Mission Statement:
The goal of Simpson Middle School's Professional School Counselors is to implement a comprehensive school counseling program that addresses the needs of all students in the domains of academic, personal/social, and career development. Interventions are provided as needed and collaboration with other professionals when warranted. Students are assisted in acquiring appropriate attitudes, knowledge, and communication skills to promote healthy relationships.
No Charge
Our little boy came up to his mother in the kitchen one evening while she was fixing supper, and he handed her a piece of paper that he had been writing on. After his mom dried her hands on an apron, she read it, and this is what it said:
For cutting the grass $5.00
For cleaning my room this week $1.00
For going to the store for you $ .50
Baby-sitting my kid brother while you went shopping $ .25
Taking out the garbage $1.00
For getting a good report card $5.00
For cleaning up and raking the yard $2.00
Total owed: $14.75
Well, I'll tell you, his mother looked at him standing there quietly and expectantly, and boy, could I see the memories flashing through her mind. So, she picked up the pen, turned over the paper he'd written on, and this is what she wrote:
For the nine months I carried you while you were growing inside me, No Charge.
For all the nights that I've sat up with you, doctored and prayed for you, No Charge.
For all the trying time, and all the tears that you've caused through the years, there's No Charge.
When you add it all up, the cost of my love is No Charge.
For all the nights that were filled with dread and for the worries I knew were ahead, No Charge.
For all the toys, food, clothes and even wiping your nose, there's No Charge, Son.
And when you add it all up, the full cost of real love is No Charge.
Well friends, when our son finished reading what his mother had written there were great big tears in his eyes, and he looked straight up at his mother and said, "Mom, I sure do love you." And then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote: "PAID IN FULL."
M. Adams
Source: A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul:
101 More Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit
Canfield and Hansen
No Charge
Our little boy came up to his mother in the kitchen one evening while she was fixing supper, and he handed her a piece of paper that he had been writing on. After his mom dried her hands on an apron, she read it, and this is what it said:
For cutting the grass $5.00
For cleaning my room this week $1.00
For going to the store for you $ .50
Baby-sitting my kid brother while you went shopping $ .25
Taking out the garbage $1.00
For getting a good report card $5.00
For cleaning up and raking the yard $2.00
Total owed: $14.75
Well, I'll tell you, his mother looked at him standing there quietly and expectantly, and boy, could I see the memories flashing through her mind. So, she picked up the pen, turned over the paper he'd written on, and this is what she wrote:
For the nine months I carried you while you were growing inside me, No Charge.
For all the nights that I've sat up with you, doctored and prayed for you, No Charge.
For all the trying time, and all the tears that you've caused through the years, there's No Charge.
When you add it all up, the cost of my love is No Charge.
For all the nights that were filled with dread and for the worries I knew were ahead, No Charge.
For all the toys, food, clothes and even wiping your nose, there's No Charge, Son.
And when you add it all up, the full cost of real love is No Charge.
Well friends, when our son finished reading what his mother had written there were great big tears in his eyes, and he looked straight up at his mother and said, "Mom, I sure do love you." And then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote: "PAID IN FULL."
M. Adams
Source: A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul:
101 More Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit
Canfield and Hansen
Will The Real You Please Stand Up?
Submit to pressure from peers and you move down to their level.
Speak up for your own beliefs and you invite them up to your level.
If you move with the crowd, you’ll get no further than the crowd.
When 40 million people believe in a dumb idea, it’s still a dumb idea.
Simply swimming with the tide leaves you nowhere.
So if you believe in something that’s good, honest and bright- stand up for it. Maybe your peers will get smart and drift your way.
Author Unkown
Career Cruising is a comprehensive career guide that is user friendly and does not require any special training or expertise. This Internet program is suitable for people from age eleven through adults and is free for you to access. Middle school students benefit from this program by starting to learn about various career choices and the relationship between school work and the working world. High school students start to investigate occupations and develop ideas about career choices. College students may learn about careers that are related to their field of study. Adults, employed or unemployed, may utilize Career Cruising to evaluate their options and or consider career changes.
Career Cruising can be used on all the computers at our school as well as accessed from home by all students and parents. To do this, go to www.careercruising.com and enter the following user-name and password: Username: simpson Password: eagles
WellStar is trying to promote some great classes aimed at tweens and young teens. They are: 1) **NEW** Course Offered by WellStar Corporate & Community Health:
American Heart Association- Heartsaver CPR in Schools
This credentialed course is specifically designed to teach young
adults who are middle and high school age the life saving skill of CPR.
The course covers:
- Adult, child, and infant CPR
- Choking rescue for adult, child, and infant
- AED (Automated External Defibrilator) use
2) Safe Sitter Babysitting Education Course - ages 11-14
Safe Sitters learn:
- What to do if a child chokes
- Safety for the sitter
- Babysitting business skills
- Basic child care skills (diapering, feeding, etc.)
- How to entertain children and keep them safe
**$10 discount if you sign your child up for both classes**
For more information, see attached flyers or call 770-793-7453. Call 770-956-STAR to register.
Download cpr_in_schools.pdf
The Promise and Perils of Blogging
A place to write down your thoughts and feelings, your secret desires and hopes for the future—one that is open for anyone to read and comment on. Welcome to the Blog.
Blogs, or “weblogs” (“web” + “log”) are journals posted on the Internet. These online diaries are often hosted free of charge by companies who get money by placing click through ads on the blog pages. What distinguishes the blog from any other web page is the format. The entries are posted in reverse chronological order, and each entry contains an area for comments from the readers. This enables topics to be discussed among the readers in an ongoing dialogue.
Blogs can be written by anyone, about anything: the school lunch, how to kill a spider, etc. The over four million bloggers leave no conversational stone unturned. Typically, a blog contains links to other blogs The appeal of blogging to teens is natural. Blogging has become a social event. It is a way to reach out and connect and share ideas of a personal nature in an impersonal forum. This private diary broadcast to millions of strangers is a way of getting attention while hiding behind a computer. It’s not surprising that blogging has so quickly become identified as a “teen” pastime.
The promise of teen blogging is that it nurtures important social skills, fills a need for self-expression, and builds writing ability. And most of the time it does just that. Careless blogging, on the other hand, can be dangerous in many ways. The online sexual predator over time can glean enough information from a blog to put together a personal profile of the author. School name, names of friends, teachers, physical addresses, street names, town—anything and everything can be used by the sexual predator. While the teen posts what s/he thinks are innocent details, s/he is in reality drawing a roadmap to her house. S/he is lulled into a false sense of security by what s/he sees as the anonymity of the Internet.
This perceived anonymity gives rise to the other dangers of blogging: cyber bullying and slander. Without the physical immediacy of an audience, teen bloggers are less likely to see and understand the damage their words can do. Schoolyard gossip finds its way into a blog, and the target of the gossip suffers at the hands of unknown online assailants.
Blogs can be used to the same effect by cyber bullies. The damage done by cyber bullying cannot be overstated—just recently 13-year-old Ryan Halligan committed suicide as a result of cyber bullying. Teens, especially when it comes to blogs, sometimes forget that anything posted on the Internet has an unintended audience, and therefore, unintended consequences.
www.isafe.org
If you’re thinking of creating your own online blog,
here are some tips you can follow to ensure your safety.
1. Password-protect your blog. Make sure that nobody knows your password other than your parents.
2. Do not include very personal and detailed information (places you hang out, malls, etc.) in your blog.
3. Do not complete a profile or include name, address, phone number, school, zip code, e-mail address, or screen name in your blog.
4. Do not release any personal information about anyone else you know either.
5. Pretend that you are a predator. Read your writing and see if you can pick out details that lead to revealing personal info about you.
6. Do not include photos of yourself or others in your blog.
7. Do not leave your blog page open and your computer unattended. Someone could step in and write something as you.
8. Do not spread gossip or slander about your classmates.
www.isafe.org
CHADD is the name for an organization that provides support for Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. They have a web site, including a local site for Cobb County members. The following is from their March 27, 2008 update.
Dear Friend of CHADD:
Spring is here, and the CHADD Web site is coming alive!
We wanted to share with you some updates to the CHADD Web site that you will most likely find beneficial.
Coming soon...
More updates and information will be posted in the coming days. We hope to have the "Especially for Parents" section fully populated in the next week. Stay tuned and let us know what you think of changes. Please contact Bryan Goodman (bryan_goodman@chadd.org) with your feedback.
If you log on to the website, you can follow instructions on how to join and how to get monthly e-mails and notices.
Will The Real You Please Stand Up?
Submit to pressure from peers and you move down to their level.
Speak up for your own beliefs and you invite them up to your level.
If you move with the crowd, you’ll get no further than the crowd.
When 40 million people believe in a dumb idea, it’s still a dumb idea.
Simply swimming with the tide leaves you nowhere.
So if you believe in something that’s good, honest and bright- stand up for it. Maybe your peers will get smart and drift your way.
Author Unkown
The U.S. Government has an easy to use web site that provides access to information to more than 1,000 benefit and assistance programs including numerous education related programs. Some student benefit programs on this web site include Federal Pell Grants; PLUS Parent Loans; Student Career Experience Program (SCEP); Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP) and Youth Opportunity Grants. Visit www.GovBenefits.gov to access this educational as well as other beneficial information.
