Counselors' Corner

April

April has arrived and Spring Break is finally here!  We hope you and your family have a fun and relaxing break.  Here are a couple of ideas to keep it S-I-M-P-L-E. 

S is for Structure:  This means making sure everyone is aware of the rules and limits.
I is for Instruct:  Make sure you child knows what you want them to do and what NOT to do.
M is for Monitor:  Pay close attention to your child and their activities.
P is for Praise:  Praising a child is one of the most powerful tools.
L is for Laugh:  We can accomplish more with playful humor than force.
E is for Empower:  Encourage your child in all areas (school, sports, community etc)

March Update

We have had so many wonderful things going on in the counseling department lately!

In February, our 5th Graders enjoyed learning about Human Growth and Development, a program provided by HealthWise.  The nurses that came did a wonderful job and the students seemed to enjoy the learning opportunity.  For counseling lessons, 5th and 4th graders had great conversations about motivation and the importance of a good education.  The current lesson is focusing on how damaging rumors can be (Spring Fever is here and we are all a glow about who likes who at Big Shanty!) 

Our 3rd graders will be having guidance lessons focusing on career development.  Please be prepared to have your child come home with great questions such as "What do you like/dislike about your job?"  Just as students have things that they enjoy more than others at school, we all have our good and bad things about our jobs.

March is going to be a hectic month as we have things like CRCT and Spring Break of the horizon.  Please remember the importance of things like regular school attendance and a routine.  Please also be aware that while we love it when we can spend time with parents, we advise that you please set up and appointment with us.  We realize that there are times when you are at the school and then think it may be a good time to speak to a counselor, however, with the busy nature of the spring we may not be available at that moment.  Please feel free to call us at anytime and we are happy to schedule a time to meet. 

January Update

Welcome back!  We hope you had a wonderful, restful winter break.  The biggest event happening this month is Conference Week (January 22nd - 28th).  Here are a few tips to help you in ensuring a productive and succesful conference.

Please remember you only have a 20 minute conference.  Therefore, it is important to:

1)  Prioritize your concerns and questions.
2)  Come with your questions written down to help you remember.
3)  Bring specific works samples that you have questions about.
4)  Bring a folder with you to carry home papers received.
5)  If time runs out, remember that you can always schedule another appointment for a later time.

The counselors are always available if you have additional concerns or questions.

December Update

We are extremely proud of our Student Council and all the students at Big Shanty who have helped us with the canned food drive and our Angel Tree. Our students collected 2,938 cans of food!  We were able to provide food boxes for 22 Big Shanty families for both the Thanksgiving and Winter holidays.  Mrs. Morris' class won a pizza party and movie with a total of 321 cans collected.  Our second place winner was Ms. Phillips/Ms. Milton's class with 187 cans collected and third place goes to Mrs. Douglas' class with 180 cans.  Way to go kids - especially our 4th grade classes taking the top three spots!  We even collected so many canned food items that we were able to donate to Summit Baptist Church's food pantry.

We are also proud of Ms. Peacock’s third grade class and Student Council who adopted a soldier in Iraq—one of our Mom’s! We had so much fun keeping this a secret until our December meeting of Student Council. Please enjoy the picture of the student with all the items they collected.

We also want to thank all of you for your support of our Angel Tree this year. Thanks to all of you and lots of community support from NorthStar Church, North Cobb High School’s Shop With A Warrior, Kennesaw’s First Baptist Church, and our wonderful PTA Community Outreach Committee we were able to help 18 Big Shanty families this year!

Student Council Members with Adopt a Soldier Goodies

Student Council Officers

November Update

We are getting very busy working with our wonderful PTA Community Outreach Committee.  Please help us collect canned foods for our baskets.   Please remember we do food baskets for Thanksgiving and Christmas so we will need lots of canned food!  We will have our Angel Tree up soon and know all of you are getting into the shopping spirit of the season.

Our classroom guidance for November/December will focus on conflict resolution.  Hopefully, these skills will go with our students throughout their lifetimes.

We are enjoying our Student Council and Safety Patrol leaders at school.  Look for their pictures on our blog as soon as we get parent permission forms returned.  We completed our Student Council election of officers after a campaign week including speeches on the BSN for all students to see.  This ended with an election with everyone casting a ballot!

September Update

We can hardly believe we are already a month into the school year.  So far, we are off to a great start and have enjoyed seeing all of our students again. 

4th Grade Parents and Parents of new students to Cobb County:  Please be aware that we will be conducting hearing and vision screenings for all 4th grade and/or new students to Cobb County in the next few weeks.  This is only a screening to help us identify any potential hearing or vision problems, and is not to be used in replace of an exam.  You will not hear from us unless we have identified a problem.  If you suspect your child may have a hearing or vision problem and your child is not in the 4th grade, please contact one of us about obtaining a screening at school.