Programs
Friendship Club
The Friendship Foundation is a socially enriching program that fosters acceptance and inclusion for all students. By becoming a Friendship Club member at Mesquite Elementary, students learn to build awareness and create opportunities in which friendships can grow in a safe and accepting environment. At each club meeting, students will engage with peers before school for 30 minutes of structured fun and peer interaction while continuing to learn to make and maintain friendships. Activities may range from ice breakers to learning leadership skills.
Friendship Club meets Thursdays from 7:30-8am!
Group Pet Therapy
The program utilizes animal-assisted activities to improve children’s emotional health and help them develop seven key social behaviors – attachment, empathy, respect, tolerance, confidence, self-regulation and affiliation. A registered therapy team made up of an individual and his/her therapy pet visit the same children twice monthly for approximately one hour. All volunteer therapy teams are supported by Gabriel’s Angels and provide various activities to engage the students. Research confirms that pet therapy visits create a bond of unconditional love between a dog and child that allows for the important core behaviors to be learned through continual interaction.
Gabriel's Angels
Animals, Books, and Children (ABC) Program
Animal Assisted Reading improves a child’s confidence, trust, empathy, and emotional development. The Animals, Books, and Children (ABC) program operates in schools that serve at-risk children and provide literacy testing. School staff identify children that would benefit from individual reading practice in a safe and non-judgmental environment. The designated ABC therapy team reads with the same children each week so that a trusting, secure relationship is built. During a 20-minute session, the individual child will have time to feel comfortable, work directly on reading skills, and conclude the visit by engaging in a fun behavioral development activity. A celebration and certificate ceremony concludes each program's duration.
Mentoring Program
Why is this program beneficial?
Our goal is to connect staff members with a student that can help make their school experience more positive and feel like they have at least one adult they can connect with on campus. Research shows the most important factor in a child's overall success as an adult is having one positive adult in his/her life.
What is a mentor?
The mentor is the student's cheerleader! The teacher checks in often with the student, gets to know the child, and lets them know they are there for them. It may look like a quick 2 minute check-in in the cafeteria, inviting them for lunch, or having them help in the teacher's classroom.
SEL Small Groups
Kelli Sullivan (School Psychologist) and Karina Nyberg (School Social Worker) co-facilitate social-emotional learning skills groups. The groups focus on skills such as problem solving, being a quality friend, social skills, emotional regulation, role playing, and much more! Students will learn important skills and have the ability to practice these new skills with their peers in a small group setting.