Guidance Spot

Friday, October 21, 2016

Size of the Problem

Kids struggle every day with regulating their emotions and behavior.

We can help them by helping them cope with every day problems no matter how large they may seem in the moment and teach them during these situations as they occur.

One way to do this is to help them to understand the size of their problem that they are faced with and to put into concrete terms that helps them understand and cope with it, therefore, regulating themselves and preparing them for the next time they are faced with a "problem" or obstacle.

Here's a great short video (under 5 minutes) to help kids understand this concept of "size of the problem" and identify how the reaction should match the size of the problem.

We can model this for our kids and students by talking out loud about how we deal with and cope with problems that they can understand (age appropriate terms of course) and model this for them.

Size of the Problem Video

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Spreading friendship

This TED talk is inspiring for schools across the country to start an initiative to help kids find friends who are struggling to find friends. Such a great idea. We are looking into finding benches to start this at JA.

Kindness Boomerang

Kick-off to Kindness Week!

During the week of September 19th-23rd, Johnny Appleseed Elementary School kicks off its year long kindness initiative. The goal of this initiative is to promote kindness throughout our entire building, homes and community. Students of all grade levels will begin the conversation about what kindness is while participate in classroom and school-wide activities. The Kindness initiative will continue throughout the entire school year.

Johnny Appleseed has declared this year's slogan as "Be The Spark!"' the ripple effect starts with one. One person to hold open a door, one person to leave a kind note on someone’s desk/locker, one person to write a thank you letter to a teacher. One person to be a spark of kindness when another really needs it. Students are encouraged to be the spark in our school as well as community.

Each day during the morning announcements, members of JA's "Kindness Krew" have shared daily kindness quotes as well promoted our monthly activity "Caught Being Kind." Teachers were given 'fish fins' to complete when they catch their students being kind. These fins continue to be added to the Guidance bulletin board. Here is an update of what our board looks like:

Please check back for updates regarding our Kindness Initiative.

~Ms. Ruggles, Guidance Counselor

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Social Skills

If you would like a list of book titles that will help teach different social skills, please contact one of us in the Guidance Department.

We have topics that include (but are not limited to):

Friendship skills
Lying
Anxiety/Worrying
Self-esteem
Self-control
Responsibility
Respect
Anger control
Feelings
Problem Solving
Grief/Loss
Family issues (i.e. divorce, new baby, etc.)
Diversity and accepting differences, etc.
Specific topics (i.e. nose picking, accepting no, personal space, and many more)

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Thanksgiving Food Drive

November 4th-November 18th

Our 5th graders have started their annual Thanksgiving Food Drive for families in need this holiday season to help provide a meals for families to cook and enjoy together.
Please give nonperishable items. Everything helps!
Here is the list by grade level for what to donate.

Kindergarten=canned soup and crackers
1st=Packaged dessert mix, muffins mix, and bread mix
2nd=boxed/packaged potatoes, stuffing, rice
3rd= boxed pasta/sauce
4th=canned vegetables, gravy, & cranberry sauce
5th=packaged breakfast items like cereal, pancake mix, syrup, etc.