6^th grade Parents Brown Bag Lunch

When: Thursday September 10, 2009

Time: 11 am

Where: Sherwood Middle Library

Parents and guardians, are you looking for tips to help your child have a successful year? If so, then you need make plans to attend the 6^th grade Parents Brown Bag Lunch program being sponsored by the Sherwood Middle guidance department.

The school counselors, Magnet Lead teacher and I Care Specialist will all be in attendance to provide you with tips and suggestions that will help YOU help your child have a successful school year in middle school.

If you plan on attending please remember to bring your own brown bag lunch.

We look forward to seeing you!

Note: All sixth grade students will be bringing home a flyer on either August 24th or 25th  to remind you of this wonderful event.

Counseling groups for young people provide an atmosphere of acceptance, encouragement, and safe experimentation for new behaviors (Morganett, 1990). In addition, because peers strongly influence the young adolescent, group counseling enhances the possibility that youths will attempt new behaviors practiced and modeled by their peers and significant others (Gazda, 1989).

Guidance counselors at Sherwood Middle School work to address the needs of their students through providing five guidance groups. Guidance groups that are offered are as follows: grief/loss; divorce; family issues; anger management; and self-esteem/friendship skills.

Guidance groups meet during the school day for approximately 30 minutes. Students or parents may request to participate in group counseling.

The Sherwood Middle Academic Magnet School Counselors are a very active and integral part of our school’s setting. They offer many programs and services for our students as they cope with adjusting to the life of becoming an early teen. It can be a confusing and daunting time for these young people but the women who make up our counseling department are always there to lend a hand, a shoulder or advice to help these young people cope.

The SMAMS counselors are Ms. Burris, Ms. Frye and Ms. Robins.

Here is a list of the programs and service that they offer to our students:

Academic:

• Duke Talent Search
• John Hopkins Educational Search
• Honor Roll Breakfast of Champions
• Straight A Celebration
• LEAPing into Excellence
• Standardized Testing—iLEAP and LEAP testing
• ELDA testing for 49 Limited English Proficient students
• Coordinate LEAP tutoring for 15 eighth grade students who received 39 hours of after-school LEAP tutoring
• Algebra I End of Course testing
• Organization training meetings
• Academic conferences
• Scheduling
• High School Registration
• Report Card Grades
• Awards Day

Personal/Social

• Bullying Presentation (presented by School Counselors & I Care Specialist)
• Internet Safety Presentation (presented by Attorney General’s Office)
• “What is your Color?” Personality Test with Peer Helpers
• Participate in low ropes course with Peer Helpers
• Classroom presentations of services offered by Guidance Department in all sixth grade classrooms

Career:

• Administer the ACT EXPLORE Test to eighth grade students
• Interpret EXPLORE test results with eighth grade students
• Introduce and register all eighth grade students on LAePortal
• Assist all eighth grade students in completion of 5-Year Educational Plan
• Career Day Carnival

• 504: Working with parents and  students who have been provided with Individual Accommodation Plans
• Gifted : Working with Gifted students
• Talented : Working with students who are Talented Music, Art, and Drama
• Intelligence Tests: Administers KBIT2 test

Programs, Presentations, Activities

• Bullying  (presented by School Counselors & I Care Specialist)
• Internet Safety (presented by Attorney General’s Office)
• Red Ribbon Week
• Toys for Tots
• Newspaper ad for Duke Talent Search honorees
• School Counseling Week
• Awards Day

For parents:

• Articles in school newsletter
• Brown Bag Lunch and Learn for all 6^th Grade parents
• 8^th Grade High School & Career Planning Night
• Parent conferences

For Teachers:

• Falcon Family Album
• Covered classes as needed
• Provide relevant, meaningful information regarding student development

Staff Development:

Counselors presented 7 Staff Development sessions during the school year. These include:

• iLeap and Leap: Analyzing Test Data to Improve Student Achievement
• Creating a list of students’ test data from Dept. of Education website
• LEAPing into Excellence
• LAePortal Training and Registration
• iLEAP and LEAP Teacher Workshop
• Test Security
• Creating a Positive Testing Environment

Attends Training Sessions:

• Dyslexia Training
• iLEAP and LEAP testing training
• ELDA test training
• Algebra I End of Course testing training

Fundraisers:

• Bling Rings
• Lollipop

Community Presentations:

• Body Image Presentation at St. Joseph’s Academy
• Selected to present at Magnet Schools of America Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee
• “Here’s the Ticket to a Spectacular Career Day Carnival!”

As you can see, the SMAMS School Counselor Department is a vibrant and hands on department that we are very grateful to have. You can feel confident that your child has available the most reliable and knowledgeable members one could ask for.