April 2022 School Counselor Newsletter
Dear St. John Families,
It’s sure starting to feel like spring! As our students begin to look towards the end of the year, helping them cultivate a growth mindset to finish out the year on a high note is so important. Author Carol Dweck offers three great tips for parents and caregivers on how we can motivate students at the end of the year:
1. Focus on progress: Emphasize and help your child see just how much they’ve learned so far this year.
2. Use that progress to motivate new learning: Help your child use the motivation that comes from seeing their progress thus far to push through and learn the final concepts of the year.
3. Connect your child’s learning to their own life: Talk with your child about how they can use what they have learned in school in their day-to-day life. (Example: math concepts prove useful in bake sales and lemonade stands!)
Read Dweck’s full article on “Mindsets and the End-of-Year Slump” here. And as always, please don’t hesitate to contact me if you or your student needs some additional support.
Warmly,
Ms. Shaw
April Resources
- It’s common for kids (and adults!) to worry about things that are unlikely to happen. Example: “What if I fail this test?” or “What if she doesn’t want to be my friend anymore?” Helping your child learn to challenge these fears and anxieties is a valuable lifelong tool. Check out these 6 questions to evaluate worries. These are super effective questions that I use with students (and myself!) regularly and with great success.
- Have a behavioral concern about your child, but not quite sure where to start? Try the Child Mind Institute’s Resource Finder. This is a great tool that enables parents and caregivers to select issues and then see a curated list of resources based on the identified concerns.
- A strategy I often recommend to foster a positive and supportive home environment is having a regular family meeting. Family meetings are a way for members of a family to plan, problem-solve, and bond as a team. Children can learn so much during family meetings, such as listening, respecting differences, problem-solving, and more. If this concept is new to you, I encourage you to read this article from Positive Discipline—it covers what a family meeting is and offers suggestions for how to structure one.