2nd Grade
- Lesson 1, Counselor Introduction: During the months of August and September I visit each child's classroom to introduce myself to new students and review my role as the school counselor. Students learn the process for seeking my assistance when they have a concern to discuss or a problem they need help solving. In grades 2-6 students complete a needs assessment to help me gather data to determine how to best structure to my counseling program for the school year.
- Lesson 2, Friendship Skills/Bullying Prevention: 2nd grade students read the book Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld and discuss ways they can be a good friend to others. They talk about how it can feel when we do not have anyone to play with at recess and why it is important to include others. We also discuss how to stand up for our friends and seek help from an adult when needed. Students then create a class poster where they write down their own ideas of how they can be a good friend.
- Lesson 3, Student Safety Skills: Second grade students learn how to keep themselves safe from strangers by reading the book SCOOP by Julia Cook and learning the SCOOPER Safety Rules. Students then complete a craft where they trace their own hands and write the SCOOPER Safety Rules on them.
- Lesson 4, Understanding Feelings: During this lesson students continue to increase their feelings vocabulary and practice differentiating between similar feelings, such as sad v. bored and jealous v. mad. Students read the book The Way I Feel by Janan Cain and discuss questions such as why it is important for us to understand how we feel and how we might treat others differently based on how they are feeling. Students then play a feeling face matching card game with a partner.
- Lesson 5, Managing Emotions: Students discuss how everyone feels sad, angry, worried, and upset at times. When we have these feelings there are certain activities we can do to help us cope with our feelings. Students learn that "coping" with feelings is a fancy way of saying that we deal with our feelings and do things to help us feel better. Students identify situations that might make them feel upset, sad, angry and worried. Students then learn about a variety of coping skills appropriate for their age group and have the opportunity to practice certain coping skills. For example, 2nd grade students watch a Sesame Street video about "belly breathing" and practice using this strategy. Students then create their very own coping toolkit full of ideas they feel will help them when they feel upset.
- Lesson 6, Review & Assessment: The last few weeks of the school year are spent with students in grade K-6, reviewing their learning by creating posters as a class to show others concepts they covered through school counseling classroom lessons throughout the school year. Students also engage in age appropriate games and/or interactive assessments to determine how well they have learned concepts taught to them over the past year.