Dear Family, 

We want your child to be successful in school, and that means supporting and encouraging their whole development. While excelling in academic classes is important, students also need skills for learning challenges, making good decisions, handling strong emotions, and getting along with others. 

This year we have re-invested in our students’ social, emotional and academic growth by evolving our strategy to meet their needs. Our school added a very important course into our schedule called MAPPS which stands for My Action Plan for Personal Success. It is our school-wide commitment to ensure the personal growth of every child.

MAPPS has three components that are proven to support the development of the whole child and nurture student success. MAPPS focuses on Goal Setting. MAPPS asks students to set small, weekly, attainable stretch goals.  The goal setting focuses our students on the small habits that lead to big success. Second, MAPPS develops the students academic, social, and emotional skills.  Finally, MAPPS provides dedicated adult mentorship.  MAPPS assigns every student a dedicated mentor that guides their development. Through regular one-on-one check-ins the mentor offers guidance to support their development and goal attainment.  

ASFM Middle School began using the Second Step® Middle School in MAPPS, a research-based social-emotional learning program designed to improve students’ social-emotional skills, such as emotion management, impulse control, problem solving, and empathy. 

Second Step skills and concepts are designed to help students both in and out of school. These include: 

• Mindsets and Goals: Students learn how to develop a growth mindset and apply research based goal-setting strategies to their social and academic lives. 

• Recognizing Bullying and Harassment: Students learn how to recognize bullying and harassment, stand up safely to bullying, and respond appropriately to harassment. 

• Thoughts, Emotions, and Decisions: Students learn how to recognize strong emotions and unhelpful thoughts, and apply strategies to manage their emotions and reduce stress. 

• Managing Relationships and Social Conflict: Students learn strategies for developing and maintaining healthy relationships, perspective-taking, and dealing with conflict. 

We are starting Unit 2 on Oct 24, your child will be discussing bullying and harassment as part of Second Step® Middle School. Bullying is at its peak in middle school, and research indicates that taking proactive steps to address bullying and harassment will help reduce occurrences of it in our school and will benefit students in high school and beyond. 

Second Step Middle School is designed to support your child in developing the knowledge and skills to help stop bullying and harassment. Students will learn how to recognize the social and environmental factors that can enable bullying and harassment, how to safely challenge these factors, and how to seek help if they or someone they know is being bullied or harassed. 

Here are some key definitions your child will be learning: 

• Bullying: intentional physical, verbal, or social aggression. It’s often repeated over time and occurs when there’s a real or perceived power imbalance. 

• Environmental factors: the physical space and any rules and regulations that apply within an area 

• Harassment: aggression against someone based on a real or perceived characteristic they have, such as their race, religion, sex, or gender. It’s serious enough to create an unsafe environment and is a form of discrimination. 

• Social factors: common beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of a particular group or community 

We encourage students to report any instances of bullying and harassment they witness or experience to you and to trusted adults at our school. 

Additionally, if you have any questions about Second Step Middle School, please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information.  Thank you for your support as we work to build a safe and supportive school community.

MS Counselors