Tag Archives: guidance counselor

March 13th: Head like an alien’s

Posted on by
Reply

alien head

 

Today, I pulled a first grader (about 7 years old) out of class to do some testing.  As I walked with him from his classroom to my office he asked:

Boy: “Ms. Cristina, to do the test do I have to read?”

Me: “Yup.  But I know you’ll think its easy.  Don’t worry.”

Boy:  “Oh, I’m not worried.  I like reading because it helps you learn and learning makes your brain grow.”

Me:  (chuckling)  “Ah!  That’s true.”

Boy:  “Did you know that I’ve been smart since I was a baby?  When I was born I already had a big brain and thats why my head looked like an alien’s.”

Me:  (more than chuckling now) “Oh, thats just silly. You’re funny!”

Boy:  “Its funny but its true.  I did have an alien head.”  (All of a sudden, he got really serious.)

Heehee!…. I can’t make this s%$# up.  These kids are too funny and they have no idea how cute they are!

 

February 25th: Melt-downs and Melted Cheese

Posted on by
2

melted cheese

 

Today,  throughout the state of Florida, students took the FCAT Writes exam.  This is a standardized test that assesses the writing skills of all 4th and 8th graders attending public and charter schools.  There’s a looooooot of pressure for them to perform well on this test because they’ve been preparing for it the entire school year.  I was asked to proctor along with one of my school’s 4th grade teachers… and it was interesting.

20 minutes into the 60 minute test, one little boy places his hands over his face and begins to sob.  I took him out into the hallway where he cried profusely and placed his fore arm over his brow.  Then he said “I blew it!  My mind’s blank!  Its over!”  Honestly, I understand the stress these kids are under so I really felt badly for this kid-o.  I have to admit, though, that his melodramatic way of expressing himself kind of made me bite my lower lip to keep from laughing a little as I tried to soothe him.

He was able to calm down, drink some water and finish the test like a champ after some deep breathing and a little pep talk from yours truly… but, after that, I was feeling drained and in need of a pep talk and some deep breathing myself.  So, I did the next best thing!  I ate cheesy Italian food with my lovely friend Leslie for dinner.

We had a great time catching up on our latest adventures apart and did some scheming for future adventures together as well.  Having fried zucchini, eggplant parmesan and mushroom ravioli was just the icing on the friendship cake 😉

(What?!  I’m “carbo-loading” for this weekend’s races, remember??!!) 

February 21st: I love you more…

Posted on by
1

I love you more

I had a session with one of my favorite little 8 y.o. munchkins this week.  He continues to struggle with controlling his temper in the classroom so we were reviewing some of the techniques I had taught him on how to manage his anger.  After some brainstorming, his very animated little face only winced and glanced up to the ceiling as he claimed that he could only remember “deep breathing.”

I was starting to breath deeply myself as I became more and more frustrated thinking about his continued crying spells and temper tantrums despite our weekly sessions.  I decided to change the topic of discussion completely and asked him to share about his cub scouts pack as this is something he really seems to enjoy (I was digging for clues on things I could use to incentivize him.)

Well, this little munchkin had PLENTY to share about cub scouts.  Namely that his pack leader had taught him a lot of really cool words in sign language and he preceded to show me:  This is “more”, “water”, “thirsty”, “mom”, “sweet”, and “I love you.” As I praised him for how amazing he was for having learned so many words, he interrupted me….  “Ms. Cristina, (I love you in sign language).”

Well, at this I was completely floored and reciprocated the sign and told him I loved him too (with a huge cheesy grin on my face, I might add)….  Then he interrupted me again… “No but, Ms. Cristina (I love you more in sign language)”

Well, a little piece of me just about died.  I completely forgot about his coughing and runny nose (he was just getting over a cold as children so frequently are) and I extended my arms for a hug only to have him give me the most heart-felt squeeze ever.  How can you beat that?!  (sigh)  Made my school-year.