Elementary School Counseling Must Haves

So, I've been at my first internship placement at Burbank Elementary School for about a month and a half now. It's certainly been a whirlwind and every day passes by quickly! Like speed of light quick. Think you're going to get a lot of paperwork done? WRONG. Think you're going to get a head start on some program planning? WRONG. We are the whim of hundreds of little people and their emotional, social, and academic needs come first! Point blank.

Over the last couple weeks, I've started thinking about what one needs to be a great school counselor. Here is the list I've come up with:

1. CLOROX WIPES

I cannot convey to you how important these are. As elementary school counselors, many of us are limited to the confines of lunchtime visits. Have you ever seen a small child eat there lunch in a designated 25 minute time frame? It isn't pretty. After one small lunch bunch group your table will be covered in peanut butter, mashed potatoes, and other unidentified food bits. For the sake of not having table tops that feel like movie theater floors- get them. Get A LOT of them.

As if that isn't reason enough, these adorable little folks carry TONS of germs. Their little jam hands carry with them tons of bacteria and sickness. My site supervisor jokes that every new school brings some sorta unidentified sickness. New germs, she says. She is not lying. Week two I was walking around tissues in hand feeling like absolute death. Protect yourself.

2. Fun games and toys for reward time!

Let me tell you, most elementary school students are simple creatures that just want to have a good time. Consider purchasing a Gooey Louie Game, a melting snowman model, Jenga, or Hungry Hungry Hippos. Find out what students like and use those games as a reward. They will be a lifesaver.

For older children, you can tweak the games to serve a purpose. For Jenga, you can add questions to each block to learn more about the student. It can be a great icebreaker. Here's some examples of good questions to use:

What's your favorite school subject?

What's your happiest memory?

Who is your role model? And, why?

I had a ton of success with a student who would be good all week to play a few rounds of Gooey Louie with Ms. Carroll at the end of the school week. You wouldn't think pulling boogers out of a plastic male skull would push students to do better, but it has, and it does. Invest!

3. Extra school supplies and snack foods

In a perfect world, all students would have what they need. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case. Nothing is more embarrassing to a student than not having what their peers do. Poverty and hunger are definitely barriers to learning and there is no getting around that. As school counselors, we must not only assess barriers but do what we can to help! Extra spiral notebooks, paper, pencils, pens, crayons, colored pencils, highlighters, etc are imperative. In my school district, a local organization donates these materials. If your district doesn't have such resources, contact local churches and non-profit organizations and see if they'd be willing to help!

This goes doubly for food. If you're lucky enough to work at a Title I school, then breakfast and lunch is paid for by the school. However, that isn't always the case. While it may not be possible to provide full lunches to students, it is possible to supplement small snacks for tiny lunches. I suggest things like granola bars, fruit snacks (wow, kids go bananas over these!), mini muffins, and bags of pretzels or chips. Personally, when I'm hungry I can barely adult....let alone having to do math and learn about cell respiration. Do what YOU can to ensure student success.

4. Art supplies (crayons, colored pencils, markers, construction paper, scissors, and computer paper)

Some students don't want to talk about what is bothering them, and that is completely okay. Sometimes students would prefer to draw or doodle about them- ALLOW it! As a counselor it isn't necessarily important that you learn every detail of their issue, what is important is that it is processed for the student.

I worked with one student who rarely ever spoke. If he did speak, I was forced to leaning an inch from his mouth just to hear what he was saying. When he was upset he preferred to draw about it. Man, did those drawings paint the most...heartbreaking story. To this day, I still don't know exactly what happened to the student or why he was so sad, but drawing about them for a little while always seemed to put him in the right mental space to get back to class and get his customary A's.

I will caution that since we are not licensed art therapist, that is important not to analyze their work too hard. You will make mistakes, you will get it wrong. If a student is willing to verbalize their feelings, ASK them what it means to them. That way, you aren't making assumptions on a technique you aren't familiar with. I like to use the Mandala Project which can be found at the following link: http://www.arttherapyblog.com/art-therapy-ideas/healing-with-mandala-art-a-multi-cultural-idea-worth-exploring/#.Wushr4gvzIU .

5. If your school can manage it- A BILLBOARD!

At the elementary level, guidance lessons only happen about once a month. Since most small children have the attention spans of fruit flies, it helps to use billboards as a reminder of that month's guidance lesson. If that month's lesson is on friendship and you did a 1st-5th grade lesson on Friendship Soup, make sure you make a Friendship Soup billboard to remind children of the recipe for a healthy friendship!

If you plan to do this, plan ahead and KEEP UP WITH IT. Don't begin the year strong making a new one each month and then hitting SOL's and completely abandoning the project. Come in early, or stay after if you must. A comprehensive school counseling program mostly lies in the details. Remember that.

6. Where is the Counselor? Sign

In most districts across the United States, elementary schools have one counselor. ONE to approximately 350-500 students. You heard it 1:350-500. As you can imagine, that makes you busier than a one-armed paper hanger. Since you're literally ping ponging around the school adverting this and that crisis, it can be helpful to have a "Where is the Counselor Sign." These signs can be purchased on Etsy, or if you're artsy, you can create one yourself. That way if a student, admin, or teacher need you, they will know where you're at and how they can locate you.

7. BOOKS!

Most of the students with pervasive emotional and social issues are lagging behind their peers academically as well. Since most of elementary school focuses on reading comprehension, make sure you have a healthy sized small library of books for all reading levels. If possible, add a few bibliotherapy books for students to organically find while they're perusing. Set up an entire book nook chill spot to include a bean bag or two, a rug, and a low lying bookcase that all students can reach.

While this list certainly isn't exhaustive, it's a good start! That's all for now, folks!