5th and 7th Grade Counselor. 

6th and 8th Grade Counselor.

WHAT THE COUNSELOR PROVIDES

• Personal counseling

• Classroom guidance lessons

• Academic support assistance

• Responsive Services

• Community Outreach Services

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE COUNSELOR

Middle School students are at that age where their life is a whirl wind of changes: Physically, Emotionally and Socially. Students are curious about their world and their emerging self-identity.

Counselors work as a team member with school staff, parents and the community to create a caring, supportive climate and atmosphere whereby young adolescents can achieve academic success. Middle school counselors enhance the learning process and promote academic achievement. School counseling programs are essential for students to achieve optimal personal growth, acquire positive social skills and values, set age-appropriate career goals and realize their academic potential. 

HOW DO YOU HELP KIDS WITH HOMEWORK?

1. Have the kids unpack the backpacks, find the homework folders and/or agendas, and get a handle on what needs to be done: When my kids get home, they are racing to grab a snack- and after they have had a chance to eat their snack and fill me in a bit on whatever big news they have to share for the day- I ask them to unpack their backpacks, and gather together their homework as well as any papers that they need to hand over to Mom or Dad.

2. Have a routine for when homework will be worked on: This routine for homework doesn’t have to be the same every day, it flexes to accommodate various after-school activities schedules on different days of the week. With my 4th-6th graders, they prefer to work on homework right when they get home from school. The older kids prefer to wait until after dinner (which works well after sports practices).

3. Have the right place to work and the right tools: I think it is important to create some rules around where it is acceptable for the kids to do their homework. At our house, it is the kitchen table, the dining room table, at the desk when they are using the computer to do an assignment. I do not recommend homework in front of the TV. I have put together a “homework caddy” that I can pull out of the cabinet and put onto the kitchen table that contains everything that they should need to complete their homework- pencils, pens, markers, crayons, colored pencils, ruler, scissors, glue sticks, and a stapler. This means that homework time is more focused and we don’t waste time searching for supplies.

4. Don’t Forget to Tackle the Daily Reading: One of the most important things that kids can do- is to read every single day (or at least 5 nights per week) for 20-30 minutes. It can be hard to do this with multiple kids when they still need to read aloud to you- so I would recommend breaking it up when possible… have one read to you right after school, one while you are making dinner, and one right at bedtime.

5. Offer suggestions, Don’t Edit, and Don’t Do It!: Sometimes it can be a tricky thing to balance- you want your child to put forth their best work, so you encourage them to edit their writing, to take a second look at the worksheet they’ve completed to check for spelling and grammar. You double-check their math homework to see if they got the correct answers. But on the other hand- it doesn’t help the teacher to assess what they know and what they need to work on if they turn in a perfectly completed assignment.