Welcome Back!

August 14, 2015:

Dear Gracemor and Fox Hill Parents,

We hope you and your family had a happy and safe summer and are now in the swing of things with school.  This year, I have the opportunity to work at two wonderful schools: Gracemor Elementary and Fox Hill Elementary! Both schools will have two counselors. Kirsten Muller is one of Gracemor's Elementary Counselors. She also serves as an e-Campus instructor. She has grades 3, 4, and 5.  I (Jennifer Bagby) am the other counselor at Gracemor on Monday and Wednesday-Friday and I have grades K-2. I am at Fox Hill on Tuesdays with one kindergarten class (Redshaw), one first grade class (McKeefery), two second grade classes (Foreman, Albaugh), and one fourth grade class (Tomlinson). Cindy Harkins is the full time counselor at Fox Hill.

• I am from Kansas City and am so happy to be back! (Go Chiefs!)
• I went to the University of Missouri-Columbia (Go Tigers!) for my undergraduate degrees. My majors were Spanish and Psychology. 
• After MIZZOU, I completed the school counseling graduate program at Stephens College in Columbia. 
• This is my second year as a school counselor! 

As the Gracemor and Fox Hill Counselors, we will structure our day within the frameworks of the Missouri Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program.  The program provides four basic program components:  Guidance Curriculum (K-5 – weekly classroom counseling lessons), Individual Student Planning (assessment, academic assistance, behavior plans, etc.), Responsive Services (small groups, individual counseling, crisis counseling, etc.), and System Support (in-services, program management, program evaluation, parent, faculty and building support).

The curriculum is divided into three content areas: Personal and Social Development, Academic Development and Career Development.  The Missouri Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program, the district curriculum, and other materials will be used for classroom and small group presentations with students.   Some of the topics discussed during groups will be: Self Awareness, Decision Making, Feelings, Social Skills, Careers, Study Skills and more.  The Gracemor and Fox Hill Counseling Program will also support the school-wide Positive Behavior Support Program. 

We are looking forward to having a great year and hope to meet many of you in the near future.  If we can be of assistance to you, please contact my counseling office at 816-321-4077.

Sincerely,         

Jennifer Bagby (M- Gracemor, T-Fox Hill, W-F- Gracemor)

Kirsten Muller (M -F- Gracemor)
Cindy Harkins (M-F- Fox Hill)                                                              

     

Working Together

My how time flies! It is hard to believe that the end of the year is quickly approaching. We have had a blast this week with our counselor lessons in first grade. In first grade, we discussed the importance of working together in a group. To begin the lesson, I read the book, Teamwork Isn’t My Thing and I Don’t Like to Share! By Julia Cook. Julia Cook is a former school counselor and give great insight to kids struggling with various topics. In this book, RJ, the main character, does not want to work as a team…he would rather work alone! Toward the end of the book, however, RJ realizes that sharing some of the work with his teammates makes his part easier!

In order to see how well each class worked together in groups, I assigned each student a number, which represented a color. For instance, #1s were red and could only use a red crayon to color their picture. Each picture, however, had several different numbers on it. In order for the students to get their pictures fully colored, they had to politely ask another number to color that part of their picture for them. After the activity, we got together and discussed how working together and sharing work can sometimes be hard and sometimes it can be easy. 

Questions the students answered after the activity were:

1.     What was the hardest thing about sharing your work and getting your picture colored?

2.     Did some people work harder than others? (Don’t mention names)

3.     Did others ask you politely for your help?

4.     Did you try to do neater or messier work for someone else than you would have done for yourself?

5.     Why do you think it is important to share work?

This activity was SO fun and sparked really great conversation! The first graders really got the hang of asking a teammate to politely help color their picture. I am so proud of them! J

Have a great weekend and rest of the school year!

-Mrs. Bagby

You Can Be What You Want To Be

I have returned teaching lessons to Kindergarten this week. Like with first and third grade, we have kept our focus on career development. The kids love learning about different career paths and career possibilities. To start the lesson, I showed the kids a video clip of small potatoes on YouTube. The kids LOVED this video! The message of this video is, “you can be what you want to be,” which the kids may not hear very often.

After I showed the video clip, we spoke briefly about the tools that different people need to do their job. A doctor needs a stethoscope and a construction worker needs a hat. Likewise, a teacher needs a book and a chef needs a mixing bowl. Without those tools, it would be nearly impossible for them to do their jobs well! 

Continuing with the potato theme, the students then created their own job potato head. This is such a fabulous (and free!) resource that I got from teacherspayteachers.com by Counselor 365. The kids had SO much fun with this activity! It was great to see that everyone had a potato head that was unique and different…just like each of them!

Below are a few examples from our activity:

Here is my example of a teacher potato head!

Here is a student example of a teacher potato head!

Here is a student example of a construction potato head!

I have found career development to be such a fun and exciting strand of the Missouri Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program. This was such a fun activity that the kids (and I) really enjoyed. Have a great rest of your week!  J

-Mrs. Bagby

I Can Be Anything!

This has been a very fun week back! We just started our unit on career development, which has proven to be really exciting and full of fun! In kindergarten, we read the books, When I Grow Up by Al Yankovic and I Can Be Anything! by Jerry Spinelli. They are both fantastic books that explore some common and not-so-common careers.

Some of the more common careers explored in both books are firefighter, chef, movie director, investor, museum curator, and teacher.  Some of the not-so-common careers mentioned are snail trainer, gorilla masseuse, pickle inspector, arm pit deodorant tester, and foot model. The kids had a blast with these books (and so did I)! I wanted our kindergarten students to realize that they can be ANYTHING when they grow up. There are SO many options!

The kids then shared ideas of what careers they found interesting. I heard so many wonderful and unique career interests. Some ideas shared were ballerina, babysitter, police officer, actor, dancer, singer, football player, teacher, counselor J, firefighter, scientist, and engineer. Below are examples of what the kids created. They did a fantastic job!

This student wants to be a babysitter when she grows up.

 The kids and I really enjoyed this lesson and look forward to doing it again with kindergarten next year! J

Have a fabulous weekend!

-Mrs. Bagby

I Like Myself!

Happy Wednesday! I continued guidance lessons with kindergarten this week. Our focus was on self-esteem and uniqueness. I began the lesson by reading the book, I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont and illustrated by David Catrow. This book is such a wonderful way to show the students that, even if they have flaws, they are ALL wonderful! I Like Myself! inspires kids to appreciate everything about themselves…on the inside and outside. Without uniqueness, the world would be so boring! 

The students were encouraged to reflect on what they like about themselves. As a class, we came up with a fantastic list of unique traits. Some examples from our list are, “I like my long hair,” “I am smart,” “I like my clothes,” “I am fast,” and “I am funny.” This was a great opportunity for the students to recognize and appreciate similarities and differences between one another. 

For our activity, I used a document by Cheerful Counseling on Teachers Pay Teachers. This is such a great resource! I added a place on the document for students to write their names as well as lines for the students to write about themselves. It was so fun to watch the kids really reflect and realize how great they ALL are! Below are a few examples:

This student likes that she is confident, fast, and strong!

This student likes his hair, Xbox, and the fact that he is smart!

This student likes soccer, her bike, and her clothes. 

This student likes that she is smart!

This was such a fun lesson. I can't wait to do it again for the kindergarteners next year! Have a great rest of your week! :)

-Mrs. Bagby