Counselor's Chronicle

Monthly Newsletter

The Quest for Crest

Recently, the Straus Counseling Department was honored with the CREST Award. The CREST Award is Counselors Reinforcing Excellence for Students in Texas (CREST). It is sponsored by the Texas School Counselor Association (TSCA) and awarded to school counseling programs that meet CREST requirements.


CREST recognizes exemplary programs in Texas based on the Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling as adopted by TEA in 2018. The award indicates campus and counselor leadership and advocacy for serving students and the school community. Our campus was one of 37 schools in Northside to earn this award

Big picture

Course Request Changes for Next Year

If you have a course change request for the 2023-2024 school year, please complete the Course Request Changes . This form is for students who will be coming to Straus for the 2023-2024 school year (rising 6th, 7th, and 8th graders). If we are unable to make a change, we will contact you to let you know and give you other available options . Please keep in mind that classes do fill up, and we can not guarantee that your child will get their first choice.


If you are wanting to make a change for your child who will going to high school, please contact the high school to make a change.

Big picture

Important Dates

March 10: Mega Food Bank, 9 - 10:30 a.m., Gus Stadium

March 10: National Social & Emotional Learning Day

March 12: Daylight Saving Time (turn clocks ahead 1 hour)

March 13-17: Spring Break (schools/offices closed)

March 25: Los Leones Student Arts Festival, 9 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., Marshall HS

Mega Food Bank Distribution

Friday, March 10th, 9am

7001 Culebra Road

San Antonio, TX

Northside ISD continues to host Mega distributions at Gus Stadium. Families should arrive at the stadium entering the drive at the traffic light on Culebra Rd no later than 9:45 am, gates close at 10:30 am. Registration link will close once 1500 families have registered. Registration fills very fast!


Registration

Guidance Greatness

Sixth Grade:

This month's guidance lesson will focus on how to manage stress. Students will be rotating through different stations where they will learn about the physical signs of stress, how stress impacts the brain and techniques for dealing with stress.


Seventh Grade:

Our focus in 7th grade will be on positive self-talk. We will discuss the difference between positive and negative self-talk and how our self-talk impacts self-esteem. Students will gain a better understanding of how they can combat automatic negative thoughts and create a strength stone with a positive message.


Eighth Grade:

Our 8th grade students will be learning about what it means to be resilient. Students will do a self-paced lesson where they work through a playlist of different activities designed to give them an understanding of what it means to be resilient. Students will walk away with a Crayon Resist Art Creation to take home as a reminder of the lesson.

Big picture

Parent Pointers: Supporting Teens as They Pull Away

As your teen navigates middle school, they are trying to figure out who they want to be. Teens are trying out news ways of existing in this effort to figure out who they are. Through this process, you may start to see a shift where their friends become more important to them than you.


All parents go through this! You may even question how to maneuver through this change in their priorities and how to support them as they grow apart from you. The following article from Natural High gives great parent advice on how to support your child as they start to pull away. Please read the full article for more information, Supporting Teens as They Pull Away

Attendance Recovery

Please keep in mind that attendance recovery is available for any student enrolled in a high school credit class and needing to make up time due to excessive absences. Students enrolled in a year long course can not miss more than 18 days and students enrolled in a semester course can not miss more than 10 days. Missing more than the allotted days means that the student would be in jeopardy of losing credit for the course regardless of the grade. See the flier below which shows for more information about attendance recovery.
Big picture

Self-Care Corner

Self-Care helps to reduce anxiety and depression, reduce stress, and frustration. In addition, it also increases energy and happiness and improves overall mental health. Below are some ideas for including self-care in your daily life that won't take much time to implement.
Big picture
Big picture

Leigh Davis-Head Counselor

leigh.davis@nisd.net

210-398-2578


Heather Callihan

heather.callihan@nisd.net

210-398-2577


Amber Haby

amber.haby@nisd.net

210-398-2577

Big picture
Big picture
Big picture
Big picture
Big picture