I am so excited to be over on Confident Counselors talking about how I make groups work. I even included a list of all the groups I run and how I organize my time. 
To give you an idea, here are the groups that I typically ran:

• Fall Groups
  • Sept-Oct:
    • Resiliency 
    • K-1 Recess Club 
  • Oct. – Dec:
    • The Girls Book Club
    • 3-5 Social Skills
• Winter Groups
  • Jan-Mar:
    • Academic Achievement 
• Spring Groups:
  • Mar-May:
    • Small Fry Friendship Group 
    • Girls Rock & Superhero Kids 
    • Middle School Readiness- following middle school lessons

Find all the details on each of the groups and organizing tips to keep you sane over on Confident Counselors. What are your best group tips?

Starting a new school can be intimidating and scary for students. I went to 9 schools by the time I was in 9th grade and I remember the feeling well! I am happy to welcome a guest blogger, Erainna Winnett, to share her clever idea for welcoming students! Erainna was a classroom teacher for 15 years before becoming a school counselor. She saw a need for newer resources in the field and self-published her first book Mrs. Joyce Gives the Best High Fives . Find out how to win a free copy at the end of this post! 

When new students arrive on our campus, I always go to their classrooms and introduce myself. I generally pull them into the hallway, tell them who I am, explain our Kindness Climate (we are part of Rachel’s Challenge), and walk them to our banner where they sign agreeing to show kindness and compassion daily. I also give them a pencil and walk them back to class leaving them with a high-five. To continue our relationship building, I send them a Welcome to Our School postcard. Students rarely, if ever, receive mail. When their parents hand them something addressed specifically to them, I believe it’s meaningful and memorable. 

Order inexpensive welcome postcards online or print at school using heavy cardstock. The first year I worked with our registrar and hand wrote a welcome message to each child the day they enrolled. This ensured they would receive the postcard the next day or the day after that. At first, about a third of my postcards would be returned undeliverable. After
talking with the post office, I discovered that most apartment buildings will only accept mail with the leaser's name. Remember, I want this to be special to the child and this particular piece of mail is FOR THEM. So, I began writing the child’s name, then c/o the parent’s name. This alleviated the problem. I’ve had several parents come into the office to thank me for just a unique greeting.

Our principal LOVED the idea but wanted to tweak it a little. She wanted to have our fourth graders (the seniors on our campus) write the welcome message. We had a contest where all fourth graders wrote a two to three sentence welcome. Next, we selected three winners and those are the messages new students receive in the mail.

One year, we were on a little stricter budget, so I addressed the postcard to the student and the teacher’s classroom name and number and delivered them when I went to introduce myself to the new student. Ensuring a successful transition for new students I think receiving this Welcome to Our School postcard is unique and lets children know they truly are welcome to THEIR new school and they’ve got a friend in the school counselor.

Thanks Erainna! What a great idea for welcoming new students with a personal touch! If you would like to win one of five copies of Erainna's book Mrs. Joyce Gives the Best High Fives, sign up for the Counselor Up VIP List! Five of our superstar VIPs will win a copy of the book on Friday, August 11 at 4:00pm, sign up before then! It's that easy - no rafflecopter, no form, just VIP treatment - and I promise to never spam you! If you'd like an editable Welcome to Our School template, I got your back too! UPDATE: This giveaway has now ended. You can check to see if you were a winner on Instagram and Facebook!