A Message from our School Counselor:

Hello!  I'm Tamryn Miller (aka Mrs. Miller), Ormondale's school counselor.  At most schools, counselors wear many different "hats" or have many different roles on campus.  From facilitating conflict resolution between students, facilitating "Friendship Groups", and teaching social emotional learning sessions in classrooms to being a friendly and consistent presence for staff, students and parents, school counselors are an integral part of a school community.  Allow me to tell you a little about some of the programs and services that I help to provide for our students and staff.

PBIS:
Over the last two school years, Ormondale has incorporated PBIS (positive behavioral interventions and supports) into our school's climate as well as into our SEL program.  As an entire community, Ormondale believes and supports four core values that we believe embody and represent our school's climate:  RESPONSIBILITY, RESPECT, SAFETY and KINDNESS.  As a counselor, it is important to both myself and the entire school to incorporate these values into our everyday student academic and social emotional program. With this PBIS initiative, both students and staff work together to make our school a positive and safe place for every single person.  When students demonstrate their knowledge of these core values, they are recognized and rewarded with an Ormondale Honor.  Since Ormondale Honors have become quite popular, the PBIS team has created Ormondale Honor Celebrations to recognize how amazing Ormondale students are at demonstrating the core values.

Social Emotional Learning :
At Ormondale Elementary School, we believe that social emotional learning (SEL) in a large proponent to student success.  Through our SEL Program, students are introduced to a different lifeskill each month (i.e., responsibility, respect, friendship, etc.) In addition to the teachers incorporating the highlighted monthly lifeskill, the students also receive social emotional learning lessons from their school counselor.  Most lessons include hands-on activities for the students to participate in and many opportunities to work in small groups or together as an entire class community to further their understanding of the topic.  Ormondale students not only learn a great deal during these SEL lessons, but they also walk away from each lesson with personal and group connections to the topics discussed.  When these types of connections happen, learning and empathy ensue.  In order to promote further emotional growth the rest of the school often continues to integrate the lifeskill of the month into everyday conversation and activities so that the students hear and see multiple examples of how to apply and incorporate that skill into their personal relationships.

Ormondale is a school that prides itself on challenging students to reach new academic and social emotional goals through our SEL program.  We are proud of the way our students are able to demonstrate and incorporate each lifeskill they learn about, which in turn creates a positive and successful social emotional foundation for our young scholars and our entire school community.

Tamryn Miller
School Counselor
650-851-1777 ext. 2648