The November Counselor Courier
Your monthly message from the elementary school counselors
This Month's Focus
Classroom Guidance Lessons:
Kindness and Compassion
Hippo Way Trait:
Gratitude
Dear Families,
November is a time of giving thanks and being grateful for our abundance. Which is great and all, but what if we're neck-deep in stress and trauma and summoning the energy to be grateful feels too overwhelming and too Pollyanna and makes us want to scream and cry at the same time? Well, Brene Brown has some fantastic words of wisdom (backed by scientific research) about strengthening our gratitude muscles:
The relationship between joy and gratitude was one of the important things I found in my research. I wasn’t expecting it. In my 12 years of research on 11,000 pieces of data, I did not interview one person who had described themselves as joyful, who also did not actively practice gratitude. For me it was very counterintuitive because I went into the research thinking that the relationship between joy and gratitude was: if you are joyful, you should be grateful. But it wasn’t that way at all. Instead, practicing gratitude invites joy into our lives.
Practice is the part that really changed my life, that really changed my family and the way we live every day. When I say practice gratitude, don’t mean “the-attitude-of-gratitude” or feeling grateful, I mean practicing gratitude.
These folks shared in common a tangible gratitude practice. Some of them kept gratitude journals. Some of them did interesting things like at 1,2,3,4 or 12:34 every day they said something out loud that they were grateful for in their lives.
One of things we do as a family is say grace at dinner. And so now, after learning about practicing gratitude, after grace we go around and everyone says something that they are all thankful for.
What’s interesting is, when we first started, I thought my children were going to say, “Oh, mom, are you experimenting on us?” There was a little bit of that. But after we had done this for a couple weeks, even on those crazy, busy nights, when we were trying to get to soccer, piano and homework, if Steve and I said a quick prayer and start eating, my kids were like, “Woah…what are you grateful for?”
It’s not joy that makes us grateful, it’s gratitude that makes us joyful.
It’s been extraordinary because not only does it invite more joy into our house, it also is such a soulful window into what is going on in my kids’ lives. There are some days when my eighth-grader will say, “I’m joyful that there is a huge thick wall between my room and my brother’s room.” She’ll say something very honest. But recently she had a friend whose mother died. For a month she would say, “I’m just so grateful you all are healthy right now.”
Not only did it make us all more aware of what we had and more willing to slow down and really be thankful for the joyful moments we had, but it also let me know where she was emotionally in her life. My son often says, “I’m grateful for bugs.” “I’m grateful for frogs.” But sometimes he’ll say, “I’m grateful that you picked me up early.” Or “I’m grateful that I finally understand adjectives.”
There is a great quote by a Jesuit priest that says, “It’s not joy that makes us grateful, it’s gratitude that makes us joyful.” I guess I was just amazed to see that bubble up in my research so quickly. It’s life changing.
Cheers to practicing gratitude and feeling a small sliver of joy break through in the process.
Gratefully yours,
The Elementary Counseling Team
gratitude activities for kids
Roll the Dice- Kindness Activity
Acts of Kindness List
Acts of Kindness Calendar
mindful moments with ms. baker
hippo way spotlight
- The Thank You Book by Mo Willems
- Thank You Body, Thank You Heart by Jennifer Cohen Harper
- Thanks a Million: Poems by Nikki Grimes
- Don't Say a Word, Mama; No Digas Nada, Mama by Joe Hayes
- Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
- Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message by Chief Jake Swamp
- The Berenstain Bears Count Their Blessings by Stan and Jan Berenstain
- Gracias/Thanks by Pat Mora
- Gratitude Soup by Olivia Rosewood
- Llama Llama Gives Thanks by Anna Dewdney
- Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
- Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
have a laugh!
your elementary counselors
Shannon Baker, NJES
Denise Hartline, HNES
Valerie Kozak, CCES
Jennifer Jennings, HES
Lacy Lovelace, VHES
Eloy Paredes, RES
student services team
Rebecca Heidt- HES, KES, HNES, NJES
Gabby Nanney- VHES, RES, CCES
Resources
In the event of a medical or mental health emergency, please do not email your school counselor.
The following is a list of resources available to you in an emergency:
Williamson County Mobile Outreach Team (MOT) @ 512-864-8277
Bluebonnet Trails Community Services @ 1-800-841-1255
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline @ 1-800-273-8255
911 or the nearest hospital emergency room if you can get there safely
For help accessing local community resources, please reference the following directory providers and local organizations:
NEW - FREE MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING FOR TEXANS: Texas Health and Human Services has launched a 24/7 statewide mental health support line to help Texans experiencing anxiety, stress or emotional challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This new resource offers COVID-19-related mental health support for all Texans. People can call the Statewide COVID-19 Mental Health Support Line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week toll-free at 833-986-1919.
*for more information visit Texas Health and Human Services website
For the most up to date HISD Covid-19 Information, click here.
For HISD Counseling Information for Parents & District Staff, click here