Small group counseling is offered for all students who may be experiencing a difficult time in school. The students are brought into thr group session for 6-8 sessions. The groups take place during the school day.

Group topics include:

• Dealing with Anger Positively

• Dealing with Divorce/Separation

• Dealing with Grief

• Social Skills

• Establishing Good Bounadries

• Handling Anxiety

• Building Self Esteem

• Making Friends

• Dealing with Trauma 

If you would like for your child to be in a group, please contact me and I will help you to decide which group would be most appropriate for your child. Once we have spoken, I will then send home a Consent for Counseling Form. Please sign the form and send it back with your child. I must have your written consent prior to working with your child.  

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, commonly known in the schools as “Section 504,” is a federal law passed by the United States Congress with the purpose of prohibiting discrimination against disabled persons who may participate in, or receive benefits from, programs receiving federal financial assistance. In the public schools specifically, §504 applies to ensure that eligible disabled students are provided with educational benefits and opportunities equal to those provided to non-disabled students.

Under §504, a student is considered “disabled” if he or she suffers from a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of their major life activities such as learning, walking, seeing, hearing, breathing, working, and performing manual tasks. Section 504 also applies to students with a record of having a substantially-limiting impairment or who are regarded as being disabled even if they are truly not disabled. Students can be considered disabled and can receive services under §504, even if they do not qualify for, or receive, special education services.

If you think your child might qualify to receive 504 services, please contact me by email or phone.

281-245-2825
Email Rita Garciat
School Counselor - Rita Garcia

Mindfulness/Anxiety Apps

• Headspace (Android and iOS) – Visually Appealing Mindfulness/Meditation App with cute animations. Able to get some free sessions or subscribe for more.

• Settle Your Glitter (Andriod and iOS) – Has a puffer-fish that young kids can follow to learn deep breathing and focus attention.

• Breathe – OMG I Can Meditate (Andriod and iOS) –  Great app that I use daily! It has some free and more when you subscribe. The thing I like about this app is the meditations for kids are just the right length of time, running around 8 min.

• Stop, Breathe & Think (Andriod and iOS) – Learn to track emotions to reduce stress and anxiety. This app lets you check-in with your emotion, then meditate, then check-in again. This may be helpful over a period of time for some students.

• Calm (Andriod and iOS) – Various length of guided mediation ranging from 3-25 minutes. This app also has tons of topics for guided meditations, as well as, open-meditation times featuring nature sounds, etc.

• Mind Yeti (iOS and mindyeti.com) – Mindfulness for kids 5-12 years old. This app is very engaging and uses cute animated characters to teach kids how to calm down, focus and connect.

• GoNoodle (Andriod and iOS) – GoNoodle is amazing! If you have not tried it out yet… please do! You will not regret it! This has so many fun brain-break ideas. But what I love about this app/website, is the Channels. Take some time and try FLOW, BRAINERCISE, THINK ABOUT IT, MAXIMO, EMPOWER TOOLS

A school counselor assists parents and teachers in supporting the academic, social and emotional goals of students to promote their success now and in the future. 

Some of my roles incude, but are not limited to:

• Individual/Group Cousneling

• Classroom Guidance

• 504 Coordinator

• At-Risk Coordinator

• Homeless Liaison

• Response to Intervention (RTI) Coordinator

• Community Partnerships

• YET Campus Liaison

Helpful Documents

Información en Español

With Kids In Mind Newsletter

Grade Placement Testing FAQ's

Credit By Exam Information

Here at Mark Twain Elementary we use a schoolwide reward system. Students are given Twain tickets as rewards throughout the day. Every 2-3 weeks, students are given a checklist to order items from the school store.