Choices Curriculum:

(Usually classes start with a prompt/quote for a 5 min silent write up for journaling)

August:

1. Intro to course, get acquainted

What is Self- Science and why it is important and relevant to our lives?

September:

2. Organization (email photo of your study area) and what type of learner are you

We start our choices classes covering Organization Skills! 6th grade students share helpful tips and suggestions on how to stay organized and use study halls effectively. We enjoy talking about their study areas! Something to do… “Rate yourself from 0-5 (0 being I am very disorganized to 5 I am very organized). If you had to offer some helpful organization tips to one of your 6th grade friends.. what would you include”

3. Growth Mindset

We explore how to open our thinking to a growth mindset, which is a way in which we try to look at our abilities, and different problems with a new perspective that allows opportunity for change and learning. Something to do… Look at your own self-talk and try some of these options: Instead of “I am not getting this problem!” change it to “I am not getting this problem Yet…”

October:

4. Nutrition

Our guest speaker Kathy Rainey (Head Athletic Trainer and Health Teacher at SSTX) helps us think about our health choices as we go through our dining hall and gives us some helpful tools and tips around the topic of nutrition.

5. Slowing Down:

Pause Button- Students read an article about how self-control and self-awareness are extremely helpful skills in decision-making, problem solving and developing emotional regulation. They practice some "pushing the pause button" strategies through skits.

Mindfulness - students will practice mindfulness guided by the teacher. They will also learn about some current apps that they can use to practice every-day mindfulness.

November:

6. Technology

We follow the curriculum of the social Institute to promote healthy choices around technology with different lessons "Play to your Core: Respecting Values" and "The Fear of Missing out texts and social media"

7. Power of Words.

Words are powerful and can create wonderful feelings and can also be hurtful and leave their mark. Through art and discussion we explore the power of words. For homework students will work on creating positive messages. We will also see a great video to invite a reflection.

December/January:

8. DEI: Diversity of abilities, (physical, learning and social learning differences.) and Identity (including Gender Identity)

At St. Stephen’s we truly value diversity and honoring a multitude of experiences, backgrounds, cultures, and abilities. We use this class to reflect on our own spectrum of abilities and look into what that may look like at our school. Within this unit and in the next classes we will discuss physical differences, learning differences and social learning differences. We will watch and discuss videos, be part of experiential activities and learn about some famous people who have overcome important challenges and learned from the different abilities they have.

We also introduce identity, create our own identity molecules, and do an introductory class understanding basic vocabulary on gender identity, expression and orientation.