Curriculum: Classroom Lessons from the School Counselors

Classroom Lessons


Everyone deserves kindness and respect. 

We refer and connect to our guiding principles that "Everyone deserves kindness and respect" and "School should be a place where everyone feels safe, welcome, and respected for who they are" in most of the lessons that we teach.

Our scope and sequence for weekly classroom lessons is listed below.  

ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors for Student Success: K-12 College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Every Student

We also may tailor a lesson to the specific needs of an individual classroom that might not be included in this list (i.e. grief, loss, or a wide variety of circumstances in which we join the classroom teacher to provide additional support to the classroom community) As always, we welcome your input. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please contact us directly.


Kindergarten

Introduction - Role of School Counselor
Second Step Lessons  -  Unit 1 - Growth Mindset & Goal-Setting
  • We Watch. We Listen. We Think.
  • Why We Pay Attention
  • Mistakes Are Okay!
  • Practice Makes Better
  • Performance Task: Let's Practice and Learn!
Second Step Lessons - Unit 2 - Emotion Management
  • Sometimes We Feel Happy 
  • Sometimes We Feel Sad
  • Sometimes We Feel Mad
  • We Can Feel Calm
  • Performance Task: What Are They Feeling?
Second Step Lessons - Unit 3 - Empathy & Kindness
  • We Can Be Kind
  • Why Kindness?
  • Showing Kindness
  • Kindness at School
  • Performance Task: Demonstrating Kindness
The Great Kindness Challenge 

Personal Body Safety 
  • Car safety
  • Walking safety
  • Gun safety
  • Fire safety
  • Getting found if lost
  • Always ask first rule
  • My Body belongs to Me! - Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
Honoring military-connectred students - Night Catch

Second Step Lessons - Unit 4 - Problem Solving
  • We Can Say the Problem
  • Ready to Solve Problems
  • Apologizing Can Help
  • Taking Turns and Sharing
  • Performance Task: We Can Solve Problems!
Transitions / end of year feelings  Little Tree

Grade 1

Introduction - Role of School Counselor 

Second Step Lessons  -  Unit 1 - Growth Mindset & Goal-Setting 
  • Time to Pay Attention
  • Everyone Gets Distracted
  • You Did It!
  • Helpful Thoughts
  • Performance Task: We Can Do It!
Appreciating differences - Disability Awareness lesson from The Cromwell Center - Susan Laughs
Appreciating differences - My friend has autism - optional

Second Step Lessons - Unit 2 - Emotion Management
  • Noticing Feelings
  • Sometimes We Feel Worried
  • Feeling Calm
  • Feeling Frustrated
  • Noticing Clues
Second Step - Unit 3 - Empathy & Kindness
  • The Power of Kind Acts
  • Ways to Be Kind
  • Offering Kind Acts
  • Practicing Kind Acts
  • Performance Task: Demonstrating Kind Acts
Great Kindness Challenge activities and lessons  -  Sharing friends or Somebody Loves You Mr Hatch or The Invisible Boy

Personal Body Safety 
  • Car safety
  • Bike safety
  • Gun safety
  • Always ask first rule
  • My Body belongs to Me! - Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
Honoring military-connected students - student speakers, guest speakers, While You Are Away 

Second Step - Unit 4 - Problem Solving
  • How to Say the Problem
  • Was It an Accident?
  • Ask for What You Need
  • We Can Make it Better
  • Performance Task: Solving Problems
Transitions / end of year feelings  House for Hermit Crab


Grade 2

Introduction - Role of School Counselor 

Second Step Lessons - Unit 1 - Growth Mindset & Goal-Setting
  • How to Get Good at Something
  • What Mistakes Tell Us
  • Helpful and Unhelpful Thoughts
  • We Can Change Our Thoughts
  • Peformance Task: Learn and Get Better
Friends Come With All Types of Abilities - The Cromwell Center - It's Okay to be Different

Second Step Lessons - Unit 2 - Emotion Management 
  • Feeling Proud
  • Feeling Disappointed
  • Help Yourself Feel Better
  • Different Feelings
  • Performance Task: How Do You Feel?
Second Step - Unit 3 - Empathy & Kindness
  • What's Empathy?
  • Empathy in Action
  • Having Empathy
  • Empathy at School
  • Performance Task: Empathy and Kindness
Great Kindness Challenge activities and lessons  -  Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

Personal Body Safety 
  • Bike safety
  • Gun safety
  • Always ask first rule
  • My Body belongs to Me! - Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
Honoring military-connected students - student speakers and book - during April - H is for Honor
Second Step - Unit 4 - Problem Solving
  • The Way to Say a Problem
  • Thinking of Solutions
  • Which Solution?
  • What Would I Want?
  • Performance Task: Be a Problem-Solver
Transitions / end of year feelings  House for Hermit Crab

Grade 3

Introduction - Role of School Counselor 

Second Step Lessons - Unit 1 - Growth Mindset & Goal-Setting
  • Changing Your Brain
  • Getting Better with Practice
  • More Than Practice
  • Planning for Practice
  • Performance Task: Make a Practice Plan
Friends Come With All Types of Abilities - The Cromwell Center  - My friend has autism

Second Step Lessons - Unit 2 - Emotion Management
  • Why Emotions?
  • How Angry?
  • Take a Break
  • How Happy?
  • Performance Task: Strength of Feelings
Second Step lessons - Unit 3 - Empathy & Kindness
  • Kindness and Friendship
  • Building a Friendship
  • My Kind of Kindness
  • Asking Questions
  • Do Something Kind
Kindness -  The Great Kindness Challenge

Personal Body Safety 
  • Bike safety
  • Gun safety
  • Always ask first rule
  • My Body belongs to Me! - Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
Honoring military-connected students

Second Step lessons - Unit 4 - Problem-Solving
  • STEP by Step
  • S: Say the Problem
  • T: Think and E: Explore
  • P: Pick a Solution
  • Performance Task: Solving a Problem
Transition to Shapleigh School: Q&A with the school counselor from Shapleigh School, Pen pal activity between 3rd and 4th grade students

Career awareness activities and speakers

Saying goodbye - Little Tree