Here are a few resources that I have either found or been given that I thought you might find helpful, including some simple things to remember and practice. I will also tweet various resources and sites that may be helpful from @RBSmith23. Students will be coming home with a counselor packet that provides various resources for families and activities for them to use at home. This packet is also available here: Child Mind Institute Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus National Association of School Psychologists Talking to Children About COVID-19: A Parent Resource SAMHSA Coping with Stress During an Infectious Disease Outbreak A Coronavirus social story:
This is an amazing book for kids about anxiety. Our kids are amazing and can do amazing things with the right information and right tools. Being able to understand the feelings and physical symptoms associated with anxiety are important. Being able to recognize what is happening and gain power by implementing a variety of skills can help to turn anxiety around. Hey Warrior by Karen Young Rock Bridge Elementary & Rock Bridge High School work together to provide students with mentors Rock Bridge Elementary School offers a mentoring program called Bridging Bears 2 Bruins. This program is designed to enhance your child’s social, academic and personal development. Children in this program spend supervised and structured time at school with a student from Rock Bridge High School. Bridging Bears 2 Bruins meets for 30 minutes at Rock Bridge Elementary during regular school hours. Student mentors from Rock Bridge High School are participating as a part of their Introduction to the Teaching Profession course which they are enrolled in at the RBHS Career Center. What students have learned so far this year...Abuse Prevention Over the past few weeks at school, your child participated in a classroom presentation and discussion about the prevention of sexual and physical abuse of children. During this lesson we talk about safe, unsafe and unwanted touches and watch a video where characters stay safe by using the Touching Rule: No one should touch your private body parts except to keep you healthy and the Ways to Stay Safe, known as the “3 R’s”. These are rules that we establish early in the school year and reinforce throughout: 1. RECOGNIZE: Is it safe? Is it unwanted? 2. REFUSE: Say words that mean no. 3. REPORT: Tell a trusted adult Within this lesson, private body parts are defined as the areas covered by a swimsuit. We also practiced asking an adult for help, telling an adult about an unsafe situation and being assertive to get out of unsafe situations. Additionally, the class will list possible trusted adults a child can tell, including parents, baby-sitter, aunt, grandparent, teacher, adult friend, or neighbor. To reinforce this lesson, it is important to keep talking with your child about unsafe or unwanted situations and how to handle them. These can feel like difficult conversations to have. To help make them easier, you can use the stories from these classroom lessons as a comfortable way to talk to your child about unsafe or abusive situations and how to hand them. These videos are available online, along with a guide to help you talk about the video with your child, in the Families section of SecondStep.org. Make sure to go online to join SecondStep.org with the activation key needed for each grade level lesson: Kindergarten: CPUK FAMI LYGK Grade 1: CPU1 FAMI LYG1 Grade 2: CPU2 FAMI LYG2 Grade 3: CPU3 FAMI LYG3 Grade 4: CPU4 FAMI LYG4 Grade 5: CPU5 FAMI LYG5 You may use these as a guide to talking about the video with your child, and other helpful tips about teaching your child touching-safety rules. If you have any questions about this lesson or would like more information about how to reinforce this lesson at home, please feel free to contact me. For more details on curriculum and the role of the counselor in your school, please scroll below. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Self-Concept and the Growth Mindset We talked about the importance of trying new things and understanding that challenging ourselves helps our brains grow, even when we make mistakes. If you're not making mistakes, then you're probably not challenging yourself. Making mistakes is an opportunity for us to learn! Coping & Guided Imagery We've talked about resiliency by learning different coping strategies to help us with our emotions. It's important for us to try different strategies so that we know which ones work for us. We then must practice them so we will be prepared to utilize those skills when they are needed. When we are already in the red zone (angry, mad, yelling, etc.), we cannot think very clearly and it's difficult to put a strategy into action. If we practice these skills, they will be more likely to use them when their emotions are high. For example: If a student knows that sitting by themselves (safe seat, etc.) helps them calm down when their emotions are escalating, they will instinctively remove themselves from a situation and implement this strategy when necessary. Diversity Students have identified similarities and differences, while recognizing and demonstrating respect towards all. We are all different from one another in a variety of ways: what we look like, how we learn, our interests, our strengths, etc. This diversity makes our school so much more interesting than if we were all the same. When we get to know someone who is different than we are, we give ourselves an opportunity to learn. In the upper grade levels we defined the following words: Diversity, Acceptance, Judgmental, and Empathy. In all grades, we talked about the importance of empathy when dealing with one another, including those who may be different than us. Cooperation Students have learned these key characteristics of being a cooperative person:
The 3 R's Students learn to Recognize, Refuse, Report whenever they see or experience bullying or unsafe situations. Recognize = a situation is unsafe or if someone's body or feelings have been hurt, it keeps happening and they are unable to make it stop. Refuse = use words that mean "no" or "stop". Report = tell a trusted adult. We've also talked about the importance of being a bystander. Whenever a student sees an unsafe situation or witnesses bullying happening to another student, they have multiple choices to consider: Refuse the bully, by standing up for the person who is being bullied. In the case of an unsafe situation, walk away or say no. Report the situation or behavior to a trusted adult. Support the person being bullied by making them feel included, welcome and safe. Students initially learned to apply the 3 Ways to Stay Safe to help them be safe in all situations, not just bullying. Ask them about the "3 R's"! Younger (and older) students may even sing you the song about it! Students have also learned about the "Never-Never Rules" as a part of our Second Step curriculum. These 8 rules will help keep them safe.
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I hope that you and your families are having a great school year. I wanted to take a moment to inform new families and remind those returning of our comprehensive school counseling program here at Rock Bridge Elementary. In Columbia Public Schools, school counselors provide 30 minute push in lessons with the classroom teacher. Students have “Counselor” lessons approximately twice per month in their classrooms with me leading the lesson and the homeroom teacher supplementing the lesson with his/her expertise on each unique classroom and its specific needs. In addition to classroom lessons, I also provide services like group and individual counseling, crisis counseling and lunch groups with the children.
As a school counselor in Missouri, I structure my day within the framework of the Missouri Comprehensive Guidance Program. The program provides four basic services: Guidance Curriculum (K-5 biweekly presentations as mentioned above), Individual Planning (assessment, guidance etc.), Responsive Services (small groups, individual counseling, crisis counseling, etc.), and System Support (in-services, parent, faculty, and building support). The curriculum is divided into three areas: Personal and Social Development, Academic Development, and Career Development. The Missouri Comprehensive Guidance Program, the district curriculum, and other materials will be used for classroom presentations with students. This year we are excited to have Jeanine Davison in our building on Mondays from 12:00-2:55 to assist with our counseling needs. Jeanine brings great experience providing counseling assistance to multiple schools throughout the CPS district. I am looking forward to having a great year and hope to meet many of you during the 2019-20 school year. If I can be of assistance to you, please contact me at 573-214-3290 or via email at [email protected]. Sincerely, Mr. Ryan Smith M.Ed. School Counselor Rock Bridge Elementary |
Ryan Smith
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