School Counseling

• Meet with students individually
• Conduct small group counseling sessions – topics may include, but are not limited to social skills, worry, problem solving, academic skills, self-control, changing family situations, and grief
• Consult and collaborate with parents, teachers, and administrators
• Schedule and facilitate 504 meetings
• Schedule and facilitate support meetings with parents, teachers and other support staff to address students’ needs
• Coordinate school wide testing
• Coordinate special events for students and staff
• Host monthly parent information, Q&A sessions
• Coordinate and run Fifth Forward student council and safety patrol
• Teach classroom curriculum which focuses on three basic areas:
  • Academic Development – Students focus on how to succeed in school.
  • Career Development – Students focus on their own skills and interests.
  • Personal and Social Development – Students focus on getting along with others, setting goals, and safety issues.

We strongly emphasize and incorporate character education while focusing on the above three, overriding areas. Specific targets under each of those main headings include the following:

• Academic Development – Students are taught how to be their most successful in school through organization, time management, study skills and goal setting.
• Personal and Social Development – Students are taught skills to understand and increase self-awareness and positive social interactions which include positive self-talk, problem solving skills, conversation skills, good manners, conflict resolution, resiliency and safety issues.
• Career Development – Students focus on their own strengths and interests and are exposed to various career possibilities.

Within each of these areas, the following topics are covered as applicable:

Goal Setting
Organization
Study Skills
Positive Self Talk and Self-Awareness
Responsibility
Decision Making
Time Management
Ownership & Accountability
Good Manners
Feelings
Healthy Communication
Conflict Resolution
Prioritizing
Self-Exploration
Safety
Resiliency
Problem Identification & Solving
Specific v. General Goals
Perspective Taking

We build many classroom lessons around our Character Words of the Month. These are core words that can empower students in positive ways when they own them for themselves. We have developed our “Crockett M&Ms” to help emphasize each character word. M & M stands for Motions and Meanings. We use parts of American Sign Language (hence the motions) to help the students grasp the meaning of each word.

September – Respect
October – Responsibility
November – Perseverance
December – Caring & Empathy
January – Courage
February – Citizenship
March – Trustworthiness
April – Cooperation
May – Fairness

Each student deserves to feel safe and supported while at school.  Crockett Elementary’s goal is to provide an environment where students believe there are adults who care and are ready to assist when needed.  Bullying – intentional, repeated and specific hurtful behaviors targeted toward one or more victims – obstructs a student feeling safe, loved and accepted. Key factors to distinguish bullying from other forms of mean/negative behavior are that it is unprovoked and the physical or psychological intimidation occurs over and over again creating a pattern of harassment or abuse.

Neither bullying nor mean behaviors are acceptable. We want to be as proactive as possible to lessen their occurrence. One way we address undesirable behaviors is to teach appropriate social skills through intentional lessons with students in the classroom. All students participate at scheduled times with our school counselors who teach lessons on positive, healthy communication, positive character traits, conflict resolution and address the specific topic of bullying. The goal is to promote positive peer relationships and interactions all around, to bring awareness to bullying, to educate students on its definition, to teach signs to look for and strategies for what to do when it occurs. Though bullying has a definite distinction from other types of mean or negative interactions between students, our goal is to eliminate all the negative behavior we can and consistently encourage and reinforce kindness and respect for all. We want to educate and empower students with tools to help them navigate hard situations and make sure they know they have adults at school who will listen to them and create an environment where they feel comfortable reporting things when necessary.

We also schedule community organizations to come and address whole grade levels on the topics of bullying and choosing kindness. Kids on the Block is one such organization that has a wonderful reputation in the community for performing entertaining puppet shows that deliver powerful messages which align with our standards for teaching positive social/emotional growth. In addition, we are super thankful for the support of our Brentwood Police department to teach our 4th graders the D.A.R.E. curriculum, which talks about educating oneself on important facts about drugs and alcohol, but, also includes essential life-skills information on good decision making and bullying behavior.

Consequences for a student who commits an act of harassment or bullying shall be unique to the individual incident and will vary in method and severity according to the nature of the behavior, the developmental age of the student, and the student’s history of problem behaviors.

Actions taken shall be designed to:

• Protect the victim of the act
• Correct the problem behavior
• Prevent another occurrence of the behavior
• Help the student understand how the other person feels

If a student needs help resolving a conflict or if a student thinks that he/she is being bullied, he/she needs to communicate with his/her teacher, our guidance counselors, or administration.

We are super excited about this year, getting to reconnect with our Crockett family and meeting new families! We both approach this position from a parent’s perspective as much as a counselor’s perspective. We aim to be transparent in our teaching and always encourage parents to schedule a time to meet with us or call us to talk about anything that might be affecting one’s child at school. It is absolutely our pleasure to serve you!

Though many factors may affect a child’s learning process, listed below are some common ones we experience from year to year. Children are individuals with different and unique personalities who develop at different times and rates. With our experience and training, we want to reassure you, brainstorm solutions together and walk with you through any challenging season. Please contact us if you have concerns regarding your child’s progress whether it is academic, behavioral, social, emotional or something entirely different. We are always happy to help and strive to be an extension of your support here at school.

• Family changes (divorce, separation, moving, death in the family)
• Classroom behavior
• Peer relations
• Responsibility and accountability
• Resiliency and Problem Solving
• Worry and Separation Anxiety

Please feel free to contact us, and the best way to reach us is by email.

Jennifer Randolph 
Counselor