Counseling Connection

With Mrs. Cordova, Young Elementary Counselor

January 2025

JANUARY Guidance Lessons

Happy New Year! A new year for us to grow and learn and continue to become our best! My hope is that every student at Young is continually developing skills to get along well with others and to manage their own feelings and emotions.

In our Kindergarten - 2nd grade guidance lessons we are continuing to learn about empathy- noticing and understanding how others feel. We want to use this skill of empathy to help us find ways to show compassion and to build relationships with others. We will also learn that people may have different feelings about the same situations and that is okay!

In our 3rd grade - 5th grade classes we focusing on topics like goal setting for the new year, the art of starting a conversation and giving a sincere compliment, in addition to continuing to build our emotion management skills. We want to make sure we are in control of our emotions so our emotions are not in control of us! 💪

Ideas for Family Fun/Activities and Connection

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

Write a poem about Winter together ❄️
"Adopt" a foreign country to learn about and follow all year
Make a list of jobs from A-Z (actor, banker, counselor...)
Create an original comic book together 💥
Share funny stories and try to make each other laugh 😂
Make a "Winter" photo album

Community Resource Spotlight

Feeding Wise Kids

Feeding Wise Kids is a nonprofit organization that provides weekend food for students.

Here is a little bit about FWK mission from their website:

"For many children, the only meals they eat each day are provided at school. Through the Backpack for Kids Program, Feeding Wise Kids provides good food for the children to take home over the weekends, ensuring they have something to eat."

We are so thankful to partner with Feeding Wise Kids at DISD. We know their service is invaluable to families in need in our community.

If you are interested in joining our "snack pack" program at YES, please reach out to Mrs. Cordova for more information (940) 393-7446.

To get more information, please check out their website:

https://feedingwisekids.org/about

Young's Got CHARACTER!

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

In January, we are highlighting being confident, attentive, learning to persevere, as well as, practicing being mindful and thoughtful.

Additionally, some manners we are encouraging are being healthy by limiting the spread of germs and offering to help someone in need.

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 January (many can be found at our local library!):

Confidence:

Confidence is My Superpower by Alicia Ortego
Spoon by Amy Rosenthal
I'm Gonna Like Me! by Jamie Lee Curtis
Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon

Perseverance:

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty
The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires
Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan and Roslyn Jordan- an inspiring true story by Michael Jordan!

Mindfulness/Thoughful: