Starting the Year: Intro Lesson and Then What??

I was recently asked to submit a counselor introduction lesson for a newsletter. Other counselors that were part of this collaborative effort have already chimed in to that group chat with some of the great ideas for lessons such as Ms. Joyce Gives the Best High Fives and the Mr. Potato Head Lesson (click to see the one by www.elementaryschoolcounseling.org).

Instead of sharing an intro lesson, I thought it might be helpful to submit some start of the year forms and ideas that you need to get your year started. As long as I’m putting it together, I thought I might post it here as well. Because let’s be honest, for those new to the profession or those changing schools, or those of us with summer brain fog… there is an “analysis paralysis” of what to do first during pre-planning. So, here are just a few things I wanted to share that I hope will be helpful.

• Send out a letter/form as a teacher start of the year lesson sign up allowing teachers to request a certain time for counseling lessons. Once you get these time requests back, you can start developing your schedule.

• Create a School Counseling Brochure Here is an editable copy https://docs.google.com/document/d/13ybEUuEPP2uoXBjj0lzlBTpu31EYCZNT/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=100833190427711601767&rtpof=true&sd=true These can be put in the front office, the lobby of your school, or given to teachers to have in their room during parent open house.
• Display a Meet the Counselors QR Code with the counselors’ contact information so that parents will see this posted (hopefully you post this in a prominent well-seen spot).  Put photos on this mini-poster so that parents who need to seek you out can put a name with a face.

• Create your system for individual referrals. My system is described here in a previous post about how to organize your system for individual referrals.

There is so much to do when we start the year. It’s exciting and certainly overwhelming. I hope these forms/ideas help.

Ready or not here they come!