KES School Counseling

Happy New Year to all !!! I am feeling blessed to be part of this amazing community!

 School Counseling topics for January lessons:
Kindergarten: Making good choices
Grade 1: Problem Solving and Using I Care Language
Grade 2: Using Self- Control
Grade 3 Study Skills
Grade 4: Problem Solving
Grade 5: Digital Footprints/Bully Prevention Strategies 

In addition, I will complete all small group counseling sessions for 1st semester. If you would like for your child to participate in small group counseling for the second semester please download the permission slip below.Semester II 2018  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions about up coming groups.

This week I began my December lessons. Kindergarten students learned about communication. First grade learned about positive thinking in new situations.  Second graders learned about solving problems. Fifth graders learned about important qualities in friends. Its was great fun working with all our super star students in their classrooms.

In January grade 5 teachers will begin the course recommendation process for grade 6. Here are some important dates for grade 5 parents. Please do not hesitate to contact me during this process if you have any questions.

• January 9, 2018—6:30—8:15 p.m.—Elective Open House—SPMS(students and parent attend)
• January 11, 2018—6:30—8 p.m.—SPMS—Parent Planning Guide Meeting—SPMS Auditorium
• January 12, 2018—8:30—10 a.m.—SPMS—Parent Planning Guide Meeting—SPMS Auditorium—repeat of the 11^th presentation                                                                                                        

I hope everyone enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends!

There is an informative parent workshop going on November 30th 5:30 pm to

8:15 pm at Hermitage high school. Please view this flyer for more information. Critical Teen Issues Workshop_Flyer. Final

It is hard to believe Thanksgiving will be next week. I am so thankful for the students, staff and families here at KES! This week we celebrated College Awareness Week with some amazing trivia questions on morning  announcements! Hundreds of students entered to win the correct answers for questions like: Do you know the second oldest college in the USA? Do you know which college is in Richmond wears the colors black and gold? Which Virginia college was founded by a President? Teachers also got in on the fun helping to build our KES College Wall and sporting their favorite college gear today.

This week I spent time teaching many study skill lessons across grade levels. Students learned about organization, paying attention, and goal setting. Small group counseling continues weekly for students who need help with improving school success, emotional regulation, social skills, confidence building and stress reduction.

We were especially blessed to have so many Veterans present for our Veteran’s celebration day!

mixitup2017 from Karen Shaia on Vimeo.

This week ended with a great time in the cafeteria. All classes participated in Mix it up Day. October 31,2017 was national Mix it Up Day. This activity is designed to help students make a new friend at lunch.

Its been a great week here at KES! Did you know we have a Buddy Bench on our playground? This bench was established by our Community Service Club to insure all students have a buddy to play with on the playground. If a student can not find a friend to play they simply sit on the bench and friends will join them to say,”Hi would you like to come play?” There is a wonderful book that goes with this idea called Peanut Butter and Cupcake   by Terry Border.

This week in counseling news students learned about bully prevention and how to be a helpful bystander. While we know at KES everyone supports each other in a caring community, it is still important to know what to do if someone is using mean behavior over and over. Its good to know how to make that behavior stop. In other news,  our W.D program is up and running well. We all look forward to the help and kindness our W.D’s bring to school each day.

Last but not least a HUGE thank you to our KES PTA for a fabulous Fall Festival!!! The jousting was really fun!

Its been another amazing week here at KES! Today was especially wonderful celebrating our 1st Mr. Kaechele Day!

In school counseling news… Students are learning all about bully prevention in their school counseling lessons. I would like to share a powerpoint I created in 2014 for parents. This powerpoint helps explain the dynamics of bullying behavior and what to do. Your students really are learning to be helpful bystanders so that we can change all bullying behavior to buddy behavior. Parent Presentation1 Bullying 2

There is a beautiful poem in the book titled the Juice Box Bully by: Bob Sornson and Maria Dismondy. I would like to quote this poem as I feel this is how our students are relating to the idea of prevention.

The Promise

I will speak up instead of acting as a bystander.

I Choose to participate in activities that don’t involve teasing.

I Forgive others if they make a poor choices.

I Model good behavior.

I Accept others for their differences.

I Include others in group situations.

I Will talk to an adult when there is a problem I cannot manage on my own.

I AM powerful in making a difference in my school.

Wow our annual Watch DOGS picnic was so much fun!! We had over 300 guests for our pizza picnic! It was great to see everyone and our teachers and staff are beyond excited for Watch DOGS to begin helping here at KES! Thank you to all who will volunteer. If you would like information about this program please email our “Top” Dog Jay Jones at jayjones watchdogs@kespta.com or you can reach out to me at khshaia@henrico.k12.va.us

Happy Friday to all!  It’s certainly been fun here at KES. Our first NED Champions have been celebrated.  This week with their pictures being posted and they have a NED wrist band to wear home!! Check out this video from 5th grade sharing their thoughts about NED!

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