Throughout Red Ribbon Week, students will learn age-appropriate messages
about the perils of illegal drug and tobacco use, as well as of prescription
drug and alcohol abuse. We will capture awareness and build enthusiasm for
the message through a series of Themed Dress Days.
Monday, October 25: Sock it To Drugs Day – WEAR MISMATCHED SOCKS!
Tuesday, October 26: Turn Your Back on Drugs Day –WEAR SHIRTS BACKWARDS!
Wednesday, October 27: Stomp Out Drugs Day – WEAR BOOTS/TENNIS SHOES!
Thursday, October 28: Put a Cap on Drug Use – WEAR BASEBALL CAPS!
Friday, October 29: I Can Be Who I Want to Be, Drug Free! – DRESS AS YOUR
FAVORITE CHARACTER FROM A BOOK
All activities and classroom instruction will emphasize the positive
attributes, self-respect and peer influences associated with making good
choices. APS approved Health curriculum provides lessons appropriate for
each grade level.
Plan for Red Ribbon Week 2010:
Primary Teaching Objective:
Use age-appropriate methods and teaching tools to expose elementary age
children to the value of making wise choices when it comes to drug, alcohol
and tobacco use.
Emphasize the positive attributes, self-respect and peer influence associated
with choosing to remain drug-free.
Secondary Teaching Objective:
Explain that children in elementary schools across America are celebrating
Red Ribbon Week, and do so every year, in honor of Enrique Kiki Camarena, an
undercover US DEA Agent killed by Mexican drug traffickers in 1985 while
fighting the war against drugs. Tens of thousands of students in schools
across the US will learn about the dangers of illegal drug and tobacco use,
as well as of alcohol and prescription drug abuse.
Budget:
PTA Allocation -- $200
Administrative Allocation – $TBD
Partner Participation – $TBD (unlikely available this close
to launch)
Target Audience:
1020 Students on two campuses, Grades K – 5
80 administrators and staff
Timing:
October 23 – 31, 2010 (primary emphasis Monday – Friday, 10/25 – 10/29)
Theme:
SRS Superstars are Strong, Real Strong! Real Life is Drug Free!
Tactics:
1. Purchase banners emblazoned with the theme to hang outside of each
campus.
2. Mr. Mayerson (Guidance Instructor) will begin his drug and alcohol
awareness teaching unit week of 10/17 and continue through 10/29, working
with every classroom and every child on both campuses.
As part of the teaching unit, students will be challenged to make
four or five promises or a specific pledge relating to what they’ve learned
about the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. These pledges will be
written on strips of red construction paper and volunteers will use them to
create a Paper Chain Pledge that will be displayed at each campus.
3. During Red Ribbon Week, student awareness will be captured through
special theme days.
• Monday: Sock it to Drugs (students will wear mismatched socks)
• Tuesday: Turn Your Back on Drugs (students will wear their shirts
backwards)
• Wednesday: Stomp out Drugs (students will wear boots)
• Thursday: Put a Cap on Drug Use (students will wear hats)
• Friday: Superstars are Strong, Real Strong (students will wear SRS
spirit wear)
The weekly promotional days will be explained in a letter to parents, sent
home Friday, October 22, encouraging conversation at home among the families
about drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse. This letter will include resources
parents can use to get more information on how to talk to their children
about these difficult subjects (i.e. Parents: The Anti-Drug @
www.theantidrug.com and Partnership for a Drug-Free America @
www.drugfreeamerica.org).
4. Parent volunteers will decorate trash cans throughout the school with
signage reading “Drugs are Trash -- Be Strong, Real Strong!”
5. Art teachers at both campuses will be encouraged to incorporate a red
ribbon design and anti-drug message into their classroom instruction.
6. Attempt to organize assemblies at each campus, featuring a guest
speaker from the Atlanta Police Department’s Drug Enforcement Unit. His or
her demonstration would ideally include a dog from the drug sniffing canine
corps.
7. Students at each campus would read scripted “Wise Choices” messages
during morning announcements. Mr. Mayerson would select five students from
each campus and provide them with the script. The Wise Choices messages
include:
• Choose Honesty
• Choose to Do and Be Your Personal Best
• Choose a Positive Attitude
• Choose Self-Responsibility
• Choose Quality over Quantity
• Choose To Live By The Golden Rule
• Choose To See The Beauty In Diversity
• Choose a Gratitude Attitude
• Choose To Serve
• Choose To Know My Vision
8. On Friday, October 29, students will receive a lasting reminder of
what they’ve learned this week. If budget permits, we will purchase
reversible, red band bracelets (a la LiveStrong) that say “My Life, My
Choice, Drug Free” on one side, with “I respect myself, I work hard, I am
drug free” on the reverse. Budget is approximately $1000 including shipping
and tax.
9. All classroom teachers at both campuses will receive a flyer week of
10/18 announcing plans for Red Ribbon Week. The flyer will encourage them to
find a way to incorporate the subject of drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse into
their own classroom instruction (group discussion, teaching a health unit,
choosing a relevant book during guided reading, door or bulletin board
decoration, etc.).
COUNSELOR’S CORNER for October 2010
from the desk of Mr. Leigh Mayerson
Coffee with the Counselor
Parents,
If you have any concerns, issues, or questions about anything that I can
assist with:
• 7:30-8:00 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, or Friday
• My office at the Primary Campus which is located at the end of the
2nd grade hall next to the computer lab
• YOU MUST MAKE AN APPOINTMENT FIRST PLEASE so I’ll know to bring the
coffee: e-mail lmayerson@atlanta.k12.ga.us
COUNSELOR’S CORNER for February
from the desk of Mr. Leigh Mayerson
One of our beliefs at Sarah Smith Elementary School is: “Individuals are
unique and valuable and must be treated with equality, dignity, and
respect”. To continue to cultivate and support this belief in our school’s
culture, I am going to begin to plan and then implement anti-bias activities
so that next school year Sarah Smith Elementary will receive an official
designation as a “No Place for Hate School”. To accomplish this we have to
do two things:
1. Adopt and sign the “No Place for Hate Promise”:
· I promise to do my best to treat everyone fairly.
· I promise to do my best to be kind to everyone even if they are not
like me.
· If I see someone being hurt or bullied, I will tell a teacher.
· Everyone should be able to feel safe and happy in school.
· I want our school to be No Place for Hate.
2. Choose and complete a minimum of three projects that align with the
mission of No Place for Hate.
Anti-Bias Resources
To integrate anti-bias, multicultural, and social justice themes in your
classrooms, visit the Curriculum Connections Web
site:
www.adl.org/education/curriculum_connections and to sign up for a free
subscription
Curriculum Connections challenges students to think critically
about past and current events, as well as inspires students to take action in
support of social justice. Furthermore, there is knowledge in reference to
cyberbullying—the elementary level lesson is:“Building a Foundation for Safe
& Kind Online Communication”.
The Power of Teachers
“I have come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in
the classroom.
It’s my personal approach that creates the climate.
It’s my
daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power
to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an
instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all
situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated
or de-escalated and a child humanized or
dehumanized.” --Haim Ginott
New Office & Schedule Reminder·
I am next to the computer lab at the Primary Campus in a wonderful space with
large windows overlooking some natural scenery. Please do not hesitate to
ask if you wish to use my office to meet and/or plan, or just somewhere
different to eat your lunch.· I am at the Primary Campus: Mondays,
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.· I am at the Intermediate Campus:
Thursdays.
COUNSELOR'S CORNER for January
from the desk of Mr. Leigh Mayerson
Mr. Mayerson's New Office
My new office location is where Ms. Moore's old classroom used to be next to
the Computer Lab at the Primary Campus. It is a wonderful space with large
windows overlooking some natural scenery, which makes it a great place for
Individual and Small Group Counseling! Furthermore, please do not hesitate
to ask, if you need somewhere to meet and/or plan, or just somewhere
different to eat your lunch.
Schedule Reminder
With there now being a Primary Campus and an Intermediate Campus, and since I
am part of the Specialists' exploratory rotation:
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays--I am at the Primary Campus;
Thursdays--I am at the Intermediate Campus
Some Quotes to Keep in Mind
As we begin a new chapter in the history of Sarah Smith Elementary School
with a separate Primary and Intermediate Campus, here are some meaningful
quotes to help motivate us in this transition:
". . . meet each other with a smile when it is difficult to smile."--Mother
Teresa
"You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."--Mark
Twain
"Of one thing I am certain, the body is not the measure of healing--peace is
the measure."--George Melton
"Laughter is inner jogging."--Norman Cousins
"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more
difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."--
Benjamin Franklin
"Eighty percent of success is showing up."--Woody Allen
COUNSELOR’S CORNER for December
from the desk of Mr. Leigh Mayerson
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
I am reading the above mentioned book by Robert Fulghum and it is helping me
as a guidance counselor. So, I thought I would share an excerpt with the
hope this will help you in your role as well: “All I really need to know
about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.
Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the
sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned: Share
everything; Play fair; Don’t hit people; Put things back where you found
them; Clean up your own mess; Don’t take things that aren’t yours; Say
you’re sorry when you hurt somebody; Wash your hands before you eat; Warm
cookies and cold milk are good for you; Live a balanced life—learn some and
think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day
some; Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup:
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why,
but we are all like that.”
10 Best Ways to Relieve Stress
If you have a lot of anxiety due to our transition to a K-2 campus and a 3-5
campus, dealing with stress is one of the natural remedies for anxiety.
These simple techniques for reducing stress levels should reduce anxiety
levels: 1. Look at the positives 2. Take a break 3. Light
a candle 4. Relax 5. Talk to someone 6. Get organized 7.
Get plenty of rest 8 Get the right foods 9. Get fit 10. Get a pet
A Quote to Keep in Mind
As we prepare to have a K-2 campus and a 3-5 campus, one sentence from All I
Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten—Uncommon Thoughts on Common
Things jumped out at me: “When you go out into the world, watch out for
traffic, hold hands, and stick together.” As I extrapolate this into the
transition the Sarah Smith family is about to go through, as we go out into
the world it is best to hold hands and stick together.
Flower Planting Campaign Update
Thank you very much to one of our Business Partners, Castro Landscape Co.,
who has volunteered to prepare the soil and who informed me the types of Red
Ribbon Week flowers I intend to plant should not be planted until December.
This planting will occur in Classroom Guidance and, as these flowers bloom
every Spring, Sarah Smith students will be reminded of their pledges.
COUNSELOR’S CORNER for November
from the desk of Mr. Leigh Mayerson
October Red Ribbon Week Update
I would like to let the entire faculty and staff know how well the speaker,
Mr. Rand Eberhard, did presenting to our 1st thru 5th grade students during
Collaborative Planning Specials Wednesday & Thursday of Red Ribbon Week. Mr.
Eberhard is a recovered alcoholic and a recovered drug abuser who has been
clean for 8 ½ years. He taught a lot of appropriate and powerful anti-
tobacco, anti-alcohol, and anti-drug lessons that our students will remember
for a long time! This knowledge will really help Sarah Smith students’
decision-making when they are in middle school, high school, college, and
beyond! THANK YOU VERY MUCH MR. EBERHARD. Also, thank you very much to the
Specialist Teachers for your support during our Red Ribbon Week speaker’s
presentations!
November Continuation of Red Ribbon Week Campaign
A goal the Red Ribbon Week Committee set is for every 1st thru 5th grade
student to plant one flower each as a reminder of the hope that leading a
clean life brings to the students and to the Sarah Smith community. Our goal
is for this to be accomplished by the end of November and the planting will
occur in Classroom Guidance. As the flowers bloom every Spring, we will be
reminded of the pledges we made in the Fall, and this will renew our
students’ resolve to live their Red Ribbon Week pledge!
November’s Theme—Appreciation
Due to Thanksgiving being celebrated this month, the overall theme for
Classroom Guidance is going to be “Appreciation”. In Kindergarten, my
lessons will center around Helping Others. For example, one question I will
ask the is “How does it feel to help others?” In First grade, my lessons
will also center around Helping Others. Here is one example of how I intend
for the students to be thankful for everything they do have and: “being
strong and standing up for others is something we can always choose to do”.
In Second grade, my lessons will center around empathy. For example, I will
help students see the consequences of having empathy for others. In 3rd-5th
grade Classroom Guidance, I will center on the concept of empathy and require
an “action” component. For example, “put yourself in someone else’s shoes
and do something about it”.
Social Skills Small Group Counseling
Here is a breakdown of the sessions I will facilitate for Grades 3-5:
1) “Getting started”; 2) “Solutions”; 3) “Consequences”; 4) Making a
choice”; 5) “Saying no”; 6) “Chill out”; 7) “Problem solving”; and
8) “Saying goodbye”. Here is a breakdown of the sessions I will facilitate
for Grades K-2: 1) “Getting to know each other”; 2) “Feelings”;
3) “What’s the problem”; 4) “There’s more than one way”; 5) “What will
happen?”; 6) “The Waiting problem”; 7) “In the classroom”; and
8) “Saying goodbye”.
