November is about more than turkey.
The holiday many of us celebrate this month is a perfect time of year to talk about and teach gratitude. It’s in the name of Thanksgiving = giving thanks. Here are a few simple ways to instill thankfulness in young children:
Ask your children about the highs and lows of their school day. What went well? What went right? Focus on appreciating the positives.
Thank your children often, even if they do the required chores or activities you requested. Let them know you notice and appreciate their efforts!
Say “thank you” to your spouse, your friends, and your family in the presence of your children.
Generate an attitude of giving. Ask your children to gather and donate old toys or clothes to other children in need.
Encourage your children to write thank you notes to family, friends, teachers, etc.
Point out how others have helped your children – someone holding the door open, a friend helping your child, a teacher giving extra time to ensure your child understood the lesson, etc.
For more information and ideas about teaching your child gratitude, please visit http://www.pbs.org/parents/special/article-ten-ways-raise-grateful-kid.html.
Classroom Counseling Lessons
School counselors work with students in the academic, career, and personal/social areas. This month, counselors taught a lesson in 8th grade on career exploration. Career exploration is a process of learning about oneself and the world of work, identifying potential careers, and developing a strategy for realizing education and career goals. To begin this process, students completed a career exploration survey in their homeroom. The Self-Directed Search (SDS) is a tool that matches your personality, interests, and talents to the best career choices and educational opportunities. It is designed to help students learn more about themselves, provide some insight into the career pathways that might be good fits for them, and help them explore careers beyond their current knowledge base. During this lesson, counselors worked with students to explore their results and then chose 3 career clusters based on their results. Counselors also helped students select 6 careers they want to learn more about at the WMS Career Day in May. There will be more information about Career Day in future newsletters.
Here are the counselor assignments for 8th Grade:
Doug Hauserman - hauserman.douglas@westside66.net - Team 8C
Sarah Lieske - lieske.sarah@westside66.net - Team 8B
Mike McCann - mccann.michael@westside66.net - Teams 8A and 8D
