Time to meet the counselor!

My first lessons with the students are always about "Meeting the Counselor" and "What does my counselor do?"  In Kindergarten, I talk about how counselor help students talk about feelings and what to do when you have strong feelings.  I read the story, "Glad Monster, Sad Monster" written by Ed Emberly and Anne Miranda.  

We look at the pictures and students  share when they may have felt like a  monster in the book.  We also talk about the different colors the illustrator uses for each feeling.  At the end of the lesson, I ask the students to think about how they are feeling today and what color would that feeling be.  Then comes the fun part, we do a magic trick together.  Using my Magic Coloring Book of Feelings, written by Robert Bowman and Kim Frank, the students take their feeling, throw them about my book, and poof, all my pictures are colored in.  At the end of the lesson, I give the students a blank face to draw their own monster.  At the bottom of the paper is my contact information for parents.