Setting Up the School Counseling Office

We received free product to facilitate this post. No other compensation was received. 

All opinions expressed are our own.

School starts next week and the counseling office is ready for visitors!

My role as a school counselor started partway through last school year so although I did what I could to make the space my own, I really didn't put too much time or energy into it until this summer. I reflected on the year and gave some thought to what was really needed in this space. I reflected on the things my students struggle with and what they are looking for when they visit me. I am so pleased with how this safe space has turned out. It has the perfect combination of peace and fun with some really great tools mixed in. Stay tuned for more posts about the therapeutic games I added to our mix as well as our new flexible seating!

Although I use books a lot in my social skills lunch groups, I find that I don't use them quite as often in individual meetings with students. I think one of the reasons is that neither the student or I think of them when we're meeting! Having student books hidden high on a bookshelf is impractical... we forget about them! As an educator, I love to see students inspired to spend time with books. There are so many good books out there that address the issues we work on so much in the counseling office. I hope that placing books in an accessible, eye-catching spot will encourage us to use these books more often. Classroom Organizer Book Storage Bins were exactly what I needed.

The same Book Storage Bins I'm using for student books are a perfect way to store our coloring sheets too. I have tons of coloring sheets and we use them all the time - some with inspirational quotes, verses, words of encouragement, or favorite animals and designs. They've been stored in file folders in a pile on the shelf. We all know where they are, but making them a little more visible really added to the look and feel of the space. They are welcoming and seeing them makes me want to spend a lot more time in our coloring corner!

I'm also using the Book Storage Bins to store the grown-up books and counseling worksheets on my desk. Even just that extra pop of color makes the space feel more welcoming!

Adding some wall decor this school year was important to me. I've had bare walls - which isn't awful - but it doesn't add anything special to the counseling office. I wanted something special for the walls and when I found these Jumbo What Can I Do Cutouts and these Jumbo How To Be A Friend Letter Cutouts, I knew they were exactly what I needed for this space!

Not only are these colorful, welcoming, and fun to look at, they are perfect to help us work through the issues we address most often in the counseling office. We now have tools, literally right in front of us, that can help us quickly come up with plans to address the hard times and get back to class, and life, more efficiently and effectively. We all benefit from some simple reminders about how to be a good friend and how to solve everyday problems in healthy ways. I received so much good feedback on these at our recent open house and can't wait to see how my students use them on a day-to-day basis once school starts back up next week!

All of these additions to the counseling office were available online through Learn365 by Oriental Trading. I'm always excited at the assortment, quality, and affordability of options there - and I never have to step foot in a store!

Next up... new counseling games and flexible seating! Stay tuned!

Fidget Spinner Counseling Games

We received free product to facilitate this post. No other compensation was received. 

All opinions expressed are our own.

Being a mom to a 6 year old and working in a school, I've experienced the fidget spinner craze in a very real way. When I initially heard of fidget spinners and their use to help ease anxiety and increase focus, I was all in. These are the things I believe in! Sadly, it wasn't long before I found myself banning them during structured social skills groups, and asking students to put them away until free time. I'm not sure if they were more of a distraction for me or for them, but they weren't working the way I envisioned and I was ready for them to go!

Well... I've given the helpfulness of fidget spinners some thought and I've come to the conclusion that with fidget spinners - as with most things - appropriate and structured use is, in fact, a good thing. So, my students will be excited to know that I'm welcoming these little gadgets back into the counseling office with excitement. I have some new games up my sleeve and I can't wait to put them to the test!

* * Fidget Spinner Feelings * *

Fidget Spinner Feelings is a game in which we'll spin the fidget spinner, and use an I-statement to describe a time we've felt a certain way. For instance, if the sticker on the end of the fidget spinner lands on "happy", one might say, "I feel happy when I'm playing games with friends in the counseling office." You could customize this by using a blank pie chart, laminating, and allowing the student to choose some emotions they experience most often and writing them in with a dry erase marker. I've included links to download this game as well as a blank game board below.

Click here to download a free Fidget Spinner Feelings game

Click here to download a free blank game board

* * Fidget Spinner Friend Chat * *

When I have social skills groups with students, I often like to offer some structured conversation starters to our time together. It gives the opportunity to students to get to know each other (and me!) and to practice appropriate social skills such as taking turns, listening, and speaking with peers. Fidget Spinner Friend Chat is perfect for this. Again, we'll place the fidget spinner in the center of the circle, spin, see where it stops, and respond accordingly! You can customize this with questions or sentence starters appropriate for your group. I've included links to download this game as well as a blank game board below.

Click here to download a free Fidget Spinner Friend Chat game

Click here to download a free blank game board

We received our fidget spinners from Oriental Trading. You'll find several fidget spinner options and other fidget toys in stock on their website right now. My favorite are the emoji ones! They are perfect for all the emotions we explore in the school counseling office. 

School Counseling Resources from Oriental Trading

We received free product to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received. 

All opinions expressed are our own.

In October of last year I was presented with the opportunity to take on the role of School Counselor at the school that both my daughters attend. My response came easily! I have a graduate degree in counseling and have worked in numerous different, fairly intense, capacities within the field. I had most recently taken a break from direct care to give my mind and heart a break, but the opportunity to work with students in a setting so important to our family was so exciting!

The role of School Counselor is new in our small private school. Having taken a break from direct care for several years and having never done counseling in a school setting before, I had to do some quick work to remind myself of all my favorite child and adolescent interventions and group activities. I had what I needed to get myself started but was on the lookout for new and fun ways of incorporating mental wellness into a school setting. I was in the market for products that I could add to my new school counseling toolkit!

I guess I'd say I'm pretty creative when it comes to my work with children. My students would tell you that I can turn any game into a counseling or therapeutic game... and they would tell you that my favorite are games with colors!

Take these blocks for example. They are different colors and shapes. As we build with them in the counseling office, we have each color or shape represent a different emotion. For instance maybe blue represents sadness, yellow represents happiness, and so on. Each time we choose that color to build with we share about a time that we've experienced that feeling. I got this set Geometric Connecting Shapes online from Oriental Trading. It was one of several options of building toys. These high quality, plastic shapes connect to each other and you can build every which way with them - up, down and all around. I have several creations displayed in my office right now!

Oriental Trading has more resources for school counselors than you may realize. I was very pleasantly surprised to look online and find a plethora of games, activities, and supplies that would fit perfectly into my work with students.

For group work with students, I love, love, love, love, any type of conversation starter activity. Creative questions or sentence starters are perfect for engaging groups of all ages. Whether I'm meeting with just a couple of students, a lunch group, or an entire classroom, everyone is always well engaged in these activities which include fun, thought-provoking, often outside-the-box ideas!

I've used this Icebreaker Owl Box and Question Card Set with middle schoolers, early elementary students, and everyone in between. It is perfect as a lunch bunch activity but I've used it in the classroom setting as well. There is truly a question for everyone and I love having a cute storage box to keep them all contained. This is much more visually appealing than the handwritten scraps of paper I had been using and I love the creative questions!

These Get to Know Your Class Pocket Dice Cards have sentence starters on them and this fun Pocket Dice with clear sleeves allows you to insert the cards and roll for added fun! This set comes with just the right combination of silly and serious - and there are 100 of them included!

Both students and teachers need brain breaks every now and then. This Classroom Brain Break Activity Dice set is perfect for a rainy day, a standardized testing break, or really any time that something active and different from the mundane might help clear the air. We used this set with first graders this week when it became clear that the task of end of year assessments - on a rainy day with indoor recess - was getting the best of them. Each student had a turn to pick a block and roll it to share an activity that everyone would do together. My favorite was clapping Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, instead of singing it! Some of these activities have a time listed on them so I got a package of 30, 60, 90, 120 Second Sand Timers to go along with this game.

Stress balls are a great addition to the counseling office. They are perfect for those times when students need to refocus their brains. Sometimes they will use them as they talk with me and other times they will use them as they complete their classwork or homework. Oriental Trading has tons of good stress ball options - all different colors, shapes, sizes, and themes. These Mini Neon Smile Face Stress Balls were perfect for us!

I adore these Emotions Dice. How could I not snatch up something so feeling-related?! The set comes with dice with different faces on some and feeling words on the other. It doesn't come with formal game instructions but the possibilities for using these are endless! The facial expressions are fun and relatable and the feeling words are familiar. Perhaps roll the word dice and share about a time you've felt that way - then find the matching face to go with the feeling.

My students were so excited to see these new additions to the school counseling office! I love the quality and creativity of these products and are proud to be able to include them in my work. Tomorrow's our last day of school but I'm already excited for next year's fun!

And by the way - don't you love the little baskets I'm using to organize?! These Round Classroom Storage Baskets come in a set of 12. They are the perfect shape and size for pretty much everything. I highly recommend!

You can find all sorts of school counseling and classroom supplies on the Oriental Trading website. Stock up now for next year!