Counseling Corner

As we move into the warmer months, students may feel a mix of excitement and pressure. Spring testing, friendship changes, and busy schedules can sometimes lead to negative thoughts like, “I’m not good at this,” or “Nobody wants to play with me.”

Self-esteem is the way we see ourselves. It plays an important role in a child’s motivation, school success, friendships, and ability to bounce back from challenges. A child’s self-esteem is shaped by their own thoughts about their abilities and by the messages they receive from important adults and peers in their lives.

We can focus on helping students notice their inner voice, practice positive self-talk, and recognizing their strengths. We can remind students that mistakes help us grow, tests measure skills (not worth), and friendship challenges are opportunities to learn.

(healthychildren.org/American Academy of Pediatrics)

The Elm Street School counseling team is aware of the growing concerns about the SNAP benefit funding expiration. If your family will be affected by this shut down, please reach out to one of us and we will direct you to the assistance needed.

Additionally, because of wonderful community support, we are offering help with winter gear (coats, hats, mittens, gloves, boots, snow pants) If your family is in need of assistance due to financial hardship, please reach out to someone on the team. We will need the following information: Ages and gender identity/expression of anyone living in the home under the age of 18, coat sizes, and the total number of people living in the home.

Please know this information will be kept confidential.

Counseling Team:

Shannon Songin- ssongin@walpole.k12.ma.us

Tori Dore- vwintersdore@walpole.k12.ma.us

Or you can reach out directly to Mrs. Buller:

Jen Buller- jbuller@walpole.k12.ma.us

We’re excited to share a wonderful community resource for families here in Walpole. The Walpole Council on Aging hosts a warm and welcoming Grandparents Raising Grandchildren support group on the second Wednesday of every month from 11:30 AM–1:30 PM at the Council on Aging on South Street. A warm, welcoming space where grandparents caring for grandchildren can connect, share stories, and feel supported.. Lunch is provided, and anyone interested can register by calling 508-668-3330 or emailing jnauman@walpole-ma.gov

Please see the flyer below for more information

As part of our general education social-emotional support, ALL students will receive either weekly or biweekly social-emotional "SOAR" lessons. Kindergarten lessons are taught weekly and grades 1-5 are taught bi-weekly.

These lessons are based on the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) competencies. Some topics we cover include feeling identification and strategies, problem solving and conflict resolution, friendship and bullying, goal setting, exploring differences, and decision making. Each month, we will provide an updated newsletter which previews our lessons for the month ahead.

Ms. Dore will be teaching lessons and working directly with students in 1st, 2nd and 5th grade. Ms. Songin will be teaching lessons and working directly with students in Kindergarten, 3rd, and 4th grade.

• We will talk about the difference between tattling vs reporting. Students will practice what problems need a teachers help and when it is something we can solve on our own using problem solving skills.
• We will continue to talk about size of the problems and what are examples of big problems and small problems.

• We will be learning about respectful disagreement, compromise, and apologizing. We will practice how to disagree kindly, manage our temper, compromise, and make meaningful apologies.

• We will also discuss Size of the Problem and respectful self-advocacy. We will learn when to solve small problems on our own, when to ask a peer for help, and when it’s important to seek support from an adult

• We will be talking about and practicing problem-solving steps to help resolve peer conflicts.

• We are also practicing the “Bug and a Wish” strategy and peacemaking conversations.

• We will talk about navigating friendship problems and self esteem in friendships.
• We will review how to identify the size of a problem and how to match our reactions to the size of the problem.
• We will discuss that if a problem grows or cannot be solved independently, it is always okay to ask an adult for help.

• We will be learning about disability awareness, including the difference between visible and invisible disabilities. We will learn about building empathy and understanding that not all challenges can be seen
• We will review self regulation and coping skills, identifying what stress feels like in our bodies and practicing healthy strategies to help relieve it.

• We will learn about our identity and being proud of who we are, including aspects of our lives that make us ourselves such as culture and personal interests.

Kindergarten:

• Waiting Is Not Easy by Mo Willems
• Tattling vs Reporting Video

1st grade:

• Fly 5 passage "We Can Compromise"
• Blazer Fresh "Are You.." GoNoodle

2nd grade

• Conflict Resolution Brain Pop Video

3rd grade:

• At this time, no media will be used in this month's lessons.

4th grade:

• Pixar Loop Video

5th grade:

• Sulwe By Lupita Nyong'o

Mrs. Tori Dore (grades 1, 2, and 5)

Email: vwintersdore@walpole.k12.ma.us

Phone: 508-660-7374, ext. 5615

Ms. Shannon Songin (grades K, 3, and 4)

Email: ssongin@walpole.k12.ma.us

Phone: 508-660-7374, ext. 5615