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This will be the first session where the students meet each other. We will start the session with "The Name Game." These activities demonstrated in the video introduce the students in a fun way that gets students excited to learn and become friends.

After students introduce themselves, as the leader I will explain the purpose of the group. We will discuss what self-esteem means and  goals that we want to accomplish.
--Students will be able to appreciate differences they have amongst others and respect everyone.
--Students will be able to embrace their own cultures, as well as others.
--Students will be able to understand the importance of being kind and will learn how to actively demonstrate kindness, such as giving compliments.
--Students will be able to identify positive qualities in themselves.

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This video demonstrates how to run transition stage activities. The activities in the video, like rock-paper-scissors-splits, helps students interact in fun ways to help decrease members' anxieties and encourage positive behaviors with each other.

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Transition Activities and Games for Children

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Week 3- “I’m a Boring Cupcake, Nobody Likes Me"

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Week 3- “I’m a Boring Cupcake, Nobody Likes Me"

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This activity is perfect to use with a group lesson plan pertaining to self-esteem. First, the book Cupcake will be read to the students. Cupcake is about a plain vanilla cupcake that no one wants to eat (Rex, 2012). Cupcake finds ways to make himself more unique and while doing so, he makes friends (Rex, 2012)! After reading to book to the group, a worksheet will be passed out to the students. The cupcake worksheet includes a fun cupcake to color, along with an area for students to write down what makes them special. This helps students identify what makes them different and unique in life. The worksheet and book simply demonstrate how being diverse and colorful can make you stand out in a positive way. Another fun addition to add to this activity is to bring in plain cupcakes for students to decorate with sprinkles and such. This activity allows young students, like first and second graders, to use their creativity to make their cupcake special and relate it to how they are special as individuals. After the students are done with their worksheets, the school counselor should encourage the group to share their cupcakes and complement each other’s creative differences.

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In the elementary age group, students often have a hard time with making/keeping friends. I chose to look at an activity that I can do within this “friendship” group. I will open my lesson up with a  question- “what do you think makes a friend?”. I will record the students’ responses. We will read the book, Peanut Butter & Cupcake! By Terry Border. We will discuss the story and state which characters were “friends” and which characters were not friends. Using a puzzle piece map, we will put the word friends in the middle and draw pictures and write words that describe a good friend. For the closing activity, we will think of one way, we can be a good friend to someone today.

I think this activity will be so fitting for all students in an elementary age level  (kindergarten through fifth grade). The book Peanut Butter & Cupcake! Is humorous yet, it shows that there is someone for each of us to be friends with. It might take time to find that friend, but at the end it will be someone that completes you.  With the puzzle, it will serve as an anchor chart/reference that we can refer to, to see what makes a good friend.

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At the end of the last group session, the school counselor will do a closing activity to wrap up the group. "Mirror Mirror" is an adjourning stage activity that has group members choose three questions that reflect on their experience, growth, and what they have learned. Three questions that would be appropriate for students in a group about self-esteem would be:
1. What new friends did I make that are important to me?
2. What is something I am most proud of about myself?
3. What is one way I can be kind to others?
The students should write these down on a piece of paper and put them in an envelope to mail them to themselves. The school counselor should write a personal reflection they had of the student inside also. In a month the reflections will be sent to the students and they will be able to re-read what wrote as a reminder of what they learned in group (YACH Handbook Ideas, n.d.).

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Border, T. (2014). Peanut Butter & Cupcake! New York, NY: Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA). Pin on Paint class. (n.d.). Retrieved July 02, 2020, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/69665125475523627/

Rex, M. (2012, October 26). I’m a boring cupcake, nobody likes me. Elementary school counseling. http://www.elementaryschoolcounseling.org/sg-self-esteem.html

YACH Handbook Ideas. (n.d.). https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/wi4hcitizenship/files/2018/04/YACH-Handbook-Ideas.pdf