My news feed has been filling up with posts about testing from my pals over at the Elementary School Counselor Exchange. Here in NC, we don't test until the last 10 days of school but I know that testing has begun (or already passed) all over the country. I thought it might be helpful to share all the wonderful resources I have gathered to prepare my kiddos for testing in one place. Some are products on my Teacher Pay Teachers store but I have a bunch of freebies too! And EVERYTHING in this post will be 20% off for the next 4 days until March 28, 2015 as a big high five for getting through the testing season. For tier 1 activities, I usually teach 2 lessons about test prep. In one lesson, we learn about brain exercises and guided imagery to help with the pre-test anxiety kids have building up. It's a very casual lesson where we practice each of the brain booster activities, discuss general testing reminders, and go through the guided imagery. I also present this information to my teachers in their PLC meetings so that they can continue all of the activities in the classroom as well. All of this is in a professional development bundle at my TPT store. Here, I am including a FREE guided imagery script you can read to your students. They love this! Every year someone says "Why haven't we been doing this all year?" For my second classroom lesson, I like to do something fun and confidence building. So much of the weeks leading up to testing, the kids are drilling and practicing and they need to have a moment to lighten up a bit. For that, we do the Coat of Arms lesson. The kids get to make themselves a personal shield to show their confidence. You can get a copy of the shield for FREE here or download the whole powerpoint and lesson plan from my teacher pay teachers store. Just right click the image below to save and then print. As a tier 2 intervention for those kids who need a little more support, I incorporate testing taking skills and stress management into my Academic Achievement Group (blog post). In this group we play Roll Away the Worries a stress management game and play Test Taking Bingo. The kids LOVE both of these games. You can download a simplified version of Test Taking Bingo here - just have the kids cut out the squares and glue them on the blank one in random order- if you want the cards pre-made, they're available here. The following is also available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store: Academic Achievement Bundle and Roll Away the Worries. You want it all in one place? I've made a Testing Bundle just for you with everything in this post!
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I can't believe that I have never written in depth about something that I believe so strongly about- Academic Achievement Groups. I have written about selecting students, learning styles, and goal setting on my old blog here. I have even written about the academic achievement groups for the ASCA School Counselor Magazine. But, it's high time for me to share the whole shebang here! Last year, 69% of students in the group passed the end-of-grade test in the area they did not pass in previous year. Students rated the group in a range of 5.6-6.0 on a scale of 6 in helping them with goal setting, learning study tips and whether they would recommend this group to other students.
After the goal is set, we rate how they are doing on the goal weekly. I also check with the teacher to see how they think the student is doing and then discuss any discrepancies with the student. This is a hugely important skill for every kid- to reflect on their learning and make goals for improvement.
Sandwiched in between the icebreaker and the goal reflection, each session has a study skill/test prep based topic. We discuss learning styles, study skill tips, review the report cards, organization, stress relief, and test anxiety. One of my favorite activities is to create an organizational rubric and then take a "field trip" to each student's desk to discuss and reflect on how their organization is holding up in the classroom. I've pulled it all together, upped the creativity level of handouts, and put it all on my Teachers Pay Teachers store. To celebrate, the whole thing is 20% off until Friday, February 20th. Check it out! You can also download the "Goaling" page for free here! I think it starts in 2nd grade. The friendship drama. Sometimes I see younger kids that have drama but it seems to resolve itself after each occurrence. Like when a kid in my daughter's three year old class said that wearing two braids makes you Ana and not Elsa. Upset one day, over it the next. But in second grade, the drama episodes turn into a series and really weigh on some kids, especially girls. You may have read about The Girls group I do with upper elementary, today I'm here to share what I do with our small friends. This is a 5 session mini-group designed for 1st-3rd grades. We meet for about 30 minutes and sometimes will add a 6th session for a closure activity like lunch together. I typically have girls in these groups but the activities are not gender-specific. Session I: Getting Started: First Group Sessions Explain Group Purpose: Friendship Skills Icebreaker/Energizer: Feelings Bingo or Helping Sharing Caring Game: I use a prepackaged game as an icebreaker for the group that includes some skill based learning but is mostly fun. You can even use a game hack like Chutes and Ladders. Session 2: Friendship Puzzles Review: group rules Icebreaker/Energizer: brainstorm qualities of friendships Skill Building Activity: friendship puzzle- on a 5x8 index card draw a self portrait and write your top 5 friendship qualities around it. Counselor cuts the card with wavy lines to make a puzzle. Take turns completing each other's puzzles for fun and talking about one another's friendship qualities. Model this for students "I see that Michaela wrote 'caring' on her card, I see her caring when she opens the door for me in the mornings." Session 3: Connecting with Others Review: Friendship Qualities Icebreaker/Energizer: paper clips are like people: pass thru or connect Skill Building Activity: Body language roleplay- act out friendly body language and unfriendly body language. Talk about the perceptions of others in response to each type of body language. Session 4: Friendship Blockers Review: Body Language Icebreaker/Energizer: If/Then game with happy/sad sticks. Read each of the If/Then statements and ask students to think about the perception of others in response. They can flip their happy/sad sticks and describe how someone might feel in response.
Session 5: Handling Rejection Review: Friendship Blockers Icebreaker/Energizer: role play with puppets how you feel when you are rejected Skill Building Activity: did I do something wrong that wasn’t helpful in making friends? If Yes, fix it OR No, then Role Play with Statements:
I like this group because it combines fun activities with real moments for reflection. Most kids know what it means to be a good friend but don't take the time to reflect on how their actions are impacting others and their friendships.
I have created everything you need including role play card sorts, smiley sticks, everything! Check it out on my Teachers Pay Teachers store! Today's #tbt is an awesome game hack from a while back. Get ready, because I will be using it in an amazing friendship group post I have been working hard on. Expect to see that tomorrow! I just discovered the best counselor game hack- Chutes and Ladders. First of all, this game was one of my absolute favorites ever so I still love to play. The thrill of the ladders! The defeat of the chutes! Anyway, I have recently been using the game as a great tool for managing angry or sad feelings. Each time we go down a chute, we say something that makes us angry/sad. Each ladder is a strategy that helps us to calm down. The kids love it, I love it - win! What game hacks do you use? I've seen the Jenga conversation starters, but I am way too much of a neat freak to write on my Jenga pieces. I might have a problem. Maybe I should go see the counselor. I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it! The 5th grade girls in my The Girls book club made an amazing video to share what they've learned with the whole school. I have permission from all the girls' parents to put the video on YouTube to share with you. I followed the same lesson plans as in the previous post but we were racing against time before winter break to finish the group. Because of this, we didn't have time to devote to researching and resolving a problem about bullying. Instead, we learned the definition of relational aggression and talked about whether relational aggression is a problem here at our school and if students know what it is. Even though I teach the Steps to Respect anti-bullying series here, I still think that relational aggression is an under-taught area of bullying prevention. We used the following definition of relational aggression: Relational aggression is behavior that is intended to hurt someone by harming his or her relationships with others (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). Didn't the girls do a great job?! |
Rebecca AtkinsWelcome to my blog where I talk about all things school counselor and encourage others to Counselor Up! This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies. Opt Out of CookiesInterrupting Racism: Equity and Social Justice in School CounselingLinks may be affiliate links. If you link and purchase, I may receive compensation at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support of Counselor Up.
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