Longan School Counseling

Below is the Counselor’s Corner newsletter for this month. It should have already come home with your child, but it doesn’t hurt to take a second look!

Newsletter March 2012

Today, February 29th, was career day for our K-2 students. We had Officer Chris Ferguson from the Henrico County Police Bomb Squad and K9 Unit come to talk about his career. He shared with the students about working hard and studying to be a police officer, as well as continuing his training to become a K9 handler. He even brought his dog, Argos, along with him. Argos found a pretend bomb hidden in our cafeteria and shared his excitement with the students. Here are a few pictures from our event!

Its hard to believe that its already February! Below you will find a link to our February School Counseling newsletter!

Newsletter February 2012

I must apologize to the Kindergarten and First Grade families for a typo in the “My Counselor Visited Today” sheets. In my copy/pasting of format, I accidentally forgot to change the month on the slips this time! Obviously, we were not taking a trip back in time to November, as the slips said. It was a simple typo. We were, of course, working on our January word of Self-Disciplined. I just wanted to apologize for any confusion.

I’m a little late getting this on the page, but it should have made it home in your child’s backpack a few weeks ago. It never hurts to take a second look!
Newsletter January 2012

Below is my December newsletter is amazing technicolor!

Newsletter Dec 11

This month, our word is optimistic. We are talking in our classroom lessons about finding the best in people even if they aren’t always our favorite person. To help us understand, we are using the series “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?” by Carol McCloud. This book talks about how everyone carries an invisible bucket that holds their good thoughts and feelings. We can add to each others’ buckets by saying and doing nice things, or we can dip into their buckets to remove those thoughts and feelings by doing rude things. This is a series that I use in all grade levels, so they should be pretty familiar with the idea if you ask!

I encourage you to talk with your child at home about bucket filling and bucket dipping. Many of our teachers use this terminology in their rooms to encourage those who give spontaneous compliments and to discourage those mistakes of saying something not-so-nice. I hope that the idea of looking for the best and having an optimistic attitude will carry over from school into your household this month!

In case you missed it in your child’s backpack, below is our November Counselor’s Corner!

Newsletter Nov 11 PDF

Here at Longan, we are always trying to improve on how we watch out for our students and how we can better meet their, and your, needs. As a part of Henrico County’s new anti-bullying initiative, the county is establishing clearer definitions and resources to combat bullying.

Henrico County defines bullying as “A person who is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself.”

As always, we encourage our students to share bullying incidences with a trusted adult as soon as possible. However, if your child does not feel comfortable sharing with someone face-to-face, we are offering a new, anonymous reporting website. From the link below, you or your child can log-in, fill out a simple form (grade level, teacher’s name, and complaint) to inform me and the administration about a bullying issue.

Silence Hurts: Longan Bullying Reporting Form

This form creates an email that goes directly to the administrators. All concerns will be read, assessed, and handled as appropriate.

Please check it out and feel free to use it if you, or your child, ever needs an anonymous way to share.

The application process for the IB Program is starting this month! The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program is a rigorous program that works to encourage students to become interested in learning through communication, holistic learning (finding the connections across), and internationalism (a growing understanding of different cultures). The program lasts 3 years at the middle school level, with our zone being Moody Middle.
To enter the program, the student must complete an application process. This process includes a student information form, 2 teacher recommendations, and a writing sample done in school during November, in addition to the Moody team looking at test scores and grades.

The applications will go home starting this week to those families that request them. You can request an application by talking to your child’s teacher or by contacting me in via phone, email, or note. They are due to me, Mrs. Hensley, on or before November 18th. For more information visit the Moody Middle School website.