A Message from Sara I am very excited to begin another great year as the school counselor at TES.

School counseling in elementary schools is little understood. Many of us did not have school counselors (formerly called “guidance counselors”) in our lives growing up and are confused about their place in the school day. Other people did have counselors, but they were there only to offer vocational or college advice. The field of school counseling has changed and the new model is to offer a program that gives all students the skills they need to be sucessful.

I have worked over the years to create a program that includes all students and is based around preventative servies instead of simply reacting to “crises”. I have included a quick “primer” of some of my services below. One of my goals this year is to create a monthly newsletter that lets families know more about the school counseling program, as well as the services that are available.

As I hope you know, I am ready and willing in help you and you child in any way that I can. Please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Have a great fall!

Sara Bailey sbailey@thetfordeschool.org (802)785-2426 Ext. 122

Counselor’s Corner

October 2012 Thetford Elementary School’s Counseling Newsletter

Counseling Services and Programs•Individual Counseling (Parent/Teacher referral or self-referral)•Group Counseling•Classroom Lessons-I visit all classes once a week to present lessons on a variety of topics•Parent consultation•Referrals to outside agencies and programs

Check out more information about the school counseling program by going to the services page on the TES website and clicking “Counseling”

Check out our Parenting Library!

Parenting can often be confusing journey and it is important to have resources to help you. Our Parenting Library is designed to do just that! We have over 50 books that deal with topics such as parenting education, grief and loss, divorce, ADHD, adoption and many more. The Parenting Library is located in the Counseling Office and can be accessed by emailing or calling Sara Bailey or by stopping by the Counseling Office.

Spotlight on Classroom Curriculum-October

I have recently realized that many families are still not aware that I visit classrooms once a week in order to deliver a school counseling curriculum. This curriculum includes lessons on academic skills, social/emotional awareness, bully prevention, career awareness, friendship skills, and other content. In order to give you information on this curriculum, I will include a brief description of what we are working on by each grade in each newsletter. For more information, please check my page on the TES website.

Kindergarten-In kindergarden, we are using the Second Step Program to learn about empathy through feelings identification and social learning. Students are learning about six basic feelings (happy, sad, suprised, angry, nervous, disgusted).

First Grade- In first grade we are finishing our unit on feelings. Building on what they learned in kindergarten, this unit reviews six basic feelings (happy, sad, suprised, angry, nervous, disgusted) and teaches students new, more advance words to describe how they are feeling. Students made “Feeling Books” modeled after the book, The Way I Feel by Janan Cain.

Second Grade-In second grade we have begun our unit on kindness and empathy towards others. We read two books, The Quiltmaker’s Gift and Because Brian Hugged His Mother (both about being kind towards others) and are now working on a paper “Kindness Quilt”.

Third Grade-We have spent the first few months of school working on Academic Skills. Students are learning about active listening, goal-setting, the importance of being on time ot school, test-taking strategies, learning styles, the value of mistakes and responsibility.

Fourth Grade-In fourth grade we are working on academic skills. Students are learning how to create and accomplish goals using a tool called the “goal ladder”. The goal ladder encourages students to break goals down into smaller, more manageable pieces. Other parts of this unit include the value of making mistakes, multiple intelligences and time management.

Fifth Grade-In fifth grade we begun the year by discussing goal setting and making “Life Lists”, a list of 30 goals that each student wanted to accomplsih during their lives. This was a great opportunity for students to think into the future and to write down what is important to them. The students are now identifying one goal (either short or long term) and learning how to break goals into managable pieces so that it can be accomplished.

Sixth Grade-In sixth grade we did something similar to 5th grade and brainstormed as a class things that we wanted to do during our lifetime. It was fascintating to see what the students came up with! Students are now learning a more sophisticated method of goal setting.