Dear Families, Thank you so much for a very supportive start to the school year! It is clear to me that all of our parents and families are passionate about the success of their students. Please let me know how I can work alongside you to help each of our students be successful. October is an extremely busy month. There are so many important topics to cover, and I will not be able to lead lessons in every class on every topic. I hope that through collaboration with teachers, our Meerkat morning announcements, at-home learning, and classroom guidance lessons, our students will be exposed to all of these. During this month, please try to find time to lead discussions with your students about these many topics.
The primary theme throughout the month is that we want our students to make smart, kind decisions, taking pride in who they are, and recognizing and appreciating the diversity within themselves and their peers. If we can continue to instill these lessons in our students, it will be a great year. I really want to thank the family members who have completed my Google Forms survey. If you have not yet had an opportunity to complete this survey, please do so. I am looking forward to learning more about your students, your families, and how we can best partner together. https://forms.gle/Kvqq9ZJpcxrKbBSq5 Please reach out to me with any questions or concerns at [email protected]. Thank you, Jeannine Harrell World Food DayOn Wednesday, October 16th, to celebrate World Food Day, we will host a food drive to support the local community. This food will be donated to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, which provides food to the Durham community and around the Triangle. We ask that students, with the help of their families, bring in non-perishable food to support our community. In the front atrium, you will see boxes for Primary, Lower El, and Upper El. When students arrive they will be asked to place the food in their corresponding box. At the end of the day, we will announce over the intercom which grade level has contributed the most. We look forward to seeing who wins! The purpose of World Food Day is making an effort to end world hunger and bring healthy meals to all. Please keep this in mind when bringing non-perishable foods. The foods that are in high demand include:
Please do not bring items without nutritional value, such as soda, chips, candy, sugary breakfast foods, and Vienna sausages. Reach out to me or Ms. Jackie Love with any questions. Down Syndrome Awareness Week Here at Morehead, we have many student with Down syndrome. We would like to take this week (October 14th through 18th) to celebrate these students and spread awareness through our school community. Quick Facts:
Spirit Week: Monday: Students will make a poster related to Down syndrome awareness for the parade on Friday Tuesday: Rock your wild socks Wednesday: Wear something yellow and blue to match with your Down syndrome awareness sticker (they will be handed out when students arrive) Thursday: Superhero Day! Wear a shirt with your favorite super hero on it Friday: School-wide poster gallery. Classrooms will hang their poster outside of their class, and classes will have a chance to walk around the school to see all of them. For more information about Down syndrome, visit www.ndss.org. For any questions related to spirt week, please contact [email protected]. Respect And Anti-BullyingAt School: As of this newsletter, I have met individually with over half of the student body. I should complete all of my individual student meetings within the next few weeks. Students are now aware of who I am and what I do for the Morehead community. If your student is not sure who I am, please let me know, and I will be happy to reintroduce myself. As a school counselor, a large part of my role is being visible and available to all students. There is a lot happening in the month of October, and it will be a challenge to keep up with all of it! I hope to introduce each of these topics to students, whether through announcements, bulletin boards and decorations, or classroom visits. As I meet with students, I am finding that they are already very familiar and knowledgeable about bullying and anti-bullying efforts. I hope to continue lessons of this nature with a positive focus on treating others with kindness and respect. While at school, we expect our students to respect themselves, others, and the environment. Bullying is not respectful. It is damaging to our school community and can make students less excited to come to school to learn. We want ALL students to feel that they are safe and welcome at Morehead! I am saddened to say that some of our students have already experienced bullying and relational aggression within these first few weeks of school. I want you to know that we mobilize quickly when we hear of these situations. Bullying prevention is a school-wide effort involving students, teachers, administration, support staff (like myself), and our families. Building strong school and classroom communities is one of my main goals for this year. Montessori involves lots of group and partner work, which can be really difficult to complete if you do not have positive relationships with your peers. If your child reports bullying or relational aggression to you, please reach out to me, to their teacher, and to our administrators. We want to work alongside you and your student to resolve the situation and make our school a positive learning environment for all. In the Home: Maria Montessori highlighted the importance of education within and outside the home. One of the many goals of Montessori education is crafting good citizens. Respect is a primary component of this. Some of these conversations can be challenging to have with our students, especially around the topic of drug and alcohol use. I recommend connecting messages about avoiding drug and alcohol use to making good decisions and respecting ourselves. To further student learning at home, please have conversations with your students about respect, bullying, safe schools, Hispanic Heritage Month, and World Food Day, and consider watching or reading material related to these topics. Some possible conversation starters include:
"Children become like the things they love." ~ Maria Montessori Let us make an effort this month to be loving and encouraging models of respect. Recommended BooksWith so many topics this month, I have decided to focus on book recommendations, rather than movies, and I've had a hard time limiting myself to just six. Please reach out to me if you would like more book recommendations related to friendship, respect, and bullying.
Many of my book recommendations address multiple topics. There is a lot of overlap between respect, anti-bullying, and keeping our schools a safe environment for all students, staff, and families. At the end of my list, I have also included a book related to drug use and some possible effects it may have on the family. I have used this books in classroom guidance lessons with upper grades, and I've found that students really enjoy the story and the conversations that it sparks. If this is your first conversation about drug and alcohol use with your student, then I recommend providing further guidance and more information. I have found very few really good children's fiction books related to drug and alcohol use, so please reach out to me if you have any recommendations. I would love to be able to share more books and information with our school community.
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Dear Morehead Montessori Meerkats, Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year! I am so excited to get to know you and your students. I have met many of you, but to reintroduce myself, my name is Ms. Jeannine Harrell, and I am the new school counselor. I graduated from Guilford College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and Psychology. I completed my Master’s Degree and Education Specialization in School Counseling at UNC Greensboro. Although this is my first year working in Durham Public Schools, I have experience working with students of all ages, from pre-k to college. Elementary age is certainly my favorite! This is going to be a great year! I am passionate about working with students, and I look forward to exploring interests with each student and supporting them socially, emotionally, academically, and in their future careers. I hope to work closely in partnership with each of you to help your student to meet their goals. In order to best support your student and your family, I would appreciate if you would complete this survey via Google Form, where you will be able to identify concerns, questions, and aspirations for your student and this school year. https://forms.gle/Kvqq9ZJpcxrKbBSq5 Please reach out to me with any questions or concerns at [email protected]. Thank you, Jeannine Harrell SELF DISCIPLINEAt School: I am slowly but surely making my way into all classrooms to introduce myself and briefly meet individually with each student. Within the next couple of weeks, all students should know who I am, what I do, and how I can help them. After I have completed all class introductions, I will be returning to lead a lesson on self-discipline, which is the DPS character trait for September. Self-discipline is especially important for students at the start of the school year as we (re)learn our school-wide PBIS expectations and the Montessori grace and courtesy model. The lesson style will vary depending on the grade level, but expect your student(s) to gain developmentally appropriate knowledge about self-discipline and how it applies to them personally. One of the most important concepts for students to learn about self-discipline is that they have to stop and think before they act. Without taking this extra time, it is difficult to do the right thing. In the Home: Maria Montessori highlighted the importance of education within and outside the home. One of our many goals of Montessori education is crafting good citizens. Self-discipline is a primary component of this. To further student learning at home, please have conversations with your students about self-discipline and consider watching or reading material related to this character trait. Some good conversation starters include: · Asking about school expectations and how they are able to follow them. · Find out if there any rules that feel particularly difficult to follow. · What situations require them to stop and think, before acting? · Are there students in their class that seem to struggle with self-discipline? How does that impact the class? What can the class do to help that student? · Model for your students. Provide examples from your day when you really struggled with self-discipline, and how you overcame it or how you hope to do better tomorrow. Recommended Books and MoviesEach month, I hope to recommend a few books and movies that could be used at home with your students as a follow-up to our social and emotional learning for the month. I recommend visiting a local library to see if you can check out books and movies related to our monthly character traits.
Unfortunately, it can be hard to find books and movies that model self-discipline from the start. This is because it is one of the most difficult traits for children (and adults) to grasp 100% of the time. My movie and book recommendations this month model characters who struggle with self-discipline and learn and grow throughout the story. Even though you may have seen or read them many times, especially Frozen, re-reading these books and re-watching these movies with a focus on self-control and self-discipline may lead your student to think about these stories and topics differently. They can also be a jumping off point for conversations with your students. |
AuthorMs. Jeannine Harrell, School Counselor at Morehead Montessori in Durham, NC Archives
August 2020
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