Blog 2: When to consult a school counselor/school pyschologist...

When you consult your school counselor/psychologist is a question that can vary in its answer I believe greatly due to how the school site is set up.  At my current school we have one psychologist who we share with three other sites.  So we see her twice a week on campus.  During this time she is testing students and trying to help with issues that arise and or issues that have been reported that she needs to follow up on.  She is truly amazing but with her being there twice a week we as a site have to at times go directly to our assistant principal and or principal. 
Overall though, we first try to go to the psychologist first and we always keep her in the loop of what is going on.  We have her assist with placements (concerning SPED), behavior issues with general education as well as sped students.  She is involved with certain issues when it comes to curriculum if it is about a sped student.  She is part of the team if there is a concern with safety, abuse, or any issues in that arena. 

She helps with a students that we have had to initiate a BIP and worked for almost 5 months with the student and interventions.  She was there to help guide my team and the parents.  As an IEP team we worked together to keep all involved up to date and working toward the conclusion.  She works with general education students that have issues at home and need a third party to talk with who is there to listen.  Our school psychologist wears many hats but she does an amazing job and I know our students who have worked with her are truly grateful for her help. 

Ensuring Grade Level standards

In my classroom, we are given an open ability to use whatever curriculum we would like to best fit our students.  As for following and adhering to grade level standards I use the general education grade level standards as a guide.  It doesn't mean we keep on track with them as far as what we cover by when but I do use them to guide my instruction.  Since I have a combined class of grades 2-4 I do a lot of 2nd grade and differentiate for the 3rd and 4th since they are bridging gaps.  I also do the reverse for the 3rd and 4th for the 2nd graders.  Recently we did a whole lesson on learning the states and the capitals since two of my upper graders asked about it.  I differentiated for the lower grades and they all had a fun time learning.  I do the same for math, right now I have everyone in the class learning their multiplication facts.  They are all going to need to and the sooner the better so they won't have to struggle on that hill so hard. 
As I stated I use my gen ed curriculum to help my planning and I try to stick as close as we can with subject matter but use a lot of differentiation to help complete the holes and true understanding of subject matter.