Snack PacksBrief Classroom Guidance

Lessons That REALLY Satisfy!PRESENTED BY:

Betty White, MEd., LPC-S, CSCPast-President of TSCA

746 CR 221Stephenville, TX 76401

kidtools@academicplanet.comwww.kidtools.net

What Do You Do Besides…• Team meetings• Faculty meetings• RtI Coordinator• 504 Coordinator• TAKS Coordinator• Student Council Sponsor• Pick-Up Duty• Parent Educator• Morning Gym Duty• Crisis Intervention• GT Coordinator

Snack Packs• Are not a substitute for a comprehensive guidance

and counseling plan• Should complement and coordinate with other

guidance activities• Allow a busy counselor to get into the classroom or

work with groups of students in an effective manner• Are easy, efficient, and interesting to students• Require a minimum of materials and time to present• Are best done with an “appetizer” and a “dessert”-

an anticipatory set and a follow up activity for teachers

Snack Packs Can• Allow you more contact with groups of students• Increase your visibility to teachers and students• Allow you more flexibility in scheduling• Allow you to be proactive• Allow you to design a curriculum to meet the

unique needs of your school• Reduce discipline problems• Increase social skills• Tie the guidance curriculum to the classroom with

appetizers and desserts

Snack Packs Can• Improve self esteem and academic achievement for

students• Allow classroom guidance that does not impact

instructional time significantly• Give teachers an opportunity to reinforce guidance

concepts• Allow teachers to connect with the counselor• Enhance the teacher’s existing curriculum• Be tailor made for existing difficulties or situations

in a particular grade or classroom• Provide teachers will additional materials for social

and emotional learning

Polishing Our Manners• Objective: Students will understand what manners

are, why manners are important, and how we “polish our manners” by practicing them.

• Ingredients: White Board or Chalk Board, markers or chalk, die cut letters, paper for older students with acronym “PRETTY SHINY” spelled down the side

• Appetizer: Label a piece of chart paper “Rude” and “Polite”. Have students either dictate or write actions in each column.

• Dessert: Carry stars around and pass them out to students who are exhibiting a pretty shine throughout the weeks to follow the lesson.

You Can’t Go Back• Objective: Students will understand that when hurtful words

are spoken, even apologizing and making a positive statement is not enough for things to go “back to normal”

• Ingredients: Paper cut out of a person about 18 inches high), tape

• Appetizer: Pass out up arrows (green) and down arrows(Red) to students, and have them write or dictate one thing that someone could say that would make them feel better and one thing that someone could say that would make them feel worse. These can be posted around the room.  

• Dessert: Keep paper person cutouts on hand in the classroom for students to record compliments. Each compliment should be labeled with the giver, the receiver, and the compliment, and posted on the bulletin board.

Arm in Arm• Objective: Cooperation. Students will understand how

cooperation leads to better outcomes in certain situations than competition does.

• Ingredients: Students• Appetizer: Have teacher read a story about cooperation

(or the lack of it), such as “The Little red Hen” by Galdone or “A Chair for My Mother” by Williams, and discuss the roles of the characters as they relate to cooperation.

• Dessert: As a science or math lesson, the teacher can give groups of students 20 toothpicks and a glob of clay to build a structure that will support a cup half full of water at least 2 inches off the table.

I Won’t Make Things Harder for Myself• Objective: Students will understand that smoking and

drinking alcohol or taking illegal drugs have effects on their bodies that will make it harder for them to do everyday things.

• Ingredients: Plastic coffee stirring sticks (cut in half), plastic straws (cut in half), loose cotton gloves (you can buy these in 12 packs at hardware stores), small, wrapped candies like Starburst (clear with the nutrition police!)

• Appetizer: Normal Red Ribbon week activities, or activities with the DARE officer, MADD, etc.

• Dessert: Have the students compare and contrast how they take care of their bodies to the things their parents do to take care of their homes or cars. For example,” My parents take the car to the carwash so it is clean on the outside. I take a bath or shower every day to make sure I am clean, and I put on clean clothes. “ This can be in writing for older students, oral for younger students

Tools of the Trade• Objective: To introduce students to the tools needed in the world

of work and allow them to understand some of the tasks performed with the tools.

• Ingredients: Shoeboxes filled with small tools as follows: Office Workers-stapler, pencil, ruler, tape, computer disc Restaurant Worker- Spoon, spatula, small pan, silverware, bowl Construction Worker- Hammer, screw driver, nail, pliers, tape measure Gardener/Florist- trowel, clippers, flower pot, florist wire, vase Health Care Worker- mask, rubber gloves, stethoscope, blood pressure cuff Educator- small black or white board, chalk or markers, eraser, pointer, red pencil, computer disc (Create other boxes as you see fit)

• Appetizer: Post pictures of backhoe, stove, computer, lawn etc.-tools that relate to career areas that are too large to bring to class. Caption this: “ How are These Alike?”

• Dessert: Have a person from each of the “boxes” above either come to the class and talk with the students, or make a brief video to be shown to the students.

Ballooning Stress• Objective: Students will gain an understanding of what

stress is, how some stress can be good, how too much stress can be harmful, and how they can alleviate stress.

• Ingredients: Balloons, permanent markers, toothpicks• Appetizer: Have students brainstorm things that cause

them stress. Write these down for younger students, or have older students write them themselves.

• Dessert: Have students create a Bulletin Board with stress balloons cut from paper and stress buster pins (map tacks) sticking in each balloon with a tag giving one way to alleviate that particular stress. (Example: Stressing out over tests- Buster- Studying thoroughly and practicing ahead of time.)

Getting to Goal• Objective: Students will learn what a goal is, and learn

how setting a goal and getting feedback on performance can help them achieve that goal.

• Ingredients: Mailing dots• Appetizer: Have students respond, either verbally or in

writing, to the prompt, “Someday, I want to…..” • Dessert: Have each student respond again to the

“Someday I want to” prompt with a at least three steps they can utilize to achieve that plan. A particularly effective way to do this is to set a time limit, be very specific about the goal, and check back to see who has achieved their goals. The whole class can set a goal together, and use a bulletin board with a mountain them to illustrate the steps towards that goal.

Magic Words• Objective: Positive Communication Skills. Students will be able

to differentiate between “stinky” words (put downs) and “good smelling “ (put ups) words

• Ingredients: 2 oatmeal cans, taped together bottom to bottom and covered with paper, paper cut-outs in the shape of fish or skunks with negative statements on them, and paper cut-outs in the shape of flowerswith positive statements on them.

• Appetizer: Monitor the halls for several days and write down examples of communication between students that is positive and negative. Write them on a poster and leave it in the classroom before the activity. Alternatively, have students give examples of things people have said to them (without naming names) that make them feel better or worse.

• Dessert: Provide die cuts in the classroom to allow students to write down “stinky” words and “sweet” words they hear throughout the next few days. Alternatively, let the teacher give the students die cuts when he/she hears “stinky” or “sweet” words.

Making a SLERT• Objective: Students will notice and focus on their own

skills and abilities at home, at school, and with their friends.

• Ingredients: Paper (marked into thirds), labeled Home, School, Friends, scissors, pencils, markers, craft materials

• Appetizer: In class, provide students with craft materials, (or crayons or markers). Tell the class, “We are going to make a creature today called a SLERT. No one has ever seen one, but each of you has several SLERTs. Everyone’s SLERT looks a little different.” Have students complete SLERTs and put them on a bulletin board.

• Dessert: After students have posted SLERTs, the teacher can return to the bulletin board and have other students describe SLERTs for students that they have not thought of. This is a great way to reinforce giving compliments and “positive noticing”.

We Are Alike-We Are Different• Objective: Respecting Diversity. Students will understand

that while people are alike in many ways, they are different, too.

• Ingredients: Students, words to “Alike and Different” song, index cards

• Appetizer: Introduce the concept of diversity by having the teacher illustrate a Venn diagram (Math!!) using one circle labeled girls and one labeled boys. Each circle should list qualities found only in girls or boys in the class that day (hair in ponytails, dresses, earrings, painted nails, etc.), while the overlap lists characteristics all students share.

• Dessert:• Provide teachers with a list of traits to have students graph

similarities and differences between class members.

Skill Steps• Objective: Students will learn what a skill is, that a skill has

steps, and that only when all steps are followed can the skill be performed well. This lesson is best done at the very beginning of the year, as you introduce classroom guidance lessons.

• Ingredients: Loaf of bread, peanut butter, jelly, knife, paper plate (for demonstration)

• Appetizer: Write the word SKILL on a bulletin board or poster board in the classroom the week before the lesson is to be performed. Have students write brief responses to the word throughout the week.

• Dessert: Leave ideas for the teacher to have the students write or work together (if they are too young to write) describing the steps in some classroom procedure or activity. Even though a “How To” paper is no longer a TAKS prompt, this is still a valuable exercise in both organizing a paper and learning the steps for a skill.

TATTLING OR REPORTING?• Objective: Students will distinguish between tattling or

reporting, and understand when it is appropriate to report and when someone should handle it themselves.

• Ingredients: Book “A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue”, manila paper cut long ways into thirds, markers or crayons, scissors, glitter, glue

• Appetizer: Have the teacher post a tally of tattling and reporting incidents for the week before the lesson. This is done by simply placing tally marks in the appropriate column, without judgment.

• Dessert: Teachers can reinforce appropriate reporting by using “Reporter” rewards to reward students who report appropriately. You can assist teachers by providing them with language to use when tattlers tattle, such as “Go back and tell him to stop.” “Use your words” etc.