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Counseling

Pamela Keller

 

Pamela Keller

Counselor

Services Offered

Counselor Lessons in Classes

  • I visit every class every month
  • 15-30 minute lessons
  • Topics include friendship skills, bullying prevention, and managing stress

Group Counseling

  • Permission form signed by parent/guardian is required
  • Learning life skills with other students
  • Students recommended by teachers or families

Individual Counseling

  • Permission form signed by parent/guardian is required
  • Short-term (6-8 weeks) 
  • Teaching skills one-on-one
  • Common topics
    • Managing emotions 
    • Student strengths
    • Positive self-view

March 

This month we are exploring careers and ways to train for them! For the younger kids, we read Clothesline Clues to Jobs People Do and drew on our own clothesline clues of jobs we want to do. Third-graders explored Career Town and selected some job interests and disinterests. Fourth-graders learned "How to Train for a Job" and played Career Bingo with college/career prizes. Fifth- and sixth-graders took a career interest inventory and connected jobs they were interested in to personal interests and school classes; then we had a drawing for college/career swag!

Clothesline Clues to Jobs People Do by Andy Robert Davies book cover with clothes on a clothesline

 

 

Cartoon of children dressed as different careers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I create my lessons based on what parents, teachers, and students say are the most important needs for academic success. Here is what we've been learning about this year, month by month:

August

Growth Mindset: This is believing that you can learn, that your efforts matter, and that mistakes help us learn. Your intelligence and talent can increase through effort. We practiced having a growth mindset by writing a growth mindset card to ourselves to encourage a good start to the year!

September

Friendship: Kindergartners through 2nd grade read Should I Share My Ice Cream? and came up with their own ideas of ways to be a good friend by sharing. Older student learned about relational aggression - what it is, how to avoid it, and how to be a true friend.

October

Bullying Prevention: All grades reviewed what bullying is and isn't. Students learned we can help prevent bullying by being "upstanders." Upstanders stand up for those who need help rather than just watching what's happening.

November

Empathy: Understanding what another person may be feeling will help us have better friendships and solve problems.

December

Positive Self-Talk: Listen to your inner coach - the voice inside that believes you can do hard things, the voice that motivates you instead of cutting you down. We talked about "flipping" our thoughts like a pancake: replacing negative, unhelpful thoughts with more positive, motivating thoughts.

January

Stress Management and Coping Skills: Kindergarten through 4th grade worked on their coping skills by practicing research-backed strategies like mindfulness, guided meditation (cozy cabin or dancing snowflakes), breathing exercises (hot cocoa breathing!), and yoga. The oldest grades (5th and 6th) played a coping skills game show where they had to come up with their own ideas.

February

Conflict Resolution: We played games, read books, and did group activities that required us to brainstorm solutions to conflicts. Students learned new ways to solve conflicts and practiced making a compromise.