Counseling Connection

February 2025

I LOVE February! A special month to remind us to tell everyone we love how much we love them. Who doesn't want that??

We've spent a lot of time in classes this school year learning about empathy and compassion- really paying attention to how others feel and understanding the clues that help us know those feelings.

In our guidance lessons now, we are continuing to really focus on understanding our own feelings. We are learning about what happens in our brain and how our body feels when we are having big feelings.

Check out the Calm Down Poster which is used in many grade level lessons as we learn to manage our feelings.

We use the following steps to help calm down:

1. STOP

2. NAME the feeling you are having

3. CALM down- belly breathing, counting, positive self talk

I encourage you to ask your student what helps them calm down when faced with big feelings? That way when you notice them creeping up, you can coach them through it with strategies that you know works for your unique child!

February 10th-14th is National Random Acts of Kindness week! Young Elementary is practicing and celebrating being kind with lots of fun activities throughout the week.

We will participate in a class Kindness Bingo Challenge, write positive affirmation notes to Young staff members, receive a treat for being kind, and end the week by giving compliments to our classmates!

Since students have Friday, February 14th off that week, we are encouraging you to complete a random act of kindness as a family!

I am SO excited to see kindness spread all around our building this week! 🫶

Check out these fun ways to connect and spend time with your children/family!

• Deliver cookies or healthy treats to a fire station, hospital staff, or your neighbors.
• Make heart shaped pancakes for Valentine's Day!
• Facetime or call someone you haven't talked to in awhile and let them know you love them!
• Brr... it's cold out there! Time for a coat clean out! Go through your coat closet and donate any coats you are not longer using to those in need.
• Go around the table and ask each other what love means to him or her- I bet you get some super sweet answers!

Keep Decatur Beautiful is a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating community wide events to help make Decatur a beautiful place to live!

They have organized events like a holiday window decorating contest for local businesses, Declutter Decatur- an event where families could take their unwanted "clutter" and depose of it in a safe way, and many other community opportunities to improve the look and environment of our beloved town!

Young actually won their plastic collection competition last year and received a beautiful bench to put on our campus!

This year at Young we are focusing being great humans by improving our manners and building our character traits!

In February, we are highlighting having courage, practicing self-control, being a good citizen, and encouraging others.

Additionally, some manners we are encouraging are helping without complaining, not reaching across the the table when eating a meal, and using a napkin to wipe your face when you are eating!

I OFTEN encourage reading with your child to parents because it has so many benefits! Not only does reading together improve your child's language development and vocabulary, but many children's books have an underlying social-emotional theme that can lead to fantastic discussions!

Below are some books that highlight some of the character traits and manners for February (many can be found at our local library!):

Self-Control

• My Magical Choices by Becky Cummings
• What If? by Colleen Doyle Bryant
• Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale
• What Should Danny Do? School Day by Ganit and Adir Levy

Citizenship

• What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick
• Say Something by Peter H. Reynolds
• What Can A Citizen Do? by Dave Eggers

Encouragement

• Kindness Makes Us Strong by Sophie Beer
• When I Smile: A Book of Kindness by Jo Weitek
• I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Table Manners

• Table Talk by Julia Cook
• Tea for Ruby by Sarah Ferguson
• Manners at the Table by Carrie Finn
• How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen

Courtney Cordova M.A.

Counselor

Young Elementary

Email: courtney.cordova@decaturisd.us
Location: 379 Buchanan Road, Decatur, TX, USA
Phone: (940)-393-7446