School Counselor Blog

We ended our Random Acts of Kindness Week on a SWEET note on Friday! Our PBIS team hosted a Coffee and Sweet Treats Bar to show our appreciation for teachers and school staff!  We used the theme "Supporting QVMS Students is a Work of HEART!" We used red plastic table cloths, Valentine's Day stickers, Valentine's Day candy, and coffee from the school kitchen. We provided cups and cellophane bags so people could grab-and-go.  We were able to get lots of discounted items at Target after Valentine's Day.  This was a fun way to add a little cheer to a Friday!  What treats or giveaways have you done for school staff?

In January I participated in a Flexible Professional Development. Our district sent out different webinars and trainings we could attend virtually. We were able to pick and choose which webinars and trainings we wanted to attend. One of the webinars I chose was The Value of Educator Self-Care by Learning for Justice (Formerly Teaching Tolerance). The webinar had so much valuable information. One of the things that stuck out most to me was a self-care chart one of the leaders of the webinar, Geneviève DeBose, shared . Geneviève DeBose created a large chart on wrapping paper to display things she could do to practice self-care. Geneviève DeBose wrote a post about the Self-Care Practices Chart she made,  Deepening a Practice of Self-Care .  She was inspired to create the Self-Care Practices Chart after she saw another educator share a Self-Care Bingo. I love this visual reminder to practice self-care. I immediately began thinking about how I could use this in my work with s...

I bought In My Heart: A Book About Feelings by Jo Witek and illustrated by Christina Roussey  for my daughters 2 years ago for Valentine's Day, because #SchoolCounselorMom. It is such a great book to use for talking about feelings! I took this photo back in 2019. Our copy is very well loved now! I just love the illustrations in  In My Heart: A Book About Feelings  and the cut out hearts. I just ordered a second copy for my middle school counseling office.  Have you used this book to talk about feelings? Want more innovative ideas, creative lessons, and quality resources? Follow me on Instagram .  *this post contains affiliate links.

I have gotten a lot of questions lately about the Organized Desktop Wallpaper on my work laptop. I made it in Canva a few years ago. I recently changed the colors to match better with my school counseling office decor.  I use the Organized Desktop Wallpaper to sort my files and folders on my desktop. I labeled each of the sticky notes with categories I use most often. The first sticky is a list of all the monthly PBIS themes for the year. I am often referring to this, so it is nice to always have it on my desktop.  If you want a copy of these Organized Desktop Wallpapers, there are two ways you can get it. 1.  The first way is to make a copy of the original file I created in Canva . You can click the link or the image below. This method allows you to save a copy and edit the item to meet your needs using the Canva platform. There are tons of fun options and it is pretty easy to use! It is also free!  I absolutely love Canva and use it daily to make digital d...

Happy National School Counseling Week! The work you do matters. You make a difference in the lives of students and families. In these unprecedented times you have had to adapt and innovate like never before. Keep doing the work of supporting the academic success, career development, and social-emotional well-being of students! If you need some ideas for how to celebrate, I wrote a post for Free Spirit Publishing, 10 Ways to Celebrate National School Counseling Week .  I also shared some ideas in my stories on Instagram . I saved them to highlights they can be accessed later too. I love connecting with other school counselors! Connect with me on  Instagram ,  Twitter , or Facebook .