Snack Packs
Brief Classroom Guidance Lessons
That REALLY Satisfy!
PRESENTED BY:
Betty White, MEd., LPC-S, CSC
Past-President of TSCA
746 CR 221
Stephenville, TX 76401
kidtools@academicplanet.com
www.kidtools.net
What Do You Do Besides…
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Team meetings
Faculty meetings
RtI Coordinator
504 Coordinator
TAKS Coordinator
Student Council Sponsor
Pick-Up Duty
Parent Educator
Morning Gym Duty
Crisis Intervention
GT Coordinator
Snack Packs
• Are not a substitute for a comprehensive guidance
and counseling plan
• Should complement and coordinate with other
guidance activities
• Allow a busy counselor to get into the classroom or
work with groups of students in an effective manner
• Are easy, efficient, and interesting to students
• Require a minimum of materials and time to present
• Are best done with an “appetizer” and a “dessert”an anticipatory set and a follow up activity for
teachers
Snack Packs Can
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Allow you more contact with groups of students
Increase your visibility to teachers and students
Allow you more flexibility in scheduling
Allow you to be proactive
Allow you to design a curriculum to meet the
unique needs of your school
• Reduce discipline problems
• Increase social skills
• Tie the guidance curriculum to the classroom with
appetizers and desserts
Snack Packs Can
• Improve self esteem and academic achievement for
students
• Allow classroom guidance that does not impact
instructional time significantly
• Give teachers an opportunity to reinforce guidance
concepts
• Allow teachers to connect with the counselor
• Enhance the teacher’s existing curriculum
• Be tailor made for existing difficulties or situations
in a particular grade or classroom
• Provide teachers will additional materials for social
and emotional learning
Polishing Our Manners
• Objective: Students will understand what manners
are, why manners are important, and how we
“polish our manners” by practicing them.
• Ingredients: White Board or Chalk Board, markers
or chalk, die cut letters, paper for older students
with acronym “PRETTY SHINY” spelled down the
side
• Appetizer: Label a piece of chart paper “Rude”
and “Polite”. Have students either dictate or write
actions in each column.
• Dessert: Carry stars around and pass them out to
students who are exhibiting a pretty shine
throughout the weeks to follow the lesson.
You Can’t Go Back
• Objective: Students will understand that when hurtful words
are spoken, even apologizing and making a positive statement
is not enough for things to go “back to normal”
• Ingredients: Paper cut out of a person about 18 inches high),
tape
• Appetizer: Pass out up arrows (green) and down arrows(Red)
to students, and have them write or dictate one thing that
someone could say that would make them feel better and one
thing that someone could say that would make them feel
worse. These can be posted around the room.
• Dessert: Keep paper person cutouts on hand in the classroom
for students to record compliments. Each compliment should
be labeled with the giver, the receiver, and the compliment,
and posted on the bulletin board.
Arm in Arm
• Objective: Cooperation. Students will understand how
cooperation leads to better outcomes in certain situations
than competition does.
• Ingredients: Students
• Appetizer: Have teacher read a story about cooperation
(or the lack of it), such as “The Little red Hen” by
Galdone or “A Chair for My Mother” by Williams, and
discuss the roles of the characters as they relate to
cooperation.
• Dessert: As a science or math lesson, the teacher can
give groups of students 20 toothpicks and a glob of clay
to build a structure that will support a cup half full of
water at least 2 inches off the table.
I Won’t Make Things Harder for Myself
• Objective: Students will understand that smoking and
drinking alcohol or taking illegal drugs have effects on their
bodies that will make it harder for them to do everyday things.
• Ingredients: Plastic coffee stirring sticks (cut in half), plastic
straws (cut in half), loose cotton gloves (you can buy these in
12 packs at hardware stores), small, wrapped candies like
Starburst (clear with the nutrition police!)
• Appetizer: Normal Red Ribbon week activities, or activities
with the DARE officer, MADD, etc.
• Dessert: Have the students compare and contrast how they
take care of their bodies to the things their parents do to take
care of their homes or cars. For example,” My parents take the
car to the carwash so it is clean on the outside. I take a bath or
shower every day to make sure I am clean, and I put on clean
clothes. “ This can be in writing for older students, oral for
younger students
Tools of the Trade
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Objective: To introduce students to the tools needed in the world
of work and allow them to understand some of the tasks
performed with the tools.
Ingredients: Shoeboxes filled with small tools as follows: Office
Workers-stapler, pencil, ruler, tape, computer disc Restaurant
Worker- Spoon, spatula, small pan, silverware, bowl
Construction Worker- Hammer, screw driver, nail, pliers, tape
measure Gardener/Florist- trowel, clippers, flower pot, florist
wire, vase Health Care Worker- mask, rubber gloves,
stethoscope, blood pressure cuff Educator- small black or white
board, chalk or markers, eraser, pointer, red pencil, computer disc
(Create other boxes as you see fit)
Appetizer: Post pictures of backhoe, stove, computer, lawn etc.tools that relate to career areas that are too large to bring to class.
Caption this: “ How are These Alike?”
Dessert: Have a person from each of the “boxes” above either
come to the class and talk with the students, or make a brief video
to be shown to the students.
Ballooning Stress
• Objective: Students will gain an understanding of what
stress is, how some stress can be good, how too much
stress can be harmful, and how they can alleviate stress.
• Ingredients: Balloons, permanent markers, toothpicks
• Appetizer: Have students brainstorm things that cause
them stress. Write these down for younger students, or
have older students write them themselves.
• Dessert: Have students create a Bulletin Board with
stress balloons cut from paper and stress buster pins
(map tacks) sticking in each balloon with a tag giving
one way to alleviate that particular stress. (Example:
Stressing out over tests- Buster- Studying thoroughly
and practicing ahead of time.)
Getting to Goal
• Objective: Students will learn what a goal is, and learn
how setting a goal and getting feedback on performance
can help them achieve that goal.
• Ingredients: Mailing dots
• Appetizer: Have students respond, either verbally or in
writing, to the prompt, “Someday, I want to…..”
• Dessert: Have each student respond again to the
“Someday I want to” prompt with a at least three steps
they can utilize to achieve that plan. A particularly
effective way to do this is to set a time limit, be very
specific about the goal, and check back to see who has
achieved their goals. The whole class can set a goal
together, and use a bulletin board with a mountain them
to illustrate the steps towards that goal.
Magic Words
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Objective: Positive Communication Skills. Students will be able
to differentiate between “stinky” words (put downs) and “good
smelling “ (put ups) words
Ingredients: 2 oatmeal cans, taped together bottom to bottom
and covered with paper, paper cut-outs in the shape of fish or
skunks with negative statements on them, and paper cut-outs
in the shape of flowerswith positive statements on them.
Appetizer: Monitor the halls for several days and write down
examples of communication between students that is positive
and negative. Write them on a poster and leave it in the
classroom before the activity. Alternatively, have students give
examples of things people have said to them (without naming
names) that make them feel better or worse.
Dessert: Provide die cuts in the classroom to allow students to
write down “stinky” words and “sweet” words they hear
throughout the next few days. Alternatively, let the teacher
give the students die cuts when he/she hears “stinky” or
“sweet” words.
Making a SLERT
• Objective: Students will notice and focus on their own
skills and abilities at home, at school, and with their
friends.
• Ingredients: Paper (marked into thirds), labeled Home,
School, Friends, scissors, pencils, markers, craft materials
• Appetizer: In class, provide students with craft materials,
(or crayons or markers). Tell the class, “We are going to
make a creature today called a SLERT. No one has ever
seen one, but each of you has several SLERTs. Everyone’s
SLERT looks a little different.” Have students complete
SLERTs and put them on a bulletin board.
• Dessert: After students have posted SLERTs, the teacher
can return to the bulletin board and have other students
describe SLERTs for students that they have not thought
of. This is a great way to reinforce giving compliments and
“positive noticing”.
We Are Alike-We Are Different
• Objective: Respecting Diversity. Students will understand
that while people are alike in many ways, they are
different, too.
• Ingredients: Students, words to “Alike and Different” song,
index cards
• Appetizer: Introduce the concept of diversity by having the
teacher illustrate a Venn diagram (Math!!) using one circle
labeled girls and one labeled boys. Each circle should list
qualities found only in girls or boys in the class that day
(hair in ponytails, dresses, earrings, painted nails, etc.),
while the overlap lists characteristics all students share.
• Dessert:
• Provide teachers with a list of traits to have students graph
similarities and differences between class members.
Skill Steps
• Objective: Students will learn what a skill is, that a skill has
steps, and that only when all steps are followed can the skill be
performed well. This lesson is best done at the very beginning
of the year, as you introduce classroom guidance lessons.
• Ingredients: Loaf of bread, peanut butter, jelly, knife, paper
plate (for demonstration)
• Appetizer: Write the word SKILL on a bulletin board or
poster board in the classroom the week before the lesson is to
be performed. Have students write brief responses to the word
throughout the week.
• Dessert: Leave ideas for the teacher to have the students write
or work together (if they are too young to write) describing the
steps in some classroom procedure or activity. Even though a
“How To” paper is no longer a TAKS prompt, this is still a
valuable exercise in both organizing a paper and learning the
steps for a skill.
TATTLING OR REPORTING?
• Objective: Students will distinguish between tattling or
reporting, and understand when it is appropriate to report
and when someone should handle it themselves.
• Ingredients: Book “A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue”,
manila paper cut long ways into thirds, markers or crayons,
scissors, glitter, glue
• Appetizer: Have the teacher post a tally of tattling and
reporting incidents for the week before the lesson. This is
done by simply placing tally marks in the appropriate
column, without judgment.
• Dessert: Teachers can reinforce appropriate reporting by
using “Reporter” rewards to reward students who report
appropriately. You can assist teachers by providing them
with language to use when tattlers tattle, such as “Go back
and tell him to stop.” “Use your words” etc.