Do you use hall passes at your school? We have tried a million different ideas over the years but I find that hall passes in elementary school tend to fizzle as the year progresses. Let's not even talk about passes that get taken to the bathroom. Ew. No matter what, you always have a few friends that need a note to let their teacher know exactly when they left your room. Some people are wonderers, what can we say??

One of my lovely readers suggested the idea to me to make a cute pass. I've always used post-it notes but love this idea. Something fun to keep on hand to add a little brightness to your day. Download the Back to Class Pass right here and view it below.

Love you, mean it. ​Mwah. 

It's that time of year again- back to school. This is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love it! So much excitement in the air, planning for the year, setting up your room, and brand new school supplies. Don't mind me, I'll be over in the school supply section of Target drooling over the latest.

I'll start with a round up of my back to school products over on TPT. Here I have a needs assessment (free!), two intro lessons that incorporate calm down skills, a super awesome counselor planner, individual counseling bulletin board, and my initial interview packet. I have bundled this all together for you in my Back to School Counseling Bundle or you can check them out individually by clicking on the pics below.

If I had $100, this is what I would spend it on. Well, other than clothes. Keepin' it real. That said, most of these are one time purchases. I recently asked on my facebook page what people had on their supply list and got some awesome ideas!​

A fun clipboard. This one is from target, here is a similar one. I also like this, this, and this.

 Pens (for you) and mechanical pencils (for the kids). I always loved having mechanical pencils. Many teachers don't allow them so it was exciting for the kiddos. It also made it easier to tell which were mine! As for pens, I am a self-diagnosed pen snob. Recently, flair pens have been all the rage, and I'm thinking about treating myself to these.  Laura from Social Emotional Workshop also tipped me off to this awesome lanyard pen.

Can't forget the post-its and bright colored paper. Pro tip - copy your parent letters and permission slips on bright color paper and tell kids to put them in their pockets. When laundry day comes, your permission slip will come right back!

File this one under 'how did I not think of that?' Jodi, from The School Counselor is In, suggested mini-erasers for bingo markers! 

An organizing system you'll actually use. I've had these in the past to stay organized. Eventually, I upgraded to a nicer set of wooden drawers. Each drawer was a group or class and I could store everything needed in that one drawer (now it's in my daughters playroom). It's a great system for someone who is a piler but wants to be organized and tidy about their piling! Gretchen, from Speckled Moose Counseling, has her eye on this fancy cart.

So what's on your list? How do you get geared up (either literally or figuratively) for a new year? It's going to be a great one!

It gets a bad rep but recess is hard. So many skills are needed to navigate the playground successfully. What to do? Join recess club! Recess club is designed for small groups. When I've run this group in the past, I allow about 6-7 kids. I think it would be possible to teach a whole class in shifts with a teacher assistant or parent volunteer in the room while some kids are outside for club. I recommend this group for K-2 but it could be adapted for older kids.

The most important part of recess club is free time on the playground. Choose a time when other students are not outside. In my school, that meant 9:00am. We started the group in September to make sure that we could finish the group before group before the mornings were too cold. 

Every school has unique rules for using the playground equipment. In the first lesson, we start off with an active icebreaker and then talk about the appropriate use of equipment. I created skill cards to include each piece of equipment. To make them fun- we play games with the cards. I like to play go fish by printing two sets of cards. To practice, we go outside and walk around the entire playground to talk about appropriate ways to use the equipment. What are the norms for waiting for your term? Are certain pieces of equipment only allowed for older/younger kids? 

In this lesson, we use the anchor card to learn the appropriate way to ask others to play. Each kid draws a role play card and then practices. I pull one kid aside and ask the to say "no" to a student that I know won't be upset. We then practice what to do when someone says no. For playground time, we go outside for free play. Every 5 minutes, I yell "switch" and students find a new friend to invite to play.

Not as fun as playground time but a part of reality in school, indoor recess requires a whole set of skills. We play a board game to practice the skills of taking turns, waiting patiently, and game play. Any board game will work, but I created a recess game that teaches conflict resolution, procedures, and other recess skills. The best part of this lesson is that it can be done in any order so it's a great back-up plan in case it rains on a club day.

Anytime kids play, there is conflict. That's a good thing! Conflict is natural and an important skill for life. I work with kids to practice creating "Bug and a Wish" sentences. We brainstorm actual playground problems and then work together to write a bug and wish sentence. I try to leave as much time as possible to for free play on the playground so that we can work on actual conflicts that arise.

What does review look like for recess club? Play! Never underestimate how much kids learn in free play. 

Love what you see? You can easily recreate this group yourself, or you can find everything all set for you in my recess club download on TPT.  Take advantage of the 2016 Back to School Sitewide sale to save 28% August 1st and 2nd!