Counselors' Corner

Welcome!

WELCOME TO THE COUNSELOR'S CORNER

Ms. Rahman & Ms. Mackey

Welcome to Birney! Our counseling team consists of two full-time counselors. Marilyn Rahman is the counselor for grades Kindergarten through Second Grade and Andrea Mackey is the counselor for Third through Fifth Grades.

Our guidance program consists of teaching developmentally-appropriate lessons in each classroom once every three weeks. Special guidance lessons are also provided when a specific classroom need arises. In addition, we conduct short-term individual counseling on an as-needed basis.

The Cobb County counseling curriculum is based on the core areas of personal/social development, academic development and career development.  All classroom guidance lessons and counseling activities support and contribute to student growth in these critical areas.

We work cooperatively with school administrators, staff members, parents, and community agencies to help all students reach their full potential.

You can contact the school counselors at: 

Ms. Rahman (678) 842 -6827  (Option 1)                          Ms. Mackey  (678) 842 - 6824  (ext. 241)                   

" School Counselors are uniquely qualified to assist students with overcoming barriers to learning."

Upcoming Events

First, we would like to thank all parents and students for donating to Cobb Family Resources.

This year, the students were able donate either a canned good or a new children's book.

Many students donated both!!!! Thank you so much for your continued support around the winter holidays. You have helped many of our families within the Cobb community to have a nice holiday.

Attendance

We are continuing to encourage students to be here everyday and on-time.

Through our school-wide attendance program, the Golden Clock Award, many students are positively pressuring one another to be at school everyday and on-time.

If a student is not here, he/she cannot learn. Thank you for your support in getting your child to school everyday and on-time.

Please view the attendance board in the front hallway to see how well your child's class is doing. Every week the class that has the best attendance for their grade level gets a small clock placed on his or her class's football or basketball.

The weekly class winners receive a certificate and a golden clock to keep in their classroom. The clock is passed throughout the grade level as the class winners change. Every three weeks, a class at each grade level receives perfect attendance pencils. At the ninth week, the leading classes at each grade level will earn a pizza party!!!!

CRCT Attendance

CRCT testing is coming up in April. Let's continue to have great attendance here at Birney. We will have other incentives in place during CRCT testing. Individual students and classes are rewarded for perfect attendance during CRCT testing.

Thank you again for all of your continued support.

RESILIENCE

Our character word for the month of January 2008 is Resilience.

Resilience- the ability to "bounce back" and be successful when changes occur.

As counselor for 3rd-5th grades, I encourage the students to set new goals for 2008. This is a great time for students to focus even more to improve in the areas of behavior, friendships, and academics.

Help your child to "bounce back" by improving in all areas this second half of the  school year. Students are also encouraged to reach out to family, friends, a teacher, or even myself, counselor, if they have had to deal with some difficult situations in 2007(moving to a new school, moving to a new state, loss of a family member, or loss of a special pet). As school counselors we are here to help remove the barriers that may cause your child not to focus on learning.

I am here for support in all areas. You may contact me at

678-842-6824 ext. 241.

Thank you,

Ms. Mackey

Character Word of the Month

RESILIENCE

The ability to "bounce back" and be successful when changes occur.

"To Educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."

                                                                                      -Theodore Roosevelt

"The core problem facing our schools is a moral one," writes William Kilpatrick in Why Johnny Can't Tell Right from Wrong." All other problems derive from it. If students don't learn habits of courage and justice, curriculums designed to improve their self-esteem won't stop the epidemic of extorsion, bullying, violence; neither will courses designed to make them more sensitive to diversity."

"Don't be hurt, be not surprised, if what you do is criticized. There's always one or more who can find fault with anything you plan. Mistakes are made, we can't deny, but only made by those who try."

                                                                                                              -Calvin R. Griffith

                                                                                                              Major League President