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Second Grade:

1. Mia Johnson

2. Xaden Brown

3. Madeline King

4. Isaac Tran

5. Lydia Solomon

Third Grade:

1. Patrick Finor

2. Declan Hill

3. Clark Nelson

4. Isabella Garcia

5. Sofia Flores

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Video Lesson - Friendship Soup Recipe: A NED Short

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School Name: Clark Elementary School

School climate:

Teachers and students are recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and there is an upward tick in morale

Teacher observed that students who started kindergarten during the pandemic are behind in developing social skills due to starting school on a virtual platform

This year, there has been an increase in behavior referrals due to student altercations and conflict (12% increase)

Student Population: 270 students

Racial Demographics: 45% Caucasian, 21% Hispanic/Latinx, 8% African American, 6.5% AAPI, 19.5% Mixed Race

Group Topic: Developing & Maintaining Friendships

Considerations for the group's developmental level:

During ages 7-9, children have enthusiasm for building friendships but sometimes they lack skills to mutually progress those friendships (Broderick & Blewitt, 2020).

Children are learning to be mindful of their peers and develop empathy, however trauma can impact that development (Broderick & Blewitt, 2020).

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(Elementary Group Counseling - the Responsive Counselor, 2023)

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School groups will be based on the highest priorities from most recent school data (American School Counselor Association, 2020).

Teachers will complete the attached skills assessment for each student referred to the group and who exhibits this need based on school data

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Friendship and social skill development are necessary because positive peer relationships not only support coping skills but a better academic environment for students (Tillman &  Prazak, 2019).

Having at least one good friend in middle childhood serves as a protective factor for children who experience trauma and can set the trajectory for mental health as an adult (Broderick & Blewitt, 2020).

As students enter middle childhood, friendships become a high priority, although children are still learning how to interpret the behaviors and feelings of their peers (Broderick & Blewitt, 2020).

In a school survey:

25% of students said that they do not know how to make or keep friendships

43.2% said they have a lot of conflict in their friendships

Over half (26%) of the students experiencing conflict were in grades 2 and 3 (ages 7-9).

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Using evidence-based practices for social skill development has been shown to help with engaging their peers, behavior in the classroom, school attendance, and a productive learning environment (Carroll, et. al., 2020).

Second and third-grade students will:

Understand how to make new friends

Identify important qualities of a friend

Understand common friendship problems

Learn how to manage conflicts

Develop a plan to manage friendships

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This group will support the school counseling behavior standard in social skills.

B.SS-2: Positive, respectful, and supportive relationships with students who are similar to and different from them

B.SS-4: Empathy

B.SS-6: Effective collaboration and cooperation skills

(American School Counseling Association, 2021)

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Abraham, C., Conner, M., Jones, F., & O'Connor, D. (2016). Health psychology. Routledge.

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Common purpose: Develop plans on how to teach students how to gain and maintain friendships.

Pro-group perceptions: Allow the student to create a safe space and let us know how they feel about groups, what they expect.

Shared values and norms: This will allow the students to see that just because we maybe different we may also have somethings in common.

Group structure: Guided structure for the students.

Interdependence: Allows the student to move independently once familiar with guidelines and purpose of the small group.

Cohesion and climate: Allow some time for student to adjust to the new environment.

Disclosure and feedback: Self disclosing will help students feel more comfortable about opening up in group like settings.

Total Number of Groups: create 1 to 4 groups.

Size of Each Group: Aim for 3 to 5 students per group.

Time Allotted: Allocate 10 to 30 minutes for each small group session.

Frequency of Meetings: Decide whether to meet with each group daily or 2 to 4 times per week

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Screenshot 2024-03-17 at 09-15-44 How do Small Groups Promote Behaviour Change An Integrative Conceptual Review of Explanatory Mechanisms

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(Elementary Group Counseling - the Responsive Counselor, 2023)

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Informed Consent

Parents will be notified of their child’s involvement in the group, while the group's purpose, goals, techniques, and rules of procedure will be disclosed to students (Stone, 2022).

Confidentiality

The school counselor can never ensure confidentiality because students can not guarantee their full understanding of the intricacies of confidentiality (Stone, 2022).

The beginning of each lesson will review confidentiality expectations, tying expectations into the friendship lesson by reminding students, “friends don’t talk about friends.”

Diversity

Group leaders will encourage members to look for ways to connect with others within the group and out (Stone, 2022).

Group leaders will alter groups as needed to encourage connectedness and support for members who are isolated within the group due to one or more dimensions of their cultural identity or experience (Stone, 2022).

As ethical school counselors, group leaders will continue to assess their own multicultural and social justice competence, strive for self-awareness of their role as an agents of social change, and identify issues of privilege and oppression that influence the efficacy of the group work (Ratts et al., 2016, as cited in Cokley et al., 2022).

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Our current target population are second and third graders who are having a noticeably difficult time making friends in a new environment.

Candidates for this group can be both referred and recruited.

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Diversity and Inclusion: Lessons In Friendship and Love | Maryam Elassar | TEDxAmanaAcademy

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Create monthly newsletters to be sent out to showcase the progress the group is making and give out information about the next meeting.

Send out weekly progress reports after 3 meetings to show progress.

For more private information communicating with parents, faculty/staff via email.

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The groups will take place in the multipurpose room of the school during outside time, after lunch.

We will meet twice a week to start and can increase or decrease met times if need be.

Groups will be 30-45 minutes long

Rules will be established within our first session allowing the students to create their own safe space.

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A combination of Adlerian and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) will be used.

Utilizing the key concept of encouragement will allow our group leaders to lean into the Adlerian goal of fostering social interest and community feeling (Carlson & Englar‐Carlson, 2017).

CBT strategies will teach group members to better understand the behavior and motivation of others, use problem-solving skills in difficult situations, and develop a greater sense of confidence in their abilities (American Psychological Association [APA], 2017).

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Effective small group instruction enhances student engagement, provides targeted support, and fosters a positive learning environment. 🌟

Instructional Needs: Recognize that students have diverse learning needs within a single classroom. Differentiated instruction aims to address these varying needs. It involves matching instruction to meet the different requirements of learners.

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Students were selected based on referrals from teachers, school counselors, other school staff, and parents (Tillman & Prazak, 2019).

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Concluding the last session, students will answer 10 multiple-choice questions on various teaching points in the course (O’Callaghan & Cunningham, 2015).

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Students will complete a short questionnaire on FlipGrid, including the following questions-

Did you find the Friendship Group helpful? Why or why not?

Would you recommend the Friendship Group to other children in the school? Why or why not?

What was the most enjoyable part of the Friendship Group?

What was the most useful thing you learned from the Friendship Group? (O’Callaghan & Cunningham, 2015)