Welcome Back to School List for School Counselors

I hate to be the one to wake you up from your poolside slumber, but it’s time to wake up and smell the Ticonderoga pencils! Back to school lists are littering our stores like trash on the day after the Super Bowl. From preparing classrooms to creating introduction lessons, it seems like the back to school to-do lists can be endless. To make it easier on you, we have created a Welcome Back to School List for School Counselors.

Welcome Back to School Anxiety

Trust us, some of your students WILL have back to school anxiety. Go ahead and order these books, and thank us later. I keep The Invisible String within 10 feet of me at all times! This book is so helpful when talking to students who are missing their family members. I also keep a box of yarn. When we get to the end of the book, I let students cut a piece of yarn and keep it with them to ease their back to school anxiety.

This is another great book to have on hand. It personifies the school building and details the different types of anxiety the school feels in preparing for school. This would be wonderful to use with students to add a little humor to some shaky nerves. And don’t forget to take care of your own anxiety, too!

Welcome Back to School Activities

Speaking of easing nerves and anxiety… this is one of our new favorite lessons to use with little ones. This might be the first time some of our kindergarten students have ever left their families! This cute lesson compares our nervousness with how new puppies feel in different situations. Not only that, but this lesson has photo booth props, and puppy snack signs that would be great to have on parent involvement night or a Welcome Back to School event. One of the greatest things about this Puppy lesson is that it has a related End of the Year lesson with awards. We’ve added some links to Amazon below some of these ideas. Just so you know, we are Amazon affiliates. If you make a purchase using these links, it’s no extra cost to you, we just get a little commission. We have only included items that we have bought or things we plan on buying when we do these lessons. Happy shopping!

Check out these “pawsome” related items that would enhance your puppy pawty!

School Counselor Introduction

Counselor Camp-Out

This is something we do every year, and each year I get more and more excited to do this meet the counselor powerpoint and activity. This year I will be doing a Counselor Camp-Out with my younger grades. This powerpoint and activity compares camp-outs with the role of the school counselor. It covers everything from confidentiality to scary situations where you might need to talk with the counselor. Plus, I am SO excited about doing a room transformation for this! Can you see it now?! All of my littles sitting around my “campfire?!” Check out some of the items we are using for our room transformation:

These camping props will help create an exciting atmosphere for your students!

Let’s Taco ‘Bout the Counselor

This lesson is such a fun way to introduce the role of the counselor. The lesson uses the parts of a taco to discuss what a counselor does. Throughout the lesson the students assemble a taco and write about the different ways a counselor can help students. This lesson also comes with a pre-test/post-test so that you can easily collect perception data. This lesson will most definitely make us hungry!

Add these fiesta decorations to set the tone for your meet the counselor lesson!

Meet the Counselor Hollywood Lesson

This is another lesson we are so excited about doing! We can’t wait to make the students feel like superstars! This meet the counselor powerpoint and introduction compares the parts of producing a movie with the role of the counselor. It also has a pre-test and post-test, and it has a ticket to see the counselor. Students will learn about confidentiality, small groups, academic, personal/social, and career requirements of a school counseling program.

Roll out the red carpet for your students and make this lesson one they remember forever!

Cactus-themed Meet the Counselor Lesson

This is a favorite of ours. Our students LOVED the cactus lesson and talked about it for months! This lesson covers those “sticky situations” that sometimes require a student to talk with a counselor. A powerpoint guides the discussion and the included vocabulary cards emphasize some of the important parts. The referral cards make it easy to keep up with the students who need to speak with you.

Back to School Nights

At our schools we have Open House nights, Meet the Teacher and other Back to School events. This is a great opportunity to promote your program among your stakeholders by sharing materials that show what you do. Consider creating a brochure that talks about the classroom lessons you have done or plan on doing. Talk about some of the small groups you like doing. If you have been doing this for a year or 2, you know that having a data driven counseling program is important. What data can you include? Process and perception data is a great starting point. Just a refresher: process data tells which student group, how many students, and what method you used to reach them. Perception data shows the students’ belief about what they learned from the activity. Each of the lessons and small groups we do throughout the year include pre-tests and post-tests.

Welcome Back to School Bulletin Boards

Bulletin boards are a great way to spread your message without saying a word! This is something you can do before school actually starts. We like to tie bulletin boards into our annual goal for the year, which has been attendance. Students have loved our slime-themed bulletin board! Let’s be honest… students love slime! So we are using that trend to reach our students. (It’s working, by the way!)
Check out these bulletin board ideas from our friend, Kelly Benefield, who runs “Teaching Fourth.” Some of these are bulletin boards that I did a few years ago!

First Day of School

I plan on getting to school early each day so that I can greet our students on the sidewalk when they get off the bus or when they exit their car. Last year at my daughter’s school, the administrator was on the sidewalk every.single.morning greeting each student BY NAME, y’all! She stood out there in the rain, sleet, snow, and hail! Shout out to all of you who are already doing this. You’re the real MVPs! I’ve been inspired to do this. Mornings are tough. You never know if you might be the only smile a student has gotten that morning!

What else is on your to-do list this year? We love sharing ideas and learning how you prepare, too! And just in case no one else has told you: you are SO important. Thank you for what you do each day!