TCE Counselor News
January 2022
GUIDANCE CURRICULUM PREVIEW - January 10-28
Personal Safety Lessons
Dear Parents and Guardians,
In February your child’s Professional School Counselor will meet with all students about the topic of personal safety. Coppell ISD uses Play It Safe. Play It Safe is a research-based, age-appropriate abuse prevention program.
The purpose of this personal safety presentation is to provide all children with information and practical skills to protect themselves by recognizing, reacting to, and reporting potentially dangerous situations. Topics that will be addressed vary at each grade level as they consider the child’s age and maturity level.
Our Professional School Counselors are the presenters and will visit with each classroom, K-5, for approximately 30-45 minutes. Stories, puppets, group discussions, and videos are used in the low-key, age-appropriate presentation.
You can obtain more information about the Play it Safe program at the following link: https://playitsafe.org/index.php. Also, feel free to contact your child’s Professional School Counselor if you have any questions.
If you DO NOT want your child to view the Play It Safe Program, please email your campus' Professional School Counselor by Friday, February 4th. Your child’s teacher will make sure that your child goes to an alternate learning environment during the Play It Safe presentation.
If you would like your child to participate in this valuable learning opportunity no further action is needed.
Sincerely,
Anne Lehew, M.Ed., PSC
Coordinator of Counseling and Social Emotional Learning
TCE's counselor is Kelly Matlock. She can be reached at kmatlock@coppellisd.com.
GREAT PARENTING READS
Teach Your Children Well by Madeline Levine
Parents, educators, and the media wring their hands about the escalating rates of emotional problems and lack of real engagement with learning found so frequently among America’s children and teens. Yet there are ways to reverse these disheartening trends. Until we are clearer about our core values and the parenting choices that are most likely to lead to authentic, and not superficial, success, we will continue to raise exhausted, externally driven, and emotionally impaired children who believe they are only as good as their last performance.
Confronting the real issues behind why we push some of our kids to the breaking point while dismissing the talents and interests of many others, Levine shows us how to shift our focus from the excesses of hyperparenting and the unhealthy reliance on our children for status and meaning to a parenting style that concentrates on both enabling academic success and developing a sense of purpose, well-being, and connection in our children’s lives
How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish
· Cope with your child’s negative feelings, such as frustration, anger, and disappointment
· Express your strong feelings without being hurtful
· Engage your child’s willing cooperation
· Set firm limits and maintain goodwill
· Use alternatives to punishment that promote self-discipline
· Understand the difference between helpful and unhelpful praise
· Resolve family conflicts peacefully
Enthusiastically praised by parents and professionals around the world, Faber and Mazlish’s down-to-earth, respectful approach makes relationships with children of all ages less stressful and more rewarding.
The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey
In the tradition of Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed and Wendy Mogel’s The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, this groundbreaking manifesto focuses on the critical school years when parents must learn to allow their children to experience the disappointment and frustration that occur from life’s inevitable problems so that they can grow up to be successful, resilient, and self-reliant adults.
Overparenting has the potential to ruin a child’s confidence and undermine their education, Lahey reminds us. Teachers don’t just teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. They teach responsibility, organization, manners, restraint, and foresight—important life skills children carry with them long after they leave the classroom.
Providing a path toward solutions, Lahey lays out a blueprint with targeted advice for handling homework, report cards, social dynamics, and sports. Most importantly, she sets forth a plan to help parents learn to step back and embrace their children’s failures. Hard-hitting yet warm and wise, The Gift of Failure is essential reading for parents, educators, and psychologists nationwide who want to help children succeed.
BOOKS THAT HELP KIDS COPE WITH ANXIETY
You've Got Dragons by Kathryn Cave & Nick Maland
Worries, fears, and anxieties are all dragons that sneak up on most of us at one time or another. Lots of people get dragons. And sometimes they’re hard to get rid of. So what can a young boy with a bad case of the dragons do?
He can pretend they are not there, or that they are really quite harmless. Hugs from his mom help. Looking his dragon straight in the eye at least once every day helps even more. But most reassuring of all is the reminder that dragons don’t stay forever.
Calm Ninja by Mary Nhin
Calm Ninja experiences frustration and anxiety, but then learns how to find inner peace through breathing and practicing the Ninja Yoga Flow.
Children will learn with Calm Ninja how to calm worries and stay peaceful under extreme circumstances. Find out what happens in this comedic book about stress relief.
Life is tough. But so are you!
A Little Spot of Anxiety by Diane Alber
It offers creative strategies for children to help cope with anxiety as well. The goal of this book is to give children the tools needed to identity what emotion they are feeling and how to cope.
2021-2022 Guidance Lessons
Click on the links below to view 2021-2022 lessons, videos, handouts, and other resources.
LESSON ONE: "What Does the Counselor Do?"
Powtoon: The Role of a Counselor
Charles Mortimer Alexander McGee by Maureen Fernandez
The Color Monster by Anna Llenas
LESSON TWO: "My Brain & Feelings"
Your Brain by Heather Bryant and Maureen Fernandez
Sesame Street: Cupcake Breathing
LESSON THREE: "Making Healthy Choices"
Kinder Guidance Lesson: Healthy Choices
1st Guidance Lesson: Yes or No?
2nd Guidance Lesson: What is Peer Pressure?
3rd Guidance Lesson: Escaping Peer Pressure
4th Guidance Lesson: Peer Pressure Refusal Skills
5th Guidance Lesson: Peer Pressure Exit Strategies
Social Experiment: Waiting in Line
LESSON FOUR: "Communication"
Kinder Guidance Lesson: How to Talk to a New Friend
1st Guidance Lesson: Whole Body Listening
2nd Guidance Lesson: Communicating Through Actions
3rd Guidance Lesson: Active Listening
4th Guidance Lesson: More Than Words
5th Guidance Lesson: Communication Styles
Do You Want to Be My Friend by Eric Carle
Elmo Knows How to Listen (Sesame Street)
The Rabbit Listened by Cory Doerfeld
LESSON FIVE: "Perspective"
K-5 Guidance Lesson: Perspective
Kelly Matlock
Email: kmatlock@coppellisd.com
Website: www.coppellisd.com/tce
Location: 185 North Heartz Road, Coppell, TX, USA
Phone: 214-496-7800
Twitter: @TCE_Counselor