Laurel Springs School

Counselors’ Role

Welcome to the Guidance Department at Laurel Springs School! I am excited to get the opportunity to work with your children throughout the school year. It is my commitment to provide a counseling program to address the developmental needs of all of our students. In doing so, our guidance curriculum is designed to help your children grow in areas of academic, career and personal/social development throughout their elementary years. These goals are accomplished through a variety of ways, including classroom guidance activities, small groups and individual student support.

However, in order to best provide an environment to enable student success, part of the counselor’s role is collaborating with school administrators, teachers and parents. Together, our goal is to provide your child a school experience that enables them to succeed educationally, emotionally and/or socially. I encourage you to contact me at any time if you have any questions or concerns at jknipfer@laurelspringschool.org.

Welcome to the Guidance Department!

My name is Julie Knipfer and I am very excited and privileged to start my fourth year as the School Guidance Counselor at Laurel Springs School. This year we also have the opportunity to have a second Guidance Counselor in our building, Ms. Kelli Packer. Ms. Packer is joining us from Rowan University and will be interning in the Guidance Department this year.

We have many exciting things planned for your children to help them grow socially and academically throughout the school year. These goals are accomplished through a variety of way including classroom guidance activities, small groups, and individual student support.

Elementary school provides many new challenges for children. Most of those challenges are met with excitement and curiosity, but there are times when some extra support may be needed. I am here to help when those needs arise. I encourage you to contact me with any questions or concerns regarding your child or any of the services that are provided by the guidance department. Communication is a key component in meeting your child's individual needs and helping them have a successful and rewarding school year.

I look forward to working with you and your children this year!

Individual or group counseling will be provided to students based on parent, teacher or self-referral. The goal is for students to use this as a resource to help them problem solve through situations they may find difficult at school.

For a particular issue, if a student self-refers to the counselor more than a few times, parents will be notified to obtain parental permission. In addition, any situation of an urgent nature or that is in need of parent support, the parents will be notified immediately. Counseling groups are provided for needs such as social skills, study skills, friendship building, self-esteem, and many more. Please call the guidance department if you feel that your child may benefit from any counseling experience or for any questions about our guidance programs.

During the month of September, the kindergarten through third grade classes read, “A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue”, by Julia Cook and learned the difference between Tattling and Telling. We learned four important rules to remind us when to seek an adult for help or when to problem solve ourselves.

Rule 1: Be a Danger Ranger (If a person or animal is in DANGER, you must warn someone)

Rule 2: Be a Problem Solver. (If the problem involves YOU, take charge and try hard to solve it yourself first)

Rule 3: Now or Later. (Is the problem a “NOW” problem or a “NOT NOW” problem? Can your problem be solved at a later time?)

Rule 4: M.Y.O.B.- Mind Your Own Beeswax! (If the problem is not dangerous and it does not involve you…DO NOT TATTLE)

Ask your child if they can remember the rules they learned and have them give you examples of tattling and telling!

In fourth through sixth grades, we learned the important role of the bystander in peer relationships. We linked tattling and telling to the options bystanders have in acting before, during, or after a bullying incident. We also discussed the positive and negative ways peer pressure can affect how and whether bystanders take actions.

In future classroom lessons, we will be reinforcing some of these concepts to help your children learn when to “step up” and “step in”! We talked about several scenarios where your children had to identify how and when to take action. Ask your child how they could “step up to the plate” if confronted with a bullying problem.

October is violence prevention month. Each year, we focus on an important phrase from the purple hands project which states “Hands and Words are NOT for Hurting”. Throughout the month of October, students will be learning non-aggressive ways to handle conflicts.

How do we handle our disagreements or our conflicts within ourselves and with others? Did you know that conflict is a part of everyone’s life? Everyone handles conflict in at least one of three ways: we avoid it, we confront it, or we communicate about it. Talk to your children about ways they have chosen to handle their problems when confronted with one.