Wellness

Unit 1 
Effective Communication & Healthy Relationships    

This unit focuses on the role of effective interpersonal communication skills in maintaining and enhancing health. Students will demonstrate their skills for effective communication, including skills for refusal, friendship skills, and how to be an ally to prevent bullying. Students will be able to recognize that respectful communication, including empathy for others, promotes healthy relationships. Students will demonstrate their interpersonal communication skills through various activities and role-play. Students will be introduced to the four communication styles and recognize why assertive communication is the most effective. Handouts will be read in class in addition to videos to explain passive, aggressive, passive-aggressive, and assertive communication. Students will practice using "I statements" using a situation with someone in their life with whom they need to be assertive. Students will watch video clips to evaluate different perspectives and discuss their responses. Discussing and videos will introduce active listening skills and then practiced with partners using various topics. A role-play assessment will allow students to demonstrate their understanding of effective interpersonal communication. Madison Youth Services will provide a 1-2 day anti-bullying program, "Who's Got the Power."

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence, Alternate Perspectives
 

Unit 2
Healthy Behaviors and Personal Responsibility    

These lessons focus on demonstrating and ultimately practicing healthy behaviors that enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks. Lessons will include topics related to self-management, such as understanding the changes that occur during puberty, body safety, and making healthy choices about drugs. Students will be introduced to self-management related to physical and psychological changes that occur during puberty. Becoming more responsible for themselves and their health will be discussed, and students will respond to questions about their responsibilities and health practices. Students will recognize that many changes during puberty happen to everyone, while some developmental changes occur specifically in just biological males or biological female bodies. Gender stereotypes and identity will also be discussed, and students will recognize that being emotionally and physically safe in school is every student's right. Students will be able to explain that self-management includes practicing good hygiene and taking on new responsibilities during adolescence as a part of growing up. Students will be able to explain how making healthy decisions about drugs can avoid and reduce risk. Students will identify how drugs can be both helpful and harmful, depending on whether it is legal, the purpose of use, the user, and how the drug is used. Common and accessible drugs for teens, such as alcohol, tobacco products, prescription drugs, and marijuana (cannabis), will all be included in this unit. The developing brain until twenty-five years old will be identified as a major reason that drugs can have a more harmful and lasting effect on teens. Students will recognize that many adults can use some drugs responsibly, such as alcohol, but many people abuse drugs, which interferes with their relationships and responsibilities. Some people become addicted to drugs, which changes how the brain functions. Managing one's health requires making good decisions to maintain health and safety, and there are many risks to using drugs underage. Various classroom activities will be interspersed between videos and worksheets to facilitate learning. Several resources are provided and can be selected to meet the objectives, and they should include the most common and accessible drugs currently. This unit should begin with introducing the skill of Self-Management and explaining what it means regarding personal responsibility as they grow up. Students will demonstrate learning to manage their health by engaging in positive behaviors that they represent in a visual presentation.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Decision Making
 

Unit 1 
Accessing Information & Resources for Health    

This unit focuses on the ability to access valid and reliable information, products, and services that can influence and determine behaviors and choices that impact one’s health. Students will have opportunities to think thoughtfully and critically to analyze health-related information by evaluating the validity and reliability of the information, products, and services from multiple sources. Students will be introduced to the unit by drawing their favorite foods on paper plates, and they will complete a Google form about food and mood to identify what influences their food choices. We will also identify the influences that determine how various cultures eat, such as geography, economy, religion, climate, etc... using posters representing international families and their weekly food choices. The six essential nutrients will be introduced, as well as daily limits and requirements that include average calorie ranges for growing adolescents. Students will access nutrition information by reading labels, visiting fast food websites, and recognizing health claims and marketing gimmicks. Students will calculate an average day's worth of exercise and determine how many calories they use to explore the relationship between calories and exercise. Evaluating resources using the CRAAP acronym used at Polson and co-taught with the library media specialist will be included using a nutrition and fitness topic. The unit will include unhealthy eating habits and eating disorders before the PBA. Mental health will also be a part of this unit, and students will recognize the difference between mental health and a mental disorder and how to ask for help. Madison Youth Services counselors will co-teach a lesson using QPR training on how to recognize symptoms of suicide and how to respond and report concerns.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing

Unit 2
Influences on Health    

This unit focuses on the role of influences of family, friends, and media and their impact on health-related decisions. Students will be introduced to the lessons on drugs by reviewing what a drug is and identifying the benefits and potential harm of the most common drugs. Drug classification and schedules will be explored to categorize drugs for different medical and legal purposes. Students will identify the internal and external influences on their perception and decisions about drugs, including the influence of media messages received from various sources. Values that influence decisions about drugs will also be identified. Students will explore the harmful effects of commonly abused drugs through videos and websites and recognize the basic concepts of addiction. The basic human needs for survival, freedom, love & belonging, fun, and power will be explored to recognize how these needs influence some teens' decision to try/use drugs, and alternatives to drug use will be identified. Using the Natural High Drug Prevention program, videos and stories about successful individuals' natural highs will be used to encourage students to identify their own natural highs that meet their basic needs. Students will create a form of media depicting their natural highs while using media to positively influence and encourage their peers to find their own natural highs and make good decisions about drugs.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation
 

Unit 1 
Decision Making for Health  

This unit focuses on the role of decision-making in maintaining and enhancing one’s health. Students will learn to think critically about the process and the impact of decision making on their own health. Students will begin this unit by exploring the eight dimensions of their health and recognizing the importance of making good decisions that support their health. Students will identify the types of decisions that teens make and recognize that there are many external and internal influences on their decisions. Students will be familiar with the topic of internal and external influences from 7th-grade Health, which will be revisited in relation to decision making. The fact that the brain continues to develop until age twenty-five will be discussed, and that teens need to train their brains to make healthy decisions. Students will be introduced to the DECIDE Skill model, which can be useful in making decisions that enhance and protect health. They will practice the skill with a group using a fictional situation, and then, they will use their own authentic decision and apply the skill as the PBA. Students will work with partners to research a drug of their choice to discover its short and long-term effects and dangers, and they will reflect on the impact of deciding to try/use drugs on themselves and others. The dangers of opioids and the stages of addiction will be part of this unit, including resources for help and support. The topic of drug use will be connected to mental health lessons in Unit 2 when discussing that some teens will "self-medicate" in an attempt to deal with a mental health problem or deal with stress.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Decision Making

Unit 2
Advocating for Health Awareness    

This unit focuses on the ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health. At the end of this unit, students will demonstrate their advocacy skills by creating presentations that advocate for and promote healthy behaviors related to any of the eighth-grade Health topics covered. These topics include topics from Unit 1, such as substance abuse issues and drug-free teens, mental health awareness & asking for help, gender equality, disease prevention, and staying safe on devices and social media. The unit will begin with the topic of mental health after bridging the drug lessons from Unit One with the mental health lessons in Unit Two. Students will first recognize the difference between mental health that everyone has and mental health disorders that some people have. Mental health disorders will be identified, and the steps for asking for help will be discussed. Trusted adults will be identified both in and out of school, and the importance of reporting concerns about someone who might hurt themselves or others will be communicated. Students will learn that the biological response to stress is fight, flight, or freeze, and they will reflect on how they manage their mental health and stress. Lessons on sexual health and safety will follow these lessons. Students will review the function of the reproductive systems, pregnancy, and gender concepts and explain how gender stereotypes can be hurtful. An overview of the differences between infectious and non-infectious diseases will follow, and practices that can prevent diseases such as HIV/AIDS will be included after discussing how HIV/AIDS is transmitted. Students will then explore teens' rights, learn about the laws pertaining to sexual behavior, and recognize the difference between sexual harassment and sexual abuse. The importance of consent in any relationship and knowing the laws regarding sexting and exploitation of minors on social media platforms will be included. Students will explore resources for support, and they are encouraged to report any concerns to trusted adults. Once these lessons are complete, students will choose a topic for their Advocacy PBA and work with a partner to create a product that heightens awareness for an issue.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Citizenship
 

kindergarten  
Relationship Skills:  What are my Feelings?     

In this unit, students acquire vocabulary to describe how they are feeling so they can express themselves using their words to communicate with others. They will also learn strategies to be a better listener, a good friend, and work together to solve problems. Personal space will also be addressed in this unit in relation to social cues and expected and unexpected behaviors. 
The Social Emotional Learning Team will implement whole-school climate initiatives throughout the year for the entire student body that promote inclusion, community building and school connectedness. Examples include Kindness Week, whole-school read-alouds, kindness club, interactive bulletin boards, and buddy benches. Additionally, the school community will take part in "Start with Hello" week in September of each year. This program, developed by Sandy Hook Promise, aims to end social isolation by teaching empathy and empowering students to be inclusive. During this week, there are morning announcements and other whole-school activities focused on inclusion, kindness, reducing isolation.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation

Grade 1
Self-Management     

During this unit, students will learn problem solving and conflict resolution strategies. Students learn that there are expected and unexpected reactions to different size problems. Students will analyze and apply the Size of the Problem scale to social problem solving scenarios.  Students will discuss how reactions affect themselves and others. They will also explore alternative, expected choices when faced with a problem or conflict. Students will be taught how to repair harm when using the First, Next, Then problem solving model.  
The Social Emotional Learning Team will implement whole-school climate initiatives throughout the year for the entire student body that promote inclusion, community building and school connectedness. Examples include Kindness Week, whole-school read-alouds, kindness club, interactive bulletin boards, and buddy benches. Additionally, the school community will take part in "Start with Hello" week in September of each year. This program, developed by Sandy Hook Promise, aims to end social isolation by teaching empathy and empowering students to be inclusive. During this week, there are morning announcements and other whole-school activities focused on inclusion, kindness, reducing isolation. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing
 

Grade 2
Self Management and Relationship Skills     

In this unit, students learn how to set personal boundaries when working with others to have productive relationships and increased success with team projects. Students will also learn the importance of flexible thinking when working with others and the idea of teamwork and cooperation. 
The Social Emotional Learning Team will implement whole-school climate initiatives throughout the year for the entire student body that promote inclusion, community building and school connectedness. Examples include Kindness Week, whole-school read-alouds, kindness club, interactive bulletin boards, and buddy benches. Additionally, the school community will take part in "Start with Hello" week in September of each year. This program, developed by Sandy Hook Promise, aims to end social isolation by teaching empathy and empowering students to be inclusive. During this week, there are morning announcements and other whole-school activities focused on inclusion, kindness, reducing isolation. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Alternate Perspectives
 

Grade 3
Responsible Decision Making   

In this unit, students will be taught how their thinking affects their emotions and their ability to think clearly. Students will be taught how to use positive thinking, coping strategies, and using a social filter to make expected choices. Students will independently create positive affirmation bracelets as a takeaway strategy to grow their confidence. Students will discuss how self-regulation impacts making expected and responsible choices. Students will also learn how to use self-regulation strategies when they are dysregulated. Students will be taught how to use a social filter to determine if a thought is ok to say or should be kept in their thought bubble. Students will also discuss the importance of using a social filter to preserve social relationships. Ultimately, all lessons culminate with a "Think It or Say It" activity which employs all the skills used during this unit as students practice navigating social situations. 

The Social Emotional Learning Team will implement whole-school climate initiatives throughout the year for the entire student body that promote inclusion, community building and school connectedness. Examples include Kindness Week, whole-school read-alouds, kindness club, interactive bulletin boards, and buddy benches. Additionally, the school community will participate in "Start with Hello" week in September of each year. This program, developed by Sandy Hook Promise, aims to end social isolation by teaching empathy and empowering students to be inclusive. During this week, there are morning announcements and other whole-school activities focused on inclusion, kindness, and reducing isolation.
 
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Decision Making
 

Grade 4 
Healthy Conflict Resolution Skills  

In this unit, students explore personal boundaries and the power of their own voice to resolve social conflict. Students identify the size of a problem and an appropriate response. Students will also review coping strategies to access when experiencing strong emotions in these social encounters and in their lives. Ultimately, students will be given a scenario and asked to make a prosocial decision using the steps they have learned to manage conflict.
The school community will take part in "Start with Hello" week in September of each year. This program, developed by Sandy Hook Promise, aims to end social isolation by teaching empathy and empowering students to be inclusive. Experiences are focused on inclusivity and starting a conversation with somebody in order. Examples of experiences to increase belonging and school connectedness include conversation starters at the lunch tables, classroom lessons, and posters around the school addressing Start with Hello Week.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Idea Generation
 

Grade 5  
Self-Awareness    

Students deepen their understanding of who they are, their coping strategies, and their learning styles. Students practice coping strategies for managing their emotions and time as they think about middle school. This unit focuses on students understanding who they are and where they might be headed. Students will investigate their unique learning styles and how they fit into group dynamics.  Students will then explore potential careers that may fit with individual strengths and challenges. Students will finally explore their friendship style and social dynamics. Students will explore their preferred strategies for managing the stress of navigating a healthy lifestyle.
 
The school community will take part in "Start with Hello" week in September of each year. This program, developed by Sandy Hook Promise, aims to end social isolation by teaching empathy and empowering students to be inclusive.
 
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Self-Awareness
 

Grade 6 
Self-Management    

In this unit, students develop, monitor, and evaluate goals to be able to feel increasingly capable and confident as a middle schooler. Students will explore and practice stress management strategies and coping skills and identify situation-specific skills and strategies to implement. Students will review what a trusted adult is and will be introduced to additional faculty and staff that are available to support them regularly and/or in times of need. Students will be introduced to executive functioning and organization skills to help them successfully navigate the demands of middle school.
The school counseling department will implement whole-school climate initiatives throughout the year for the entire student body that promote inclusion, kindness, community building, and school connectedness.  Additionally, the school community will take part in "Start with Hello" week in September of each year. This program, developed by Sandy Hook Promise, aims to end social isolation by teaching empathy and empowering students to be inclusive. During this week, there are morning announcements focused on inclusion, kindness, and reducing isolation. School-wide visuals are posted year-round. PRIDE activities are offered to support connectedness, such as a school-wide student scavenger hunt to get to know people and sentence starters, "Would you rather...," and icebreaker questions for students to use during lunches.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Self-Awareness, Decision Making
 

Grade 7 
Personal Safety and Boundaries    

The emphasis in grade 7 will be on social interactions and collective intelligence. As such, students will engage in activities that promote positive peer interactions, team building, and perseverance to overcome obstacles. Students will identify personal boundaries and better understand the ramifications and costs of harassment and bullying.  Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge about how to stay safe online and in their social groups. Students will also continue to develop executive functioning and organization skills to help them successfully navigate the demands of middle school.
The school counseling department will implement whole-school climate initiatives throughout the year for the entire student body that promote inclusion, community building, and school connectedness.  Additionally, the school community will take part in "Start with Hello" week in September of each year. This program, developed by Sandy Hook Promise, aims to end social isolation by teaching empathy and empowering students to be inclusive. During this week, there are morning announcements focused on inclusion, kindness, and reducing isolation. School-wide visuals are posted year-round. PRIDE activities are offered to support connectedness, such as a school-wide student scavenger hunt to get to know people and sentence starters, "Would you rather...," and icebreaker questions for students to use during lunches.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence, Decision Making
 

Grade 8 
Future Planning    

In this unit, students will reflect on education and life goals and will learn about alternative programs and high school programs that align with their goals. Students will look forward to their high school and post-secondary future by clarifying possible aspirations, skill sets, talents, and course areas of interest. Students participate in career day to network with experts and begin to plan possibilities for their next four years. Students will refine their executive functioning and organization skills to help them successfully navigate the demands of middle school and support a successful transition to high school. At the end of their Polson experience, they will reflect on the wisdom they have gained over the past three years. These "Words of Wisdom" will be compiled in a slideshow to share with other grades at the start of the following school year.
The school community will take part in "Start with Hello" week in September of each year. This program, developed by Sandy Hook Promise, aims to end social isolation by teaching empathy and empowering students to be inclusive. During this week, there are morning announcements focused on inclusion, kindness, reducing isolation. School-wide visual are posted year-round. Pride activities are offered to support connectedness, such as a school-wide student scavenger hunt to get to know people lunch table sentence starters, "Would you rather...," and icebreaker questions for students to use during lunches.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Decision Making
 

Grade 9 
Navigating High School  

In this unit, students explore how to navigate a new learning environment: supports, structures, and opportunities as well as increased accountability and responsibility as high school students. Students will identify “bumps on the road” as they navigate their journey for counselors who then design and facilitate lessons based on key issues. Emphasis will be placed on self-reflection on strengths and areas for growth as well as developing resiliency and understanding of growth mindset. At the end of the year, students reflect on something they wished they knew or had to earn through experience.  

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Self-Awareness
 

Grade 10 
Trusted Peeps and Community Resources    

During this unit, students will be compelled to reflect on their well-being, progress toward future plans, and deepen their understanding of self. Students will reflect on and identify how they unwind, destress, or make sense of their stressors and learn strategies to manage their time and organization to decrease stress in their lives. They will examine whether their approach is helping them both with short-term and long-term impacts on well-being, performance, and relationships. Students will also continue learning about the support staff and faculty as they grow as advancing high school students. They will explore college and career plans, academic progress, and their social-emotional skills. Students will be asked to reflect on their year and deepen their understanding of the school community's role in their development as they consider the faculty and staff that supported them in their progress and write them a thank you note.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Inquiry
 

Grade 11 
Future Planning  

In this unit, students reflect on their past to generate ideas, plans, and actions to guide their present and future decisions and develop a Junior Reflection to pursue their goals. Students will be expected to critically examine their past and current performance in support of their future plans and identify steps to help them create their Junior Reflection.  In writing their Reflection, students will consider and synthesize their high school experiences to identify patterns in their behavior and interests that reveal their journey of successes, challenges, and learning as they pursue their future plans and work toward those goals.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing
 

Grade 12 
Oh the Places You'll Go    

As students look forward to their future, counselors will be supporting them as they transition out of high school. The lessons in this unit will begin with reviewing prior goals and reassessing them to prepare for the year ahead. By focusing students' attention on their future plans and goals, counselors will set the stage for the next lessons, where they will receive advice and strategies to employ post-graduation. These topics will include maintaining an appropriate digital footprint, interview skills, professionalism, culturally-aware behaviors and interactions, social cues, and ways to navigate a variety of new situations. Social workers and Madison Youth and Family Services will reinforce coping strategies that students can employ during difficult and challenging situations. They will also reflect on the importance of self-regulation during stressful times and learn skills to maintain appropriate behaviors in trying situations.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Self-Awareness
 

Unit 1  
Benchmark Data (Launch)    

The personal fitness class aims to teach students how to improve their individual fitness levels by creating workout plans, setting and monitoring goals, and exposing them to various exercises that can be done independently. During this first unit, students will gather benchmark data from participating in a trial run of the Connecticut State Fitness Tests and through circuit training to establish their baseline measurements for the health-related and skill-related components of fitness. Using this data, they will learn to set realistic goals and monitor their fitness. In each subsequent unit, students will retest their performance in one or more of the health and skill-related components of fitness and compare their performance to the benchmark data established in this launch unit. Ultimately, students will use the knowledge from this course to develop a program they can use beyond the classroom to reach their personal fitness and health goals.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing
 

Unit 2
Cardiorespiratory Endurance    

Students will explore different ways to engage in cardiorespiratory fitness during this unit. Students will learn about the health benefits of an active lifestyle that promotes cardiorespiratory wellness and the risk factors associated with poor heart health. By participating in various cardio experiences, students will be exposed to ways to incorporate more cardiorespiratory activity into their daily lifestyle in pursuit of health. Lessons will include steady-state cardio exercises such as jogging, hiking, rowing, high-intensity interval training such as circuit training, bodyweight exercises, and jumping rope. The unit aims to encourage students to find an activity they enjoy and provide stress relief so that they are more likely to continue improving their cardiorespiratory fitness outside of the classroom. Students will complete the official PACER test for the CT State Fitness Assessment and compare the newest data set to their benchmark data as they monitor and adjust their fitness goals.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Self-Awareness
 

Unit 3
Dynamic Movements    

Students will engage in activities that reinforce the skill-related components of fitness that ultimately support their pursuit of the health-related components of fitness. Students will experience physical activities that improve their dynamic movements, range of motion, and flexibility, such as yoga, tai chi, reaction time games, and weight training using body weight and machine training. Students will learn the importance of these movements for injury prevention, stress relief, and improved flexibility and range of motion that can translate into many other physical activities.  Students will once again compare data from this unit, including the state Sit and Reach Connecticut Fitness Test to their baseline data and set a goal to continue to improve their fitness. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design
 

Unit 4 
Muscular Strength and Endurance    

Students will learn the difference between muscular strength and endurance and how to improve each fitness component.  Students will consider their fitness test data, interests, and accessibility to equipment and fitness locations as well as their interests and goals as they create a fitness plan to continue beyond this course. Students will also complete the curl-up and push-up test for the CT State Fitness Assessment and compare their new results to those from the beginning of the year. Ultimately, students will synthesize and apply this year's learning and experiences to develop their “Tabata” routine. The Tabata routine is developed by reviewing their goals and performance from this course as they create a multi-faceted fitness routine that can be completed beyond this class as a regular fitness program. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Idea Generation
 

Launch Unit
Team-Building    

The launch unit for Recreational Games will focus on the theme of the course:  Developing lifelong personal fitness through social and collaborative activities and skills.  During the first unit, students will learn about and experience the importance of collaboration and positive peer relations in team-building activities. Emphasis will also be placed on the importance of physical activity and how group activities promote positive social interaction and overall physical health. Additionally, students will regularly engage in games played in other countries as they learn about these games' history, traditions, and social interactions. Students will also participate in practice rounds of the required state fitness test to establish benchmark data. Students will then engage in physical activities to improve their benchmark data before taking the official tests later in the course. Students will then reflect on this data to determine if and how their participation in recreational games improved their performance.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Self-Awareness
 

Precision Games Unit    

Precision Games is a unit based around sending an object to a specific target area in various ways. The skills focused on during this unit are aiming, throwing (frisbee), and striking with a long-handled implement (golf club). Students will challenge themselves to improve the skills required to participate in these activities. 

The unit is centered around three lifelong activities, archery, golf, and disc golf. These activities are very common in the community and are open to people of all ages and skill levels. These were chosen as the focus activities because of their commonality and accessibility in the community and internationally. These activities are common in work settings, family settings, and social events. Games such as archery, golf, and disc golf can be organized as group, partner, or individual events. This unit allows students to learn lifelong skills, encourages social interaction through movement and challenge, and opens pathways for students to lead a physically active lifestyle throughout their lifespan. Student choice will drive some of the games that students will play. Students will complete the Sit and Reach State Fitness Test during this unit and compare their current performance to their baseline data.

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Self-Awareness
 

Net and Wall Games Unit     

In this unit, students will work in cooperative groups in various roles. The aim is to generate positive group dynamics and give each student leadership opportunities in their specified role.  All students will participate in all of the physical activities, regardless of their role.  Ultimately, each student will be a coach as they provide constructive, positive feedback to a player. Students will participate in pickleball, badminton, and other net games as determined by student input. Students will complete the Curl-up and Push-up State Fitness Tests during this unit and compare their current performance to their baseline data. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Collective Intelligence
 

Invasion Games Unit 

Invasion games involve two teams competing against each other to score points by invading each other's territory or defending their own. These games require a combination of physical skills, such as coordination, agility and speed, offensive and defensive strategies, and teamwork. Students will be able to engage in leadership development as they assume different roles in their games, including Tchoukball, Ultimate Frisbee, and other invasion games, as determined by student input. Ultimately, student groups must work together to apply their understanding of offensive and defensive strategies to develop a plan to help the team succeed in an unfamiliar game.  Students will complete the PACER State Fitness Test during this unit and analyze their new data against their benchmark data from the launch unit. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Idea Generation, Collective Intelligence