Monthly Lesson Plans for Elementary School Counselors
Planning the year out as a school counselor can be challenging and honestly even a little overwhelming! You’re supposed to deliver counseling services across all three tiers (class lessons, small groups, and individual sessions) while measuring the effectiveness of your program and keeping students engaged!? Don’t worry I’ve got you covered with monthly lesson plan ideas.
August
Use a Mission: Meet the Counselor lesson to introduce yourself and clarify your role at the beginning of the school year! Divide the class into groups and have them solve 5 missions to uncover the role of the school counselor. As students solve each mission, they progress to the next one. Using a timer gives this lesson an escape room feel.
At the beginning of the year, many younger students struggle with leaving their parents. Use a Separation Anxiety Small Group to help students learn new strategies for dealing with anxiety when it comes to leaving their caregivers to attend school. If you work with a lot of first-generation students you may want to try a newcomers group this month as well.
Use these activities with students who lose control when experiencing strong emotions. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts to help students learn the self-control strategies and coping skills they need in order to be successful socially and academically. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
Use a needs assessment at the beginning of the school year to survey teachers and assess student needs. Send teachers a paper copy or digital Google Form to see what topics your counseling curriculum should address. You can edit the questions to reflect your school’s needs. In addition to the questions, leave a free-response section so teachers can share their thoughts and suggestions regarding the previous year’s program. If your site has a highly involved parent community you could ask them too.
September
The beginning of the school year is a good time to introduce and review emotional recognition. Students will define and give examples of each emotion. Additionally, they will identify triggers that cause them to feel certain emotions. You may also want to teach a self-control, growth mindset, or learning styles lesson this month.
Some students may need more support in terms of identifying and managing emotions. Use a Emotion Recognition Small Group to help students identify and describe different feelings, recognize emotions in themselves and others, and select appropriate coping skills to regulate their emotions.
Use these activities with students who struggle with low self-esteem. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts to help students learn the strategies they need to build self-confidence and increase self-esteem. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
Use referral forms at the beginning of the year to determine your caseload. Then you can then use them throughout the school year. Send referral forms to teachers so they can recommend students for counseling. You can also put a digital form on your school website so parents and teachers can easily submit them.
October
October is Bullying Prevention Month! Teach students the different roles in bullying and what it means to be an upstander using this engaging class lesson. They will also learn what is and what is not considered bullying (this is especially helpful for those students that think EVERYTHING is bullying).
Many students struggle with social skills. Use parent and teacher referrals to determine who would be a good fit for the group. Prepare students for social situations by teaching them how to make and maintain friends by using effective communication skills, how to respond to socially difficult situations, and how to practice reading non-verbal communication.
Use these activities with students who are losing control and getting in trouble for the inability to self-regulate strong feelings. Think of students who would benefit from learning specific coping skills. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts. Divide it up over 5 sessions or split more in-depth activities into 2 sessions to lengthen the amount of times you meet with the student. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
Set up these organization tools once you receive your caseload so you can stay organized, develop an efficient calling system, and track data from student visits. Set up your caseload digitally using a Google Sheet so you can easily see the student’s teacher, area of need, and referral information. Then print counseling logs to keep in student folders.
November
At this point in the school year, the academics are getting more rigorous and students may feel overwhelmed. Teach a perseverance lesson to encourage them not to give up, and to reach their maximum potential.
Use this small group during first semester to help build students’ self-esteem. Use this group with elementary girls (grades 2-6) to practice self-reflection, communication, goal setting, and more with each week's self-esteem-building activities. Survey parents and teachers to find out which students need support building self-esteem.
Use these activities with students who struggle to manage their emotions when they feel angry. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts. Divide it up over 5 sessions or split more in-depth activities into 2 sessions to lengthen the amount of times you meet with the student. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
Using a Counseling Hub will help you organize all of your data in a central area so you can ensure no students slip through the cracks! Use a counseling log and caseload spreadsheet to track students served. Your caseload sheet will show all of the students you work with, and your log will indicate when exactly you met with them.
December
Empathy is a nice topic to touch on around the holiday season. Use an Empathy SEL Class Lesson to help students develop self-awareness and practice perspective-taking. December is also a good mid-point in the year to teach a responsibility lesson.
By December you have likely identified some students who struggle with making wise choices and using positive coping strategies. Starting this self-control group mid-year will help prepare students for the upcoming semester by developing habits and thought patterns to take accountability for their choices.
Use this activity with students who have lost a loved one. This loss could be death, separation, incarceration, or even death of a beloved pet. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts. Divide it up over 5 sessions or split more in-depth activities into 2 sessions to lengthen the amount of times you meet with the student. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
A data wall is a great tool to use at the end of each quarter, semester, and school year. You use a data wall to display student growth and program progress. Complete the templates with your own data then cut and paste on to a bulletin board to showcase your program's progress. If you prefer a digital version you can make a copy of the Virtual Data Wall to display on your school website.
January
Use a goal setting class lesson in January as students are focusing on fresh starts and resolutions. Visit each class during the month to present the lesson. Use the counselor's guide and outline to facilitate an icebreaker, discussion, activity, and reflection. Use the self-assessments to collect data before and after the lesson. I also recommend teaching a cooperation lesson in January to review expectations and norms after returning from a break.
Start an executive functioning group in second semester to help students prepare for testing season and develop the skills they need to have a strong finish to the school year. This group is designed for upper elementary students in grades 4-6 who need help with organization and time management skills. Determine who these students are through teacher referrals.
You may receive referrals for students who would benefit from practicing a growth mindset. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts. Divide it up over 5 sessions or split more in-depth activities into 2 sessions to lengthen the amount of times you meet with the student. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
Send behavior surveys to parents and teachers parents and teachers before and after groups and individual sessions to track student progress. You can use the data to assess how the student's behavior is changing as a reflection of the skills they are working on in counseling. It is important to survey both parents and teachers to see how the student's behavior differs in the home and school setting. For distance learning, send out the digital Google Forms version.
February
Try incorporating a kindness lesson around Valentine’s Day. Use a class lesson on kindness to help students define kindness, make goals for showing kindness in the future, and develop new social skills they can use to show kindness to others. An alternate relevant topic to teach in February is Friendship.
Many students struggle with friendships. Use a Relational Aggression Group to dive deeper into skills for assessing social media behavior, making and maintaining friendships, developing empathy, and determining how to attain positive attention.
Use these activities with students who struggle to understand how others' feel or don't seem to care. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts. Divide it up over 5 sessions or split more in-depth activities into 2 sessions to lengthen the amount of times you meet with the student. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
Send self-assessments out during the first and last session of groups and individual sessions to track student progress. You can use them with any students who you are seeing in groups or individually. Have students answer the self-assessment questions then record their data. If you’re working with younger students you can survey them by asking them the questions directly and writing down their answers.
March
It’s a good idea to revisit emotional recognition self-regulation strategies in second semester. A Self-Regulation Lesson helps students develop a new language they can use to describe their emotions, levels of energy, and feelings. Students will learn to associate each emotion with a color and temperature and a corresponding self-regulation coping strategy.
As testing season approaches, form an Academic Skills Group to help students be more successful in school by focusing on preparedness, executive functioning, and test anxiety. Gather referrals from teachers to determine participants.
Use these activities with students whose parents are going through a divorce. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts. Divide it up over 5 sessions or split more in-depth activities into 2 sessions to lengthen the amount of times you meet with the student. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
Continue to send self-assessments before and after you start and end sessions. You can use them with groups or individually.
April
Many students experience anxiety, especially around testing season. Use an Anxiety Coping Skills Lesson to teach a brain-based approach to anxiety that empowers and prepares students for the changes that they feel when experiencing anxiety. Other lesson options to use this month are Study Skills and Focus and Attention.
The class lesson may not be enough for students who are experiencing more extreme anxiety. Form an Anxiety Small Group of these students based on referrals to review the brain/body connection and practice how to prevent anxiety through problem-solving, grounding techniques, and calming tools.
Use this activity with students who have anxiety or who are often worried. They may be experiencing anxiety about testing and need more than the tier 1 lesson or tier 2 group. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts. Divide it up over 5 sessions or split more in-depth activities into 2 sessions to lengthen the amount of times you meet with the student. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
Use a Motivation Assessment Survey to determine what motivates your students and manage behavior with this motivation assessment survey and behavior assessment tool! Students choose between reward options to see if they are motivated by attention, leadership, physical rewards, or creative outlets.
May
It’s never too early to introduce potential careers! Use a Career Exploration Lesson to introduce students to various career clusters and interests so they can understand how to make a plan for their future career.
As students form friendships throughout the year, conflicts are bound to occur. Take a proactive approach to your frequent flyers by forming a Conflict Resolution Small Group to help students determine why conflicts arise in their social interactions and how to identify the size of different 'problems' so they can use appropriate conflict resolution techniques.
Use this activity with students who are processing traumatic events. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts. Divide it up over 5 sessions or split more in-depth activities into 2 sessions to lengthen the amount of times you meet with the student. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
Use an End of the Year Report to showcase all of your data! Use this report at the end of the school year to show your principal and team how many students have been impacted by your counseling services. Gather all of the data you’ve collected throughout the school year (self-assessments, behavior surveys, etc) and organize it in charts and graphs to show a summary of services provided.
June
It’s never too early to introduce potential careers! Use a Career Exploration Lesson to introduce students to various career clusters and interests so they can understand how to make a plan for their future career.
Use this activity with students who are processing traumatic events. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts. Divide it up over 5 sessions or split more in-depth activities into 2 sessions to lengthen the amount of times you meet with the student. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
Use this activity with students who are processing traumatic events. The curriculum consists of 5 activities and 5 journal prompts. Divide it up over 5 sessions or split more in-depth activities into 2 sessions to lengthen the amount of times you meet with the student. Guide the student through these activities in a one-on-one setting.
Revisit your Data Wall at the end of the school year to show progress since you last tracked data. You can also use this as a way to brag on your program and show the need for your role. A Data Wall can help serve students as you make necessary changes and plan for the upcoming year.
I hope these monthly lesson plans make you feel confident and prepared to tackle the upcoming school year! Don’t forget to download your FREE lesson plans here! You’ve got this!
HEY THERE, I'M RACHEL!
Counselor specializing in easy-to-implement strategies for busy school counselors.
I’m the counselor and curriculum designer behind Bright Futures Counseling, a community designed to offer counselors the support they need to feel confident serving their students well.
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