Set up a college days workshop in the school gym. Include all grades in this activity to show even the youngest student how education opens opportunities for them. Invite several colleges or college students to set up displays of their college showing different areas of study. Have presentations available by video that show successful people and their employment. Hand out appropriate paperwork to show elementary students what further education can do for them. Encourage students to ask questions. Keep in mind the ages of students viewing the displays and advise attending college representatives to keep answers to questions on a level that elementary students can understand and relate to. This activity works very well using high school studies as the topic also.
Assist in hosting hour-long assemblies that help students deal with bullying. Bullying is not a new topic, but gets more attention these days because of the new ways children can be bullied, such as text messages, Internet activities and over email. Put together programs that give students ways to understand the underlying cause of bullying. Add skits from upper-class students that show various forms that bullying can take. Within these skits, play out ways the bullied children can get help. This activity shows elementary students that they are not alone. It may also show some bullies how they appear to others and give them ways to change how they handle their anger.
Working with groups of students, put together role-playing activities that aid in the practice of empathy for fellow students. Empathy is an understanding of how and why other people do certain things. Supplying elementary students with empathy skills will aid them in understanding the problems and issues they face, as well as situations facing their friends or classmates. In these role-playing activities, incorporate many different home and school situations that face young people, such as divorcing parents, illness, sibling rivalries, loss of friends or family members, disasters and other situations that may affect the students in their own communities.
Put together family nights, by grade, to bring elementary students together with families and teachers. Elementary school counselors need activities involving teachers and parents to help in the development of strong student life and educational skills. These sessions do not need to be long or tedious. Have parents and teachers work together on craft ideas or story-telling sessions for younger students. Parents should sit alongside their child to participate. Teachers can supply instruction for the craft or read for the benefit of all.
Be aware of learning difficulties in the classroom as soon as possible. Work with teachers who note children who are falling behind in a subject. Work with parents on ways to counter learning disabilities. Test scores tell only a part of a problem. Base information and ways to help each student on, not only scores in class, but on overall performance. Pay attention to why students may be having difficulty. Is it a learning problem? Is it a situational difficulty? Help students and teachers discover why a child is having trouble, then work together with the student, teacher and parent to come up with suitable solutions.