Counselors' Corner
Elementary school years set the tone for developing the knowledge, attitudes and skill necessary for children to become healthy, competent and confident learners. Through a comprehensive developmental school counseling program, school counselors work as a team with the school staff, parents and the community to create a caring climate and atmosphere. By providing education, prevention, early identification and intervention, school counselors can help all children achieve academic success.
What is SEL? Social-Emotional Learning Learn more here!
December Counseling Update
Gratitude and Empathy
Hello TES families!
I hope your holiday season is off to a great start! This is such a magical time of year, in which you can see the excitement and feel the joyous energy amongst the students. This time of year should be about spending time with loved ones, making memories, and focusing on all we have to be thankful for. However, for adults, this time of year can end up being extremely challenging and downright exhausting! And with the never ending, holiday “to-do list”, it can be difficult to shift our focus back to what is really important. As parents/caregivers, we go to great lengths to ensure our children have a happy, memorable holiday. But with that perceived power comes a tremendous amount of pressure. And instead of feeling a sense of fulfillment and gratitude, we often end the holiday season feeling mentally, physically and financially drained!
So, how can we shift our mindset and begin to focus on what is truly important in our lives? The answer is simple-Ask your child!
Over the past two months, our SEL lessons have focused a lot on Gratitude and Empathy. These are fundamental social-emotional skills that are usually emphasized around the holidays. However, anytime is a good time to practice developing these key character traits.
Gratitude - When explaining what gratitude is to the students, we start by going over the literal definition, which is: “The quality of being thankful or grateful for what you have.” I then ask the kids to go a little deeper into what gratitude actually means to them and what it does for our minds. I call this having from kids.
Empathy - Empathy and perspective-taking go hand-in-hand with gratitude and are foundational social-emotional skills. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of someone else. This is an especially powerful social-emotional skill for children to develop at a young age. Empathy helps develop compassion and strengthens relationships with others. It encourages tolerance and acceptance of others. It promotes healthy mental well-being, social harmony and can reduce the likelihood of bullying. When teaching empathy, I like to use examples that promote the students’ ability to understand how others might feel, in certain situations. For example, “Your classmate was sitting all alone at recess…How do you think they might be feeling? Why? How can you show empathy towards that student?” Practicing empathy can be especially helpful during the holiday season, because it encourages us to feel compassion towards others, as well as compassion for ourselves. It also helps put things into perspective and encourages us to self-reflect on what matters most in our lives.
Have a wonderful holiday season!
Mrs.Clark-School Counselor
Resources
- Gratitude Prompts for Kids
- Gratitude is my Superpower-Read Aloud
- Ways to Teach Kids Gratitude
- Empathy-Sesame Street
- What is Empathy? Explained by students
- Empathy-SEL
**If you or someone you know needs additional support this holiday season, please see the attached list of local resources - Holiday Guide-Behavioral Health Resources.pdf**
Counselor Information
Shannon Clark
School Counselor, M.A. PPS
Contact Our Counselor Via ParentSquare
What counseling groups are offered at TES?
Groups change according to student needs and availability in our daily schedules. These are some examples:
- Student problem-solving in typical social interactions (patience, staying on task, how to make friends, sharing, etc)
- Divorce or parent separation groups
- Self-control and anger management
- Working on anxiety and nervousness
- Loss and bereavement
- Social Skills and Communication Groups and Individual Sessions
- Friendship Groups
- New Student Groups
- Game Clubs
This site provides information using PDF, visit this link to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software.