Guidance Update: Career Exploration

Post by guest blogger:  Sarah Angell Pond, Guidance Counselor

After our successful Career Day, we have continued to explore career ideas in classroom guidance lessons.  Kindergarten and grade 1 learned about Community Helpers and the tools they use.  Students were excited to have a turn picking a tool out of the career tool bag and matching it to the community helper who uses that tool in their job.  There were lots of smiles as a tape measure, a rolling pin, or a stuffed kitten was pulled out of the career tool bag!  Students made connections with what family members do and also their own experiences with community helpers in Merrimac.  We discussed what each Helper might like about their job and what skills they might need.

Career Board used in Guidance Lessons

Grades 1 and 2 read the book “How Santa Got His Job” by Stephen Krensky.  Students were very interested in hearing this “behind the scenes” story of Santa’s journey through several jobs before starting his career of delivering toys to children.  Did you know Santa was a chimney sweep and a cook at an all-night diner?  In this story we explored how interests and skills can help you learn what kind of job or career you might like.  Santa learned he was good at being neat and that he liked staying up late!  Children explored the “job” they have now as students as well as responsibilities they have at home (even if they don’t receive a paycheck for doing chores!).   Students understood that Santa’s career journey started long before he found the job he is known for today.  Just like Santa did, students are already learning about themselves and gathering experiences and knowledge that will help to shape their future career choices. 

Grade 2 took an online career interest inventory designed especially for kids.  Paws in Jobland allows students to explore many different jobs through a fun and interactive website.  Students first took a quiz that identified career areas they may be interested in.  These places lit up on the map of Jobland inviting students to click and explore.  Students were able to visit all the different areas of Jobland to learn more about specific careers.  Many careers were brand new ideas to students they had never heard of and were excited about finding.  These included jewelry maker, graphic designer and even a fish farm worker!  Paws the dog was their tour guide.  Students really enjoyed being able to navigate through this independently and were very excited to share what they learned about themselves. Here is the link to this free site! http://paws.bridges.com/cfnc1.htm

Career Day

Fashion Designers and Runway Model

 Champion Horse Rider

Secret FBI Agent and Pro Athletes

Rancher

During recent guidance lessons, students have been learning about careers.  On April 23rd, they were invited to dress as a future career option.  As you can see, they were many creative outfits!

Veterinarian

Salon Owner

Business Manager

Doctor

Lego Engineer

Health Care Professionals

Ballerinas

Playwright and Teacher

Military Hero

Future Athletic Stars
 with Photographer (Ms. Carroll)

Gold Medalists

Classroom Guidance Lessons

From Guest Blogger:  Sarah (Angell) Pond

We have been having a great time in Classroom Guidance lessons so far this year!  Grades K-2 have biweekly classroom guidance lessons that focus on a variety of topics to supplement the Second Step Curriculum.  Classroom teachers and paraprofessionals do a wonderful job working on these skills every day!  Lesson topics include: respecting differences, conversation skills, self-esteem, managing feelings, handling mistakes, career awareness, community helpers, and more.  This year, lessons in Grade 1 and 2  have focused on helping students recognize, refuse, and report bullying. During Bullying Prevention lessons, students have been learning how to recognize bullying behavior and what to do if it happens to them or if they see it happen to a classmate.  The definition of bullying from Second Step is “Bullying is unfair and one-sided, it happens when someone keeps being mean to, hurting, or scaring another person or leaving someone out on purpose.”  Bullying can be an abstract topic for younger students so we often use our school bucket filling theme to help guide their understanding.   It can be difficult for students to differentiate between a one-time incident and continued mean behavior that can lead to bullying.  Students learned there are different ways kids can be bullied and some forms can be harder to recognize. Bullying is not something we can always spot across the playground.  It is often difficult to see and others may not even know it is happening.  We read several books that showed examples of different types of bullying and how the characters were supported by their families, friends, teachers, and classmates.  Students learned how, with support, the characters were able to refuse or stand up to the bullying behavior.  Students learned about the important role of bystanders or those that see bullying behavior happen.   Bystanders are the group with the most power to do something about bullying.  They can offer support, include others, encourage their friends to be kind, and report to an adult if they see bullying behavior happen.

All that being said, it can still be confusing for students to know when they need to let an adult know or when a situation is not bullying (but may still be hard to handle).  We read A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue by Julia Cook.   This is a great book that helps students recognize the difference between tattling on a classmate to get them in trouble and reporting to a teacher when someone’s body or feelings are being hurt.   Students explored how to try and solve a problem first before asking an adult to intervene and when to let a grown up know right away.  Even when students are able to figure out that it would be tattling to tell the teacher about a classmate not following directions, the need to share this information can still be strong.  That is where the Tattle Monster comes in!  This is a great idea I came across on Pinterest.  Students can quietly go up to the Tattle Monster to share these thoughts without interrupting the teacher and avoid tattling.  Each first grade classroom now has their very own Tattle Monster.  Grade 2 classrooms each have a copy of “The Tattle Rules” from A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue to help them decide whether they can handle a problem themselves or if they need to let an adult know.    Students are always encouraged to ask an adult for help if they are unsure whether they need to report.  Together we can figure out what the problem is and how to solve it.  I look forward to the second half of the school year and our upcoming lessons! 

Looking ahead:   Kindness and Appreciation Week is March 18^th through March 22^nd and Career Day is Tuesday April 23^rd.  More information coming soon!  Thanks for reading!

 Mrs. Sarah Pond is the School Guidance Counselor for both Donaghue and Sweetsir Schools.

PRSD stars against bullying

Kudos to Pentucket High School 

for creating this amazing music video with an anti-bullying message!

This clip was posted on the Vimeo website, along with many others created by Pentucket students and staff members.  Footage from School Committee Meetings and past athletic events are also 

featured on the website at:  https://vimeo.com/prsd/videos.

Guidance Resources

The Dr. Frederick N. Sweetsir and Helen R. Donaghue Schools are fortunate to share a wonderful Guidance Team.  Miss Sarah Angell, Mrs. Amy Brennan and Mrs. Kathie Sullivan are highly dedicated professionals who care deeply about children.  Services they provide include: class guidance lessons, social skill groups, and consultations.  They are also available to support parents in helping children through all types of life experiences.   If you ever need information, support, or help connecting with area resources, please know that they welcome your phone call.

A letter is going home in students' backpacks today with tips and resources for coping with loss. Links to the on-line resources are posted below.  We plan to purchase multiple copies of the recommended books to have available for parents to borrow in the near future.  Our hope is to create a lending library for parents with books on a variety of health/guidance/parenting topics.  Once the lending library is set up, we will share the available titles with you.  

The Good Grief Program-Boston Medical Center

http://www.bmc.org/pediatrics-goodgrief/tipsforadults.htm

The Children’s Room

www.childrensroom.org/resources/talking-with-your-child-about-death

Tips for Talking to Children After traumatic events

http://www.samhsa.gov/MentalHealth/Tips_Talking_to_Children_After_Disaster.pdf

Tips for Talking About Loss

Our Counseling Staff put together this list of tips and resources.  Ms. Sarah Angell, Guidance Counselor, and Ms. Amy Brennan, School Psychologist, work with students and families at both Sweetsir and Donaghue Schools.  They are available to support families and students with helpful strategies in times of need.

Some tips for talking with your child about loss:

·There is no “best” way to talk with students about this.  The main point to remember is to just be honest.  Openly recognize your feelings by sharing that you are upset and feeling sad too. 

 

•Focus on the facts.  Less is more.  It’s ok to say “I don’t know” if they ask you a question you can’t answer.

·Establish open lines of communication.  Let children know it is ok to talk about this.  How they are feeling.

•Avoid euphemistic phrases that may confuse children (i.e. she’s not with us anymore).  Young or very concrete children might think “where did she go?” 

•Remind your child that everyone deals with grief and sadness in different ways.  Just because someone isn’t crying doesn’t mean they don’t feel sad.  Reassure kids it’s also ok if they want to sit quietly or don’t want to talk about it.

·It is not always easy to “hear” what a child is really asking.  It may be necessary to respond to a question with a question to fully understand the child’s real concern. Focus on answering the hidden meaning of the question being asked.  Questions and statements that kids make may reflect fears for their own health and safety or that of loved ones. 

·A death often brings up memories and feelings of a previous death or loss in their lives.

•Suggest ways to help support family and close friends.  (For example make cards, draw pictures, share memories).  School will plan a more lasting memorial in the coming weeks.

BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

Adams, John. The Dragonfly Door.  Feather Rock Books, 2007.  Life cycle of dragonfly.

Bunting, Eve. Rudi's Pond. Sandpiper 2004. A group of school children respond to the illness  

       and death of the narrator's best friend, Rudi, by helping to build a pond in his memory.

Buscaglia, Leo. The Fall of Freddie the Leaf.  Slack, Inc., 1982. 32pp. Story for children of Freddie    the Leaf depicting the balance between life and death.

Cohen, Janice.  I Had a Friend Named Peter.  Morrow, 1987.  Talking to children about the

      Death of a friend. 

O’Toole, Donna. Aarvy Aardvark Finds Hope. Celo Press, 1988. 80 pp.   A story for most children of Aarvy’s journey through grief.  Helps express feelings of pain, hope, and growth.

Viorst, Judith. The Tenth Good Thing About Barney. Macmillan, 1988. 25pp. Story of the death of Barney the cat, suitable for young children.

Book for Parents

Trozzi, Maria & Massimini, Kathy.  Talking with Children About Loss.  Perigee, 1999. Words,

       strategies, and wisdom to help children cope w

Future FNS Workers

Future Engineer
(Designer of the next renovation project.)

On May 9th, students and faculty members celebrated "Career Day" by dressing up in outfits to represent possible future careers.  During lunchtime our Guidance Counselor, Sarah Angell, followed up on classroom discussions about careers by polling students and charting their choices.                                

 

Future School Nurses

Most popular careers:  pro athletes, teachers, artists, doctors/nurses and veterinarians. 

Most unique careers:  pig farmer, gemologist, medical safari worker, lego designer, paleontologist, exterminator, archaeological, secret serviceman and monkey zoologist.

Future Teachers and Principal

These could be the faces at Sweetsir School in 20 years!

Career Day

Judson Firefighters

The following information is from guest blogger Ms. Sarah Angell, who works as a Guidance Counselor for Donaghue and Sweetsir schools:

In classroom guidance lessons, K, 1, and 2 students have been learning about different careers and exploring what they might want to do “when they grow up".  Lessons have focused on how what is being taught in the classroom now is essential for what students will do in the future.  On Wednesday, May 9, 2012, students in K, 1 and 2 are invited to dress up as a career that interests them.  During lunch, students will share their career day choices so we can chart career interests as a school.  Parents, please do not purchase a costume or expensive props/tools. We are encouraging kids to be creative and use things they already have or can create out of household items. We look forward to seeing their creativity at work for what promises to be a fun day! Teachers and staff are also invited to dress up as another career of interest too!

5-2-1-0 Puppet Show & Snack Graph

 On Wednesday, March 28th,  Leslie Smith and the Theatre of Life Puppets, will be performing a show about nutrition for Sweetsir students.  Parents and younger siblings are welcome to join us for the 1:30 show!

We are grateful to Anna Jacques Hospital for securing a grant from the Mosely Foundation.  As a result, they will provide the funding for the puppet show along with $1,500 worth of library books and materials to promote healthy eating and exercise!  Teachers will facilitate class discussions to help students decide if the snacks they bring to school are healthy choices.  Results will be graphed and displayed in the classroom for an ongoing period of time.  (Don't worry parents, we will send home hints and ideas for healthy snacks).    

Leslie Smith incorporates the 5-2-1-0 program, daily guidelines to fight childhood obesity, in her show: EVERYDAY eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, engage in 2 hours or less of screen time, exercise at least 1 hour, and, consume 0 sugary drinks.  For more information about the program visit: 5-2-1-0 Healthy or Let's Go.