Broken Crayons Still Color

I think it is very important for school counselors to get to know kindergarteners during the first few weeks of school. It helps build relationships and establishes that you will play a role in their classroom and their education during the school year. It sends a clear message that you care and will be there for them.

This year, I am going to quickly introduce myself and do a lesson with my kinder students during the first and second week of school. I will be showing them the importance of teamwork while teaching them that broken crayons can still color.

Scheduling and Planning

Our preplanning week is next week. During that time, I plan to work with kinder teachers to develop a schedule for classrooms visits. The start of a school year is hectic, I do not want to cause disruptions or add to the chaos. Planning it out and scheduling timeslots in advance helps everything run more smoothly as well as helps to build a relationship with the kinder teacher team.

Quick Classroom Lesson

Once in their classroom, I plan to quickly introduce myself to students. I want to give them just the highlights so I do not overwhelm them and make them forget who am I. I am probably going to say something like, “Hello everyone! Welcome to kindergarten college! We are so excited to have you here! I am Mrs. Bell and I am your School Counselor! My job here is to help solve problems. If you ever need someone to talk to or help to solve a big problem, with your teacher’s permission, you can come and see me!”

This is only my second year at my school. Last year I asked a little boy what grade he was in and he said, “Kindergarten college! I’m in kindergarten now but I’m going to college later.” I loved that so much.

I found out later that a kinder teacher at our school tells her students to, “kiss their brains cause they are headed to college” when they get an answer right. She refers to her students as “kindergarten college students” as often as possible.

Since that day, I have too.

The Day the Crayons Quit

After a quick intro, I plan to read The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt. I am thinking I am only going to have about 20 minutes in each classroom so I am going to summarize each of the crayon’s concerns and not read the pages word for word. After getting the main points across, I am going to let five students tell me what they think about the book and what they have learned.

I love calling on students who have their hands raised that I did not think were into the book or paying attention to me. It is a nice reminder to never judge a book by its cover because I am usually very surprised by their answers. There is nothing better than thinking a kid isn’t listening, and then being blown away with their insightful takeaways from the story.

Wrap Up Craft

Wrapping up the lesson, I will talk about how everything is better when we work together. I will use the last picture in the book to show how it looks so much more beautiful when we all do our parts and work together.

My wrap-up speech will hit some of the main takeaways from the lesson:

1. Teamwork is extremely important.
2. Everyone doing their part makes for a much better result.
3. Sharing and working together gets the job done.
4. Include others, they may have a lot to offer.
5. Even if we are tired and worn down, we can still make something beautiful. The crayons were tired and broken, but they were still able to color and create that wonderful picture.

If even one student thinks about one of those things after the lesson is complete, my goal will be accomplished.

Broken Crayon Cookies

To leave a lasting impact and make sure the students at least remember my face, I am giving them all a “broken crayon cookie” as my son likes to call them. They are broken, tired crayons that were melted down to create something new and beautiful.

I want students to remember that all types of different colored crayons came together to make the beautiful hearts they are holding in their hands. In their classroom, all of their beautiful hearts have come together to make the team that they will now call their class. It is up to them to make sure that the team works together.

Broken Crayons Can Still Color

Let me know what you think in the comments below! If you end up using this, how did it go?! Drop some pics in the comments!

Learn how to let broken crayons color in a new form with these step-by-step directions.

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