The Thanksgiving holiday is two days away. I can hardly believe that the school year has gone by so quickly and we are almost to the end of November. I especially love the holiday of Thanksgiving because I have so much for which to be thankful. I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with middle school students who can sometimes be both immature and mature within the same five minutes. Valleywood is such an excellent school and the staff works very hard to help students be successful and for this I am grateful because coming to work is a joy.
I am hopeful that all of the students, their families and the staff here at Valleywood have a very relaxing Thanksgiving holiday.
When we return, we will be completing Educational Development Plans with 7th and 8th grade students. 

Friendship in middle school is quite a challenge. Often the challenge of finding a true friend can be very difficult and takes time. Many times students share their disappointments about friends who they thought they could trust but now have turned against them. There are students who have very poor friendship skills who treat others in a mean way and seem to enjoy the turmoil that happens when two friends are no longer getting along due to a rumor that was spread about them.
Learning to choose someone as a friend who is a quality person with similar interests and values is not easy and often happens only after a student has suffered through the pain of  friendships that have fallen apart.

The students at Valleywood have taken the English Language Arts MEAP test this week and will be taking the Mathematics (all grades), Science (8th grade), Social Studies (6th grade) and Writing (7th grade) during the week of  October 17th- 21st. I am hoping that parents are making sure that their children are well rested each night so that they are able to think clearly when taking their tests.
One of the components of the Comprehensive Guidance Program offered at Valleywood is called, Classroom Guidance. To help ascertain which issues are of greatest concern and interest to students a survey was given to each student allowing them to designate their top three choices for topics about which they would like to become more informed. These results will be presented to students and staff in the near future.

September Wrap Up

It is very hard to believe that the month of September has come to an end. This month has been a very busy month for me but I have really enjoyed it. I had the opportunity to work with all of the 6th graders during an hour of classroom guidance. The focus of the lesson was for students to learn not only about the services of the guidance office, but also to learn how talking to the counselor can help with the stress that can get in the way of being a successful student.We also did an activity that helped students begin to know each other a little better.

I have also met with all of the "new to Valleywood"  7th and 8th grade students. I enjoyed the experience and believe that the new students attending our school are going to be a very positive addition to the school.
As I look toward October, another busy month awaits all of us. The MEAP test will be a large part of the focus for the month.

The Counseling Office continues to register new students everyday. This past week I was in the 6th grade science classes meeting all of the new 6th grade students. The sixth grade students are doing a fine job making the adjustment to middle school. I look forward to our next opportunity for a classroom Guidance Lesson.

The first day of school is always very busy and very exciting for everyone. That was yesterday. Today a few students enrolled, but everything seems to be going very well. At the beginning of the school year I always think of the Chinese Proverb "the longest journey begins with the first step".
I'm looking forward to the "journey" this year.

Welcome!

I'm looking forward to this upcoming school year and the opportunity to work with the students at Valleywood.