Showing posts with label bulletin boards. Show all posts
Monday, September 5, 2016
Why Mindset Matters
Lately I've been thinking a lot about mattering.
You know, things that matter.
Like kindness.
And how we treat each other.
Like relationships.
And mindset.
I'm super excited to be going to Montana
to talk about why Mindset Matters in the middle of the month.
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| Click the graphic for my guest post about the matter. |
But why, exactly, does mindset matter so much? When I was growing up, we thought that an IQ pretty much determined what a person was going to be able to achieve in life. We now know that the brain is a muscle that gets stronger as we learn and grow. And the more we learn about the brain, the more important it becomes to unlock those errant beliefs and rewrite those old messages.
Here are two video clips that explain mindset really well:
And just like how the three kinds of empathy depend upon and build on one another, mindset {cognition} must come first before other skills can fall into place.
So how exactly do we teach mindset?
Enter this fantastic new resource by school counselor Lisa King.
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| Click book cover for more info at NCYI. |
It came in the mail last week and I devoured it in a day. Then I went back through it to highlight and earmark pages. It's filled with puzzles, coloring pages, book recommendations, brain teasers, and lesson plan activities. There's a mindset chant you can use and some creative ideas for a Mindset Social Station.
Using a MINDSET acrostic, the chapters address these areas.
And though it is called a Counseling Curriculum, I would totally love to see it in the hands of any caregiver who has a stake in the future of a child. I especially like the last chapter, that encourages and empowers our future leaders to take what they know and teach others.
Need a little ditty or song to seal the deal? Here's one I wrote for my friends in Montana; feel free to add it to your mindset arsenal.
It's knowing, embracing, and living the fact that every day is a new chance to be
the best version of you that you can be. That's why mindset matters!
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Sunshine In The Storm
As August ends, I hear rumblings; can it be that more rain is headed our way. If you're in the south, then you know it has been a stormy, soggy month.
We're ready to see more of the sun, that's for sure.
In leadership classes this week, we've been reading What Do You Do With A Problem? by Kobi Yamada. In this engaging text, the narrator is trying to figure out what to do with the problem that finds and is following him. The illustrations are drawn in such a way that the problem starts out looking like a black cloud and continues to grow to almost-hurricane proportions. As he talks his way through the problem, he realizes that the secret to problems is that they actually hold an opportunity. So I said to my students that it was kind of like finding blessings in your burdens, sunshine in your storm. That's when a new student challenged me with, "What if your problem is so bad that there's no way to find anything good in it? What then?"
Such a melancholy yet beautiful segue into a discussion about the role of the school counselor, someone to guide you when you're lost, to comfort you when you're sad, to light the path in your darkness, to help you move in right direction.
Someone to spread cheerfulness.
Someone to remind you that you matter.
Someone to remind you that you matter.
Someone to share joy.
Someone to listen.
Someone to understand.
Someone to care and hold your heart when you're hurting.
Here now, some pictures of where I get to do what I love:
The stage to the right, for our role plays.
The Puppet Palace in the far back corner.
The Counselor Cafe kidney table in the center.
Behind it, through that opened door, we have a Peace Room ...
filled with lots of different textures to help soothe our senses.
Feelings books, a reflection mirror, warm fuzzies, oh my.
Here's our Crayons to College bulletin board behind the stage
and a close up of our Pillar Power board.
Team Trustworthiness? I choose YOU.
Just outside of Leadership Central, a 7 Habits of Happy Kids display.
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| Click the picture to download the lettering from Mel at From The Pond. |
I am abundantly blessed to do what I love and love what I do.
In case you missed my guest post about trustworthiness
at Free Spirit Press earlier this week, click the graphic below.
Here's to a daily dose of that glorious Vitamin D.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Bulletin Boards
This is the year of the bulletin board! Our school's theme this year is Out'Rhea'geous (a word play on the name of the school). I was inspired by many many bloggers when putting these boards together. For backgrounds I used a mixture of wrapping paper and fadeless paper. You will find a video tutorial for creating BB letters at the end of this post :)
This is the board that you see when you walk into the building. Our school colors are green and white, so I tried to play into the school spirit!
Paper Fan inspiration: Katie King, Cut-Out Letter Idea: Doodle Bugs
This board is near the workroom on the main hall. It will be used to display student pictures and articles throughout the school year.
Rectangle Letter idea: Rachel Lamb, Monster Idea: Amy Groesbeck
This board is near the cafeteria. Our counselor likes to keep the board inspirational/character education focused. You can find printables for this board from Math=Love: HERE!
I bought lots of pennants, banners, and decor from Hobby Lobby, The background is chevron fadeless paper from a teacher store.
This board is also near the cafeteria. Our principals wanted it to highlight how parents can connect to the school throughout the year.
This last board I did is for the staff in the office. This idea came from Ms. Houser's blog. Teachers will write little notes, tidbits of inspiration, and comments about happenings on the colored paper. I did something similar last year with our sunshine board. You can see that HERE!
Pretty much if you use black backgrounds, astrobrights paper, and cute fonts you are good to go! For fun fonts check out Babbling Abby!
Here's a little video on how to make the letters that I used for my boards (I have the sniffles, so sorry!!!) Thanks to all the amazing bloggers that share their ideas for all of us to gain inspiration from!!! Couldn't have done this without that creative spark I got from Katie, Kacey, Rachel, and Amy!
For where to find the best fonts check out Cara's post HERE!
I'll be back later on to showcase a few more projects that I've completed for B2S! Happy decorating and teaching!!!
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Intentional Optimism & Love
Happy Valentine's Day.
Today, I'm thinking about the choice {and power!} of
positive {and non-negative} thinking and attitude.
That insight came from this little treasure:
If you check out this short, simple inspirational read,
I predict that you will be positively supercharged!
I'm on a team of Public School Ambassadors in our district who is reading this book, and we decided to see what our stakeholders feel about our school. We sent home a blank heart with the question: What do you love about our school?
The individual hearts are hanging in our school's front hallway way in the shape of a huge heart that's growing bigger day by day.
If you're in the Houston area, come on by and read their
heartfelt, heartwarming reflections and sentiments.
It has been said that we get more of what we focus on. Why not test out that theory with a daily dose of intentional optimism and love?
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Picture This
Today, a gallery walk through some of the newest additions
to our character building.
This growth-mindset display is now in the front hallway, right next to our Six-Pillar banners outside of our Admin Team office space.
Our freshly-painted Values Mural is on the back hallway,
just outside of Pod B and down a bit from our library.
Yesterday as our muralist was finishing up, a fourth-grade boy walked by and said aloud, "Hey, look, self-control. That's what I'm working on!" I just love the extension possibilities with a wordle like this painted on the wall. This morning one of our fourth-grade girls remarked, "I like it because it reminds me of Westwood." I silently whispered, "Me, too, Grace. Me, too."
Just outside of my office, this Clothing Exchange icon
so stakeholders can find our clothing closet more easily.
And just inside Leadership Central, these.
Our maintenance man, Fred, is housed in the office by our counseling classroom, so I added some color and love to that wall with some wall stickers.
And here, my newest creation, an inquiry board with a Star Wars theme, to get our padawans thinking about how they'll use the force for good in 2016.
UPDATE: What a blast to join author Maria Dismondy for an exclusive interview about inspiring empathy, compassion and kindness with actionable strategies to help our superheroes soar.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
I Love That He Bounces
Today I'm excited because I took the character cam out and saw so much goodness on our campuses. First, this Thankful Turkey crafted by the first-grade team. All of their thankful things are beautifully displayed on the colorful feathers.
Then, this note from a third-grade girl, for me.
When I asked her about it, she told me that she drew it to be "kind of like an Amusement Park ride because kindness makes everybody happy." I didn't think it could get any more magical than that, until I saw what a PAL had worked on with the third grader she mentors. Can you imagine how cool it must be to see yourself through your role model's eyes?
She made their time together interactive ...
by asking him leading questions ...
about how he puts our Pillars of Character ...
into action. Be still my heart.
Then I snapped this shot of an owl silhouette that just showed up last week. Mysteriously. On my wall.
It took me a day or two to figure out whoooooooo
would leave me such a beautiful surprise.
Doesn't it fit perfectly?
And to close, my personal story of the day about our youngest child, Joshua.
Today as I was visiting with our high school PALs teacher, she remarked that she saw Joshua bouncing down the halls yesterday, en route to his chemistry class.
"He doesn't walk, you know," she told me. "He bounces."
Then she added, "I love that he bounces."
It warms my heart that she sees the beauty in the bounce. We talked about him for awhile, what he's working on, how he's doing. She normalized some junior-year behaviors and, as always, offered to check on him and help if ever he needs anything. When we hung up, I found myself thinking that we are abundantly blessed to have caring adults who notice and appreciate the small stuff, like the spring in his step, about Joshua.
So this afternoon, I sent her this affirmation:
I love that you know that he bounces.
And I smiled.
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