Life Skills
Each Grades 5 - 8 student takes a Life Skills class. While these courses do not bear credit, they are required in the curriculum to ensure our students are well-prepared for the choices they will encounter in life both now as teenagers and in the future.
The Grades 5 - 8 Life Skills program is a social-emotional learning curriculum that provides students with the skills and habits they will need as they make decisions about their health and wellness. Each grade level focuses on topics that our faculty deem appropriate based on guidelines from Common Sense Media, Deborah Roffman, Advocates For Youth, and the CDC. Students are split by gender in order to allow for smaller teacher to student ratios in a setting where students can feel free to voice their questions and curiosities. Journals are used to provide time for quiet reflection in writing. Life Skills teachers collaborate regularly with the School counselor and psychologist in order to stay current with content and pedagogy.
Every Grades 7 & 8 student participates in 5 - 6 weeks of mindfulness techniques with J. Robin Albertson-Wren, Pre-School and 7 & 8 Life Skills teacher, each school year. They focus on mindfulness as stress-reduction, learning about the neuroscience connected to our thoughts and emotional responses, mindful movement, mindful eating, handling anxiety, mindful listening, self-compassion, resiliency, and deep relaxation.
