Monthly Counselor’s Letter
September 1, 2015
CLASSROOM GUIDANCE LESSONS FOR SEPTEMBER
CLASSROOM LESSONS THIS MONTH WILL INCLUDE MEET
THE SCHOOL COUNSELOR LESSONS. PRE-K WILL GET AN
ACTIVITY WITH MRS. POTATO HEAD AND HOW A
SCHOOL COUNSELOR IS LIKE MRS. POTATO HEAD.
KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS WILL BE READ THE STORY
MRS. JOYCE GIVES THE BEST HI-FIVES BY ERIANNA
WINLETT. WE WILL ALSO DO AN ACTIVITY WHERE
SITUATIONS ARE READ TO STUDENTS AND THEY WILL SAY
2015-2016 School Year is going to be Awesome!
Dear Sherman Elementary School Parents and
Students,
I hope everyone had a great summer
and is excited for another great school
year! I wanted to talk a little bit about
what the school counselor will be
doing in the month of September.
There is a student needs assessment on
the school website that will help
determine rationale for classroom
guidance lessons, small groups, and school
wide projects throughout the school year.
It is very short (only 7 questions).
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SQ32CYX
IF THE PROBLEM CAN BE SOLVED ON THEIR OWN OR IF
THEY SHOULD VISIT THE SCHOOL COUNSELOR.
(IF TIME PERMITS WE MAY WALK TO THE PRINCIPAL’S
OFFICE AND VISIT THE MRS. LOWE, MR. MESSER, MISS
KRISTINA AND MISS CINDY SO THE STUDENTS KNOW
WHO THE HELPERS ARE IN THE BUILDING).
1ST GRADE THROUGH 3RD GRADE WILL BE DOING A LESSON
ABOUT HATS TO GET TO KNOW THE SCHOOL COUNSELOR.
I WILL BRING MANY DIFFERENT HATS AND TALK ABOUT
HOW IMPORTANT WE ALL ARE (WE ARE SOMEONE’S
CHILD, SIBLING, PET OWNERS, STUDENTS ECT.) THEN WE
WILL TALK ABOUT THE HATS OF SCHOOL COUNSELORS
(CAN HELP WITH SOCIAL, ACADEMIC, CAREERS ECT.)
4-6TH GRADES WILL BE DOING A CIRCLE OF IMPORTANCE
LESSON TO SEE WHAT PRIORITIES THEY WILL HAVE FOR
THE SCHOOL YEAR AS WELL AS A TOUCH UP MEET THE
COUNSELOR LESSON.
School Counselors can help
students in three main aspects.
Academic, social emotional, and
learning about college and careers.
The school counseling program is
designed around those three
topics.
Small groups are offered and
permission slips will arrive soon.
K-3RD GRADES WILL ALSO BE GETTING A LESSON ABOUT
THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING THE RULES.
SCHOOL WIDE PROGRAMS

ATTENDANCE MATTERS!!! For the
new school year we will be having
a CAT (Celebration Attendance
Table) at the end of every month in
the dining room. Classrooms will
be competing: grades K-2, grades
3 and 4 and grades 5 and 6
homerooms will be competing for
best attendance. The winners will
get the following Friday to sit at
the CAT table and get to the head
of the lunch line.
SCHOOL WIDE PROGRAMS

FLAGS GROUP
Squeee!
This year the students will be flying
and taking down the flags every
morning and afternoon. Students
that have shown a great amount of
responsibility will be putting up the
flags outside, taking them down
and folding them properly each
day. This program is available to
5th and 6th graders. The students
will hand off to another group of
students that have been selected
at the end of each 9 weeks and will
train their peers. Students will
learn how to keep up with their
schedule, respecting the flags, and
personal responsibility.
SCHOOL WIDE PROGRAMS

Student Advisory Committees.
Last year we had two great
student advisory committees that
helped with selecting activities for
Red Ribbon Week/Drug Awareness
month and Bullying Awareness
month. We would like to continue
this program for this school year as
last year’s group did a fantastic
job.

Love Bags. Each Friday we send
out over 115 love bags with snacks
to help get students through the
weekends. I would like to thank
Mary Browning and the Agape Cloak for
providing these bags to our students each
week! Please remind your student not to open
the bags until they get home from school. If
anyone would like to send donations please
contact me at mslake@k12.wv.us and I will
pass on her information to you.
MULTICULTURALISM in our school is
something that we really want to concentrate
on this year. If parents or students have ideas
please contact me!
OTHER NEWS
I am looking for some parents that would be
interested in being on a school counseling
advisory board. The meetings would be every
9 weeks and should only take about an hour.
With respect, Melissa Lake Douglas M.A.
School Counselor SES
Secretary WVCA