School Counselor Updates
For Parents
SUMMARY OF THE PAST SEMESTER
I can't believe that this semester is almost over! It has been another great one here at Clayton Elementary. As a school counselor, one of my duties is guidance lessons. This fall we have had several different themes such as: defining problems, personal body safety, and problem solving, just to name a few. Clayton also has a new part-time counselor, Mrs. Gumbert and a school counseling intern, Ms. Hinch. I will talk more about them later. As a school counselor, we also work with teachers and parents to provide different small groups for each grade. They all have been going really well and we're sad to see them end. Another fun thing we do here at Clayton is our parent book club. This fall we were fortunate enough to have Pam Martin, our Parent SEL Specialist lead us in discussion about "Whole Brain Child" by Dan Siegel. This book taught us different strategies to help our children develop emotionally.
SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO
In the spring there will be another book club and everyone is invited. In guidance lessons, students will be learning about things such as responsible decision making, managing peer pressure, diversity, handling relational aggression as well as exploring career and college readiness. We are also meeting with teachers to determine which small groups will be offered in the spring. on topics such as managing emotions (stress, anger, etc), friendships, and social awareness. Small groups are formed through teacher, parent, or student self referrals. Finally, our 5th graders will be learning more about transitioning to middle school. Gorzycki Middle School Counselors will be visiting with our 5th graders to introduce electives, core subjects, and other important information to our students. As the middle school transition can sometimes be tougher on parents than on the students, Ms. Hinch has shared the following article. Important dates for middle school transition are available on the Clayton Calendar.
TAKE THE SURVEY TO HELP SELECT THE BOOK FOR THE SPRING PARENT BOOK STUDY
Click here to complete our Spring Parent Book Club Survey if you're interested in participating!! Our Spring Book Club will begin in mid January, 2016. Click on the link below to find out more about the options we are considering for our study.
Mrs. Berry, Clayton School Counselor
This is Mrs. Berry's third year serving as a School Counselor at Clayton. Hopefully, your kids know her and her puppet, Sippi, as they visit classrooms regularly. Mrs. Berry worked in the Del Valle School District prior to joining the team at Clayton.
Brooke Hinch, School Counselor Intern
Ms. Hinch is a 2nd year master's student at The University of Texas- Austin. She is getting her degree in School Counseling and will be with us in the spring as well. She graduates from her program in May.
Cynthia Gumbert, Clayton School Counselor
This is Mrs. Gumbert's first year at Clayton. She came to us from Lake Travis ISD. Mrs. Gumbert has been teaching for over 21 years.
"Whole Brain Child" by Daniel Siegel
For those of you who were not able to make it to our parent book club this past fall, you can read a summary of the book here: http://empoweredtoconnect.org/the-whole-brain-child/
Denise Berry
School Counselor
Email: denise.berry@austinisd.org
Website: www.claytoncardinals.org/
Phone: 512-841-9209