterest.  Here's my finished product:

Counselor bulletin board

So here's what I did to re-create the "Whoo can help you with" bulletin board:

-I typed the list of reasons to see the counselor in Word and printed them on Avery clear address labels.  To download the label template click here.

-I used my school dye cutter to cut out pictures of leaves using construction paper and to spell out "whoo can help you with..." letters.  I like to laminate the construction paper before using the dye cutter (just easier for the shapes/letters to already be cut and laminated that way, but do what works for you).

Dye cutter blocks (I used a maple leaf)

Dye cutter

Leaves, cut and labeled.  There are some blank ones too

I had some of my crafty students draw a tree from brown butcher paper from my school.  Another crafty student drew the cute little owl in the tree.  I liked the idea of students having a little input in the bulletin board because it shows a them a little ownership in the project (plus students are ALWAYS willing to help).

Student created tree & owl

I had a teacher friend write "Your JYJ Counselors" on a yellow sentence strip (I don't have teacher handwriting by a long shot) and I added pictures of myself and the counselor intern under the tree.

Picture of myself & counselor intern Dhruti

The trick to getting things to stick on (without falling off) concrete cinder blocks is...a hot glue gun!  It's also easy to peel off and doesn't damage the walls.  Thanks to some teacher friends that let me in on this little secret.

See how easy the glue peels off

I'm pleased with my bulletin board attempt and think that it's a great way for students, staff and parents to know what we do and that we are here to help!  I don't feel as intimidated about the whole bulletin board process, so I plan to try more in the future.  What cool or neat bulletin board ideas have you done or plan to do?


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