A Day Without Accomplishing a Thing in Group is a Day Wasted

Today in group, the lesson was on problem-solving! Last time, we reviewed all the steps we've learned to identify how we're feeling, know how our body feels, and ways to calm down--all of which the kiddos have to do first before they can problem solve. Today's lesson was mostly based off of Skill #30 in Skillstreaming in Early Childhood. The boys would be thinking of different choices they could make in a certain situation, picking a "good" choice, then talking about how they would carry that out. Sounds great, right?

I felt like this, only with clothes and
without the sweet hat.

Wrong. Group was pretty much a waste.

Today was the class's first day with a new student who is going to be very challenging. He is brand new to our building and his grandma and mom came in before he arrived to let us know what a terror he is. Awesome, you know things are going to be stellar when you get the "he's terrible" talk two weeks before he arrives. Well, little L arrived in a wind storm of crazy, and swept all the other boys into his tornado of nuts.

Pretty much all we were able to accomplish today was talking out different choices we could make in the situations in the Skillstreaming book. L was so off-task and distracting (crawling on the floor, playing in the sink, pulling math manipulatives off the shelves, playing with a yard stick), the other munchkins couldn't focus for very long. We'll have to chock this one up to experience and work harder next time. To stay in line with School Psychology Awareness Week, my strength for today was knowing when to walk away.

And I did... really quickly.



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Celebrating Connections with Kids, One Tasty Lego Block at a Time

Here it is, my School Psychology Awareness Week (SPAW) project! In order to go along with the theme of "Every Link Matters, Make the Connection," here's what I got up to this evening to celebrate.

I bought Lego candy blocks to represent the links that we make with our students (okay, reaching, but you know you love it). They were surprisingly tasty--lime, banana, blue raspberry, and fruit punch of some kind.

Each little baggie got a tag to commemorate the momentous week of SPAW.

I filled each baggie with 1/4 cup of Lego blocks. Here are 67 baggies waiting to be tied with ribbon! They're all anxiously awaiting their appearance on my blog in the background.

Here's the final product. A big thank you to Fiance to buying me ribbon when I realized we had none at home, and for helping tie the baggies.

Hopefully this will be a little pick-me-up for the staff and me after the crazy two weeks I've been having! What did you do for School Psychology Awareness Week? Did you invite your principal to lunch?

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Invite Your Principal to Lunch

With School Psychology Awareness Week (SPAW) starting on Monday, November 14th, I'm curious to see what other professionals out there are doing! Last year, I told mini-stories that went along with each of the areas children are encouraged to "SHINE." This year, I'm doing a little something in the building... more to come. :)

What are you doing in your building to commemorate this momentous week (ha)? If you don't have an idea yet, I would like to pass along one from the New York Association of School Psychologists (NYASP), of which I'm a board member. NYASP is encouraging psychologists around the state to "Invite Your Principal to Lunch." Here's a memo regarding the event:

Make the Connection

In concert with National School Psychology Awareness Week, school psychologists in New York will be inviting their educational leaders to lunch. NYASP President, Peter Faustino, says, "What better way to share our mutual vision than for student achievement than to share a meal together?" During the week of November 14th, school psychologists are encouraged to do the following:

1. Schedule a time to meet with your building principal.
2. Order in, bring something to share, or simply eat together in your office.
3. During lunch, take the opportunity to highlight the variety of domains of your practice (outlined in the NASP Practice Model) and consider how particular domains may be applicable to the building's success.
4. Thank your principal for his/her leadership.
5. Report to NYASP [or your own state's organization] and tell them how it went.

Please share your stories of what you did for SPAW, and how it went! Look for an upcoming post regarding my activities.
 
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Today is a Good Day to...

This week was School Psychology Awareness Week, and the theme this year was “Today is a Good Day to… SHINE.” I emailed my psychologist colleagues a few weeks ago to see if anyone was doing something in their buildings to commemorate. After all, we have secretary’s day, teacher’s day, etc, why not a whole week to help educate and celebrate our profession and the awesome kids we work with?! Unfortunately, my colleagues were not inspired. One psychologist replied to my mass email (yep, I’m spamming your inbox) by saying that “people know [him] by the work [he] does every day.” True story.

I put up the “SHINE” poster that the National Association of School Psychologists sent out on a bulletin board in our hall, but am not doing anything special this year. Maybe next year I’ll be able to plan something.  In the meantime, I want to “shine” some light on the good/cute things going on in my building by writing a few blurbs for some of the ways NASP encourages students to “SHINE”: 

Smile

See my blog post about my student and homeroom of the month duties.  

Play

A. often comes down to my office right before lunch and at the end of the day to check-in. On his behavior plan, if he has had a good morning, he is rewarded with a positive call home at those times. Unfortunately, A.’s mom’s cell phone was recently disconnected, so he was unable to make his phone call home one day. He was about ready to blow his top, but I offered to teach him to play Uno as his reward instead. He loved it, and we played four or so games before he had to head back to his class. It was a wonderful break for me to get to play games (awesome), and helped him to hold it together! 

Laugh

As a member of my building’s Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) team, we are often called on to teach and refresh the faculty on how PBIS works in our building and how to handle behavior problems. Last night, I stayed after school with the team to film skits showing a major offense (student having a weapon) and a minor offense (horseplay in the halls). Let me tell you, there is nothing funnier than 7 adults hamming it up pretending to be rowdy kids. I can’t wait until we show the videos at our faculty meeting next week! 

Ask a Question

On my desk is a picture of Boyfriend and I on our vacation to Cedar Point Amusement Park this past June. The picture was taken after we rode Top Thrill Dragster, a massive “strata-coaster” with a racing theme.  Behind us is a drag racing car. Virtually every male student that has come into my office this year, after seeing the photo, has excitedly blurted out, “IS THAT HIS CAR?!” Yes, children, he drives a hot rod to the office every day… and gets excellent gas mileage to boot! 

Say “Thank You”

Every morning, I have an AM duty. There is a girl in 1^st grade that has narcolepsy, and she has an aide for personal safety. Because her aide is has a different duty during breakfast, I take her to breakfast and stay with her until her teacher picks her up at the start of the day. There are four classes of 1^st graders in the breakfast room in the morning, which you can imagine gets a little crazy! This morning, I saw one of the best displays of manners by a 6-year-old ever (or maybe, since they are still learning, I was just blown away that this gentleman had it down). A little boy came up to me, waited until I was available, then politely said, “Excuse me, would you please open my juice?” When I did, he said “thank you,” and I praised him from here to Sunday for his excellent manners.  

Be Proud

I’m feeling more and more confident in my job every day! 

Make a Friend

One of the students who “checks-in” with me twice a day for behavior came to the office one day before lunch with an office write-up and tears in her eyes. A. had been having difficulty with a girl in her class, K., with some relational aggression and general not niceness. I called both the girls down for a peer mediation, and it turns out that K.’s way of joking around was more aggressive than A. was expecting, which she took to mean that K. didn’t like her or want to be her friend. Once it was all out on the table, and K. understood why A. was upset, the two agreed they wanted to be friends. Earlier this week I passed them in the hall smiling and laughing with one another. Put another tally mark in my column!

School Psychology Awareness Week

Happy School Psychology Awareness Week! Let the party begin... no one outside of the profession will know what is going on!