We have been lucky to have Mrs. Cohen at our school for many, many years.  I have actually been lucky enough to work with her when she was a teacher’s assistant in my 4th grade classroom, then I worked with her as a parent (I had her daughter in 5th grade!), she was most recently an administrative assistant in our office, and now we’ve the most blessed that she’s moved up to be our school counselor!!  What great fun to experience so many dimensions of a person and be so encouraged by their work in so many ways.

Well…since my first grade friends were in our school last year, most of them already know Mrs. Cohen.  But since they know her from the office, it was really important for them to be reintroduced to her in her new role.  In order to do that, she spent the last week or so visiting each classroom, bringing with her a really great lesson (differentiated perfectly for each level of kiddos) about what they can expect from her this year.

Our lesson involved a magic bag.  Kiddos got to pull things out of her bag and we’d guess (then she’d tell us) what each represented about her job, or how she’d use them throughout the day.

It’s a little hard to see all the things being pulled out of her bag, so I’ll tell you about them…

1. Tissues–because some times you might have emotions that make you cry, happy or sad!
2. Book–often reading a book with a kiddo is a great way to work through things
3. Foosball–Can you believe Mrs. Cohen has a FOOSBALL table in her office??  Need I say more?
4. Lunch boxes–sometimes Mrs. Cohen has lunch with friends; I want to be so lucky!
5. Bouncy ball–sometimes Mrs. Cohen spends time at recess with Robinson kiddos!
6. Ear–a great counselor like Mrs. Cohen has super listening ears and wants to hear what Robinson kids have to say (she brought that ear from her Mrs. Potato Head, which is how she introduced herself to our kindergarten friends)
7. Heart–she’s got a big one with lots of love to share!
8. Smile–who doesn’t love someone smiling at them and sharing a kind word?
9. Hand–she gives GREAT high-fives!
10. Feet (not pictured)–sometimes a kiddo might just need to take a walk, to burn off some steam, to calm down, to think through things, or just to talk.  Mrs. Cohen is available for those kinds of times. 🙂

WOW–what lucky Roadrunners we are to be able to have such a caring, thoughtful, resourceful, creative and FUN counselor to take care of us. 🙂  I’m glad I get to spend everyday at Robinson with my friend, Mrs. Cohen! How about you??