Murray Park/ Quest Elementary School Counseling

09/25/2019

Students at Murray Park Quest are Putting the “I” in Kind today, to observe Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s !!

We’re thankful for our partners at CharacterStrong for the wonderful idea to have staff members each decorate a paper plate with a word that represents the way they’d like others to feel when they’re in their presence (ex: comfortable, safe, loved, special, happy, etc.).

This morning, classroom teachers each lead a discussion with their students about bullying awareness. Teachers covered things like what bullying is, the 3 different types of bullying (physical, verbal, & social), the importance of all children feeling safe at school, what to do if you or someone you know is being bullied at school, and how to prevent bullying from happening in our school by being an “Upstander.”

To help solidify this important message, students watched the video “Be An Upstander: Prevent Bullying” — the video can be found at this link: https://youtu.be/eeqQCyQOCPg

If you have any questions or concerns related to your child and the topic of bullying, please feel free to reach out! Thanks for doing your part to help teach these important messages at home. Your partnership is so valuable, and we’re appreciative of all you’re doing to make teaching your kiddos so enjoyable!

Mrs. Jess, MP/Q School Counselor

05/03/2019

This week we kicked off our Pennies For Patients fundraiser for the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - Wisconsin Chapter!!

🎉💉🔬😁💰

We’re well on our way to meeting our goal, and so excited to continue working toward some of our fun (and silly) incentives and rewards!! The fun will continue next week, as students are invited to participate in dress up days!

💤🎽🤪🚒🦸‍♀️

Thanks to everyone who has donated, so far! Donations of cash or change can be sent with students to school, or can be made online to any individual student’s page! We’re excited to see how much more we can bring in next week, to support cancer research!

02/21/2019

This week we’re celebrating Random Acts of Kindness, here at MPQ! 🤗✨

The theme for this year is In keeping with this theme, we're taking a closer look at how even the *smallest* acts of kindness can create *massive* positive change - all it takes is ONE!

One person • One compliment • One high-five • One helpful task • One thoughtful gesture • One meaningful comment ... ☝️1️⃣

Students spent time in Guidance focusing on kindness, learning how just ONE small thing can change someone's entire day! Together we came up with a list of unkind actions we’d like to "ban" here at MP/Q. 🚫🤚 From there, we had a discussion of HOW we could go about doing this. Our answer was simple...

Spread... More... KINDNESS!!! 💞🎉

We learned about a cool way to think of this; just one small drop of kindness can create a ripple, that turns into a giant wave. To illustrate this in a BIG way... we created a huge “wave,” filled with ideas of how we can ban unkind actions using kindness! 🏄‍♂️💧💦🌊🏄‍♀️

(... Meanwhile... Miss Marvin isn’t so much a “logistical thinker,” so if we have any engineers willing to help us hang this 20-foot beast, we’re open to ideas! 😉🤷‍♀️)

We often also talk about kindness as being like a boomerang; when we throw kindness out to others, it will almost always return to us. 🔁 We've thought of lots of fun and creative ways to throw those kindness boomerangs this week, as part of our RAK celebration. 💞

Another awesome part of this week is the annual kindness challenge! This year’s challenge is called "The ABC’s of Kindness." 🔤✅ Students are encouraged to complete an act of kindness for every letter of the alphabet, and can earn one point for each item checked off. My favorite letter challenge is “Y” - Yodel a made-up song about kindness to an adult at school 🤣🗣 We had a few 5th-grade troopers that were willing to demonstrate! 👍 At the end of the week, classes will total up their points, and the class with the highest percentage of items completed will become our 2019 Kindness Champions, and will receive the honor of housing the traveling “Boomerangs of Kindness” trophy! 🏆🙌

Lastly... but surely not least... students are creating thank-you cards and letters to send out to members of our community who work so hard at those tough jobs, that can often be very thankless. We are so excited to show our appreciation to the wonderful people that keep our community going, despite the challenging work they do! 💉🚰💡📬♻️🧯🚌🚨🚑❄️

📸 Check out the photos to learn more about how we’re this week!

🐯 🌿

12/21/2018

Over the last few weeks, students at Murray Park Quest spent their time in guidance focusing on...

✨G R A T I T U D E✨

Our learning included:
🤔defining what gratitude is
🏡sharing a few examples of things we’re grateful for
💙discussing ways we can show our gratitude to others
🧠exploring the brain benefits of regularly expressing gratitude

As a school, we then created a “Gratitude Tree,” that has served as a visual reminder of all we have to be thankful for... especially this time of year! 🎄

Check out a few of the wonderful, thoughtful gratitude ornaments made by some of our kiddos! ⛄️

Wishing all of our MP/Q families a wonderful holiday and enjoyable winter break! Be sure to take some time to express your gratitude for those things and people in your lives that you appreciate! ☺️👍

10/26/2018

Check out this great resource!

The University of Wisconsin-Extension, in partnership with the Department of Public Instruction, recently launched a free social and emotional learning (SEL) resource for families called Raising Caring Kids. The purpose of the website is to provide parents and caregivers tools to teach and support S...

09/26/2018

In honor of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Bullying Awareness Day, we created posters for our hallways to encourage Murray Park Quest students to spread kindness! ✨💜

5th grade student volunteers, with the help of our RHS/L ACTIVO friends, worked hard to create positive messages to share. ACTIVO is a Ripon Area School District high school student group, with a mission that promotes making positive choices. We’ve had a great partnership with them the last two years, here at MP/Q, and are so excited to continue making those meaningful connections in 2018-2019! 👍

Although we worked hard today... we didn’t skimp on the fun! There’s always time to break for a “flossing challenge,” and to reminisce on pictures of your younger days! 😁

04/24/2018

We’ve been working on our Mindful practices here at MP/Q, and it’s been... peaceful! ✌️😌

02/06/2018

Day 2 of ! 🎉📓✏️🍎 Just one of the many reasons I feel so lucky to do what I do! ☺️👍

02/05/2018

Yay for !!! 👍🎉☺️💙✏️📓🍎 I’m so proud to be a school counselor at Murray Park Quest, and so fortunate to work for a district who supports, advocates for, and sees the importance of the work we do each day!!

01/19/2018

Here is an insider look at “Lunch & Blog Fridays” with Miss Marvin! Lunch & Blog is part of a digital mentorship program between MP/Q 5th grade girls and UW Oshkosh Gamma Phi Beta, a sorority with a philanthropy of Building Strong Girls.

Gamma Phi Beta has a mission of “providing experiences and resources that empower girls, and help them reach their greatest potential.” The work they do centers on a few core elements: fostering a positive self-image, handling bully-like behaviors with confidence, and participating in respectful conversations and interactions.

In keeping with the heart of Ripon Area School District’s vision of fostering excellence for all through innovation, RHS/L Alumna (and current member of UWO Gamma Phi Beta), Hannah Brown and I have created a technology-based mentorship program, designed just for MP/Q 5th grade girls.

The women of Gamma Phi Beta engage in an interactive online blog with students called, “Tuesdays With Gamma Phi.” The blog serves as an avenue to foster positive dialogue and build meaningful connections, in a number of ways. Each 5th grade student is paired with a Gamma Phi Beta mentor, and has the opportunity to exchange conversation weekly; Gamma Phi women post on Tuesdays, and students reply on Fridays!

It’s been a great experience for our students, so far, and we’re excited to keep it rolling!

01/16/2018

Would it really be a Kindness Retreat without Murray Park Quest 4th grade teachers/ aides & staff members performing “The Maria” for students?! I think not! Thanks Youth Frontiers staff for teaching us this fun little dance!