More Book Club Book Recommendations

If I haven't mentioned it several times before, book clubs are my favorite school counselor led group. I like the use of bibliotherapy to work with each group (books are so versatile to reach so many types of groups).  Each year I look forward to adding more books to my book club collection.  Here are some more to consider if you're looking for new books:

Brown Girl Dreaming, author: Jacqueline Woodson- This is an autobiography, written in poetry form (the title of the book says it all).

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, author: Wendy Mass- Book with a mystery that I think students will find very interesting.  This book also deals with being in a single parent home, having a deceased parent and friendship.

All of the Above, author: Shelley Pearsall- My students and I both LOVED this book!  A great book about overcoming obstacles to the fullest.

The Fourteenth Goldfish, author: Jennifer Holm- A funny sci-fi book that (humorously) discusses family dynamics, friendship and coming of age.

The Hundred Dresses, author: Eleanor Estes- This book is on many counselor book lists.  Deals with bullying and acceptance of others.

What other books have you read that you think will be a great addition to a counselor led book club?  Please share below.



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Even More Counselor Lead Book Club Suggestions

I've received several questions about running a school counselor led book club and I love that so many of you are interested in starting a book club(s) at your school.  I'd like to share a few more tips and answers to common questions that I've gotten:

Tips:
-Since we meet for book club during lunch, I pack a picnic basket with my book club "necessities" which include, hand sanitizer, paper towels, wipes, extra utensils and dry erase markers.  This year the library is being used during lunch so we're having book club in a classroom.   I try to cover all my bases with my students (things that always seem to be dropped and forgotten) and so that we don't leave a mess for the very nice teachers that let us to meet in their rooms.

Book Club Basket

-After we finish each book, someone from the group volunteers to bring in a snack (snack is up to the students) and we have a book club celebration in Dec and in April after our last book.  The students love the celebrations.  Our celebrations are like a pot luck where everyone brings in something (I usually assign items to bring and I order pizza). 

-Take a picture of the group and print copies of the pictures for each student in book club to give at the end of the year. 

 On a side note:
-This year I mixed up the way I do book clubs a little. This year my 4th grade book club is high level readers and I will say that the conversations and discussions about our books are quite interesting.  With my 5th graders, I have all girls in the group this time around and that too has been an interesting change from before (in a good way).

-Here are a few more book suggestions for your counselor led book clubs:

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

Holes by Louis Sacher

There's A Boy in the Girls Bathroom by Louis Sacher

The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angelberger

Do you have any books to recommend for book club?  Please share Pin It

Free Career Exploration Website

During my minute meetings with my students, one of the questions is "do you know what you want to be when you grow up" which gets all types of responses (by the way my favorite response was "mermaid" from a 1st grader).  So I have a cool website to share with you to use as you plan ways to expose your students to different careers.

Career Sighted is a website that shows short 3 minute video clips of real life people and their careers, think the Occupational Outlook Book put into video form.  I love how the videos show and tell what to expect in the job, working conditions, education, etc (covers all the basics). 



This could be used in career cafe groups or in classroom lessons followed by discussion.  Just the exposure of various careers would be quite beneficial to our students and give them several career options to think about.

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Easing Into Middle School One Group At a Time

We have a large group of 5th graders anxiously and nervously thinking about their next big step, which for them is middle school.  As we begin our middle school registration process,  I came up with a great idea to help ease some stresses and answer some questions that our students may have about moving up to middle school.

We (counselor intern & I) decided to do small lunch groups (of 10 students) so that each 5th grade student has the opportunity to meet and ask questions about being a 6th grader.  We grouped the students together by which middle school they would be attending (JYJ is a magnet school which means we have students going to 20 different middle schools) so that we could discuss specifics about each school easier and so that they would be familiar with who from our school would be "moving up" with them.  Some middle school groups were combined due to there being just 1 or 2 students going. 

To let the students know about their lunch group, I made invitations using Word and copied them on colored paper.  4 copies of the invitation fit onto one page. 

Original and copied versions of invitation

After copying and cutting the invitations, I wrote the student's names and lunch date on their invitation (gives it a personal touch).  The invitations were delivered to each class.  During the "delivery" we briefly spoke to each class about what was going to happen during the lunch groups and that one group would meet with me and another group would meet with the counselor intern (since there are 2 of us, we could each take a group).  We also made a daily list of which students would be at lunch with us for the teachers (& ourselves).

Finished Invitations!

During our meetings we discussed how to choose electives, how middle school is different from elementary school, changing classes, etc.  These things we discussed a few months ago on our 5th grade classroom visit on going to middle school.  We encouraged the students to use this time to ask questions about middle school and that we would try our best to answer them or contact the counselor from their middle school and get an answer.  In some cases, they were able to ask the questions themselves to other 6th graders at their new school!  Thanks to the magic of FaceTime on my iPad, we were able to connect with other students.  To do this, I contacted the counselors at the school prior to our lunch to schedule a time when we would "connect".

The lunch groups were quite successful!  Over the two week time frame it took to meet with everyone I could tell that the students were really excited about going to 6th grade and having lunch with the counselors didn't hurt much either!  We had lots of questions and discussions which we hope were helpful.  Their favorite part of the lunch was being able to practice opening locks.  I have a class set of locks that the PTA got for me for this activity.  This was a great and fun way for us to spend the last few weeks of school with students who are graduating from 5th grade.  This is something that I plan to continue each year with my 5th grade students.

Practicing with the locks

Lock practice over lunch

What other ways do you address middle school transition questions?

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Great (free) Paperless App for Groups

Running a school counselor group is a fun and interesting learning adventure for both myself and the students in the group.  In the past, I've kept a notebook with attendance, notes, reminders, etc.  Again in my attempt to head to the road to paperless school counselor tasks, I'd like to share a fantastic (free, my favorite price) app that will help you keep your groups organized WITHOUT paper!

Teacher Kit is a must have app for groups!  So here's how to set up your groups using the app:

-Add a new group (the plus symbol at the top) and give your group a name (for the purposes of this post, it'll be called "Practice Group". 

Add a new class (or group)

-Once you add the group, it'll appear on your "shelf", which lists all the groups that you've created.  Tap on the door to "open" your group.

All your groups appear on the shelf.  You can have multiple groups.

-You can now begin to add students to your group.  Tap the plus symbol at the top right corner and you will be able to add the students.  From here you can add info, parent contact info and even a picture of the student!  As you add the student info and click save the picture will appear with their name in a "school desk" icon (by the way you can move the desks around for changing seating charts around).  

Add your students in your group.

You can add images of the students in your group. 

-To keep attendance for the group click on attendance and tap on each student to mark either present or absent.  You can also add other choices for attendance.  For my book club groups, I have options such as read aloud, and brought snack (also way for me to keep track of info).

Keep track of attendance

-To keep individual notes on students in the group, click on behavior, choose the student you want to take notes on which will open a new window.  Click on the plus symbol and type what notes to you want to input (be sure to give your note a title), click notes and tap description (this is where you type your notes).  You can also use this to track positive or negative behavior.

Add your student notes

I LOVE this app and no longer have a need for my group notebook for keeping attendance or just general student notes.  I'm really feeling this counselor  going paperless plan!

For a more detailed description on using this app, check out this tutorial on YouTube:

Do you have an app to recommend to keep notes/attendance on your groups?

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Spice up Your Lunch (Bunch)

Lunch bunch is one of my favorite counselor ways to connect with students.  I used lunch bunch last year as an attempt to meet students and let them know who I was (it was my 1st year at JYJ).  I got an overwhelming response because now everyone wants to have lunch!  I have lunch bunch groups 2-3 times each week (just depends on how my week is going) and although I enjoy lunch with students, adding a little "spice" to our lunches makes it more interesting.  Here are some things that I've added to my lunch bunch groups:

-I invite a student to have lunch with me and they may bring 2 friends from their grade level to lunch.  To remind them of their lunch, I made lunch appointment cards from Vistaprint.  This also lets their teacher know that they will have lunch with me.

Lunch appointment cards

-Add a little color to the room!  I got several plastic tablecloths from Party City ($1.99 each) to put on my table (you could also opt for cloth, but I'm not quite that brave with elementary aged children).  When the weather's nice, I use the tablecloths on the outdoor picnic tables.  By the way eating outside is another way to "spice up" lunch groups.

-Add some music to the mix!  Students LOVE hearing music in the background during lunch.  I use my  (free) Pandora app on my iPad (there's also a computer website) to play (clean) today's pop hits and/or Kidz Bop (in your settings you can disable explicit lyrics from being played).

-Play a get to know you game favorites have been the popsicle stick question game and with my older students the QR questions.

What ways do you add "spice" to your student lunch bunches?


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More Counselor Led Book Club Suggestions

Thank you to the many wonderful counselors who gave suggestions on more books that would be great to have for your counselor led book club. From your suggestions, I was able to order several sets for my 4th & 5th grade book clubs (I hope to order the rest in the next couple of months).   I am able to purchase sets of 12 books for my book club through a grant through my school's PTA (they are wonderful).  Here are some more book suggestions:

-Wonder (deals with a child having a disability) *I ordered this book

-Mockingbird (deals with a student having Aspergers)

-There's a Boy in the Girls Bathroom (deals with social skills/behavior) *I ordered this book



-Gifted Hands (deals with achievement despite difficult circumstances, poverty, broken home)

-The Strange Case of Origami Yoda (deals with self discovery)



-The Girls (deals with cliques) *I ordered this book

-Eagle Song (deals with family changes, diversity)

-Locomotion (deals with broken family, foster care) *I ordered this book

-Peace Locomotion (Part II of Locomotion, deals with broken family, foster care) *I ordered this book

-On My Honor (deals with following rules, loss of a friend) *I ordered this book



-Izzy's Place (deals with family changes)

-The One and Only Ivan (deals with friendship)

Do you have any more books to add to the list?  I'd love to hear them.

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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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Starting a Counselor's Book Club

My counselor led book club is an ongoing, year-long "group".  We read books with a counseling related plot/storyline in it (examples: homelessness, divorce, bullying, friendship, dealing with disabilities & feelings).  I really enjoy reading and having book club is something that I really look forward to.

I actually run 2 book clubs.  I have a 4th grade and a 5th grade book club.  The 5th grade book club was with me last year in 4th grade book club so they continue with me for this year (they're with me for 2 years).  So you may ask, how can I start a book club at my school?  Here's what I did: 

-I choose 8-10 4th grade students based on reading scores from state end of grade tests (data is from the previous year).  Students slightly below (with the potential to be on grade level), at or above grade level are selected.  Teachers also give me recommendations. The group is very diverse, with students from various cultures and from both genders. When you ask for teacher recommendations, it's up to you what kind of student behavior concerns you're willing to deal with.  It's been a case by case situation for me.  Some students that have had some behavior concerns have done very well in book club and have been very engaged in the books and discussions.

4th grade book club invitation.

-I discuss with the librarian books that she would suggest to read with the students (I also keep a running list of great books myself).  This year I ordered 4 (new) group sets of books (2 book sets for each of my groups) through a grant from my school's PTA.  I can reuse previous book reads for another group who hasn't read the book before.  Both the librarian and my school are great by ordering book club books for us. We actually have established a nice selection of book club books to choose from (about 20 different book titles in sets of 12).

-I select the 1st book selection for the year, then all other books are voted on by the group.  As we near the end of a book, I select 2 books (from the book club library) for the students to vote on for our next read.  They feel as though they have ownership of the book selection and have fewer complaints when the feel that they "choose" the book (they don't realize that I actually chose the 2 book choices to vote on, but I won't say anything to them about that).

-We meet once a week during lunch in the library (lunch time works out perfect, because it does not interrupt any class schedules).  I meet with 4th grade on Wednesday's and 5th grade on Thursday's.  We read aloud and discuss the book during this time.

Meeting during lunch eliminates most scheduling conflicts

-I made my own book marks with a reminder of which day & time we meet for book club. I laminated the book marks and have the students write down what chapters they are to read independently during the week with a dry erase maker (can be wiped off and updated weekly).  Click here to download your own printable bookmarks (from Pinterest, not the ones below).  Most remember though as they are very excited about book club and I often have to remind the students not to read ahead of the assigned chapters.

Reminder bookmarks

Students write what page we are to read to by the next week w/ a dry erase marker on their bookmark.

Here's a few of the books that we've read in the past that I highly recommend and books that I hope to read with the group this year (new books this year were based on student requests, book reviews that I read & recommendations from the school librarian):

4th grade

-How to Steal a Dog (We're currently reading this now, deals with being homeless, poverty)
 

-11 Birthdays (deals with friendship)


-Bud, Not Buddy (new this year, haven't read yet: deals with family, having an absent father)


-Rules (new this year, haven't read yet: deals with a sibling that has Autism)

5th grade

-Long Walk to Water (deals with growing up as a refugee, broken family)




-So B. It (deals with a disabled parent)


-Shiloh (animal abuse, bullying)


-Blubber (deals with bullying)


-A Week In The Woods (new this year, haven't read yet: deals with getting to know people, assumptions, friendship)


-When You Reach Me (new this year, we're currently reading this in 5th grade book club: deals with friendship, bullying)


We usually read 4-5 books during the year (depending on the length of the book).  I usually start book club in September and we finish by the end of April (before the craziness of the end of the year rolls around).  I really enjoy my book club groups and can tell that the students do too.  My 5th grade book club was so popular I had several students ask could they join.  I have a hard time saying no to children that want to read so our group of 9 has grown into a group of 13. In cases where I don't have 13 copies of a particular book we're going to split the group into groups of 6-7 and read a different book with myself and the counselor intern each taking a group.

Do you have a counselor led book club?  Please contact me if  have other books to recommend for a 4th or 5th grade book club? Pin It