by schoolcounselingbyheart | May 19, 2013 | abuse, children's literature, curriculum, personal safety
My sexual abuse prevention unit for third grade is comprised of three lessons, which focus on body safety, trusting “yucky” or uncomfortable feelings, recognizing grooming behaviors, and the importance of telling about uncomfortable, scary, or dangerous situations. These lessons revisit and build upon skills and concepts that I cover in previous grades, but prior knowledge is not necessary, so you can use them as a starting place even if your students haven’t already had lessons about safe touch.
For these lessons you will need the booksNo More Secrets for Me by Oralee Wachter, My Body is Private by Linda Walvoord Girard, and Mia’s Secretby Peter Ledwon and Marilyn Mets. You will also need some drawing/coloring pages (more…)
by schoolcounselingbyheart | Mar 7, 2013 | abuse, children's literature, classroom lessons, personal safety
My sexual abuse prevention unit for second grade consists of three lessons, which revisit and build upon the skills and concepts covered in first grade. For these lessons you will need the books Scoop by Julia Cook and I Said No! A Kid to Kid Guide to Keeping Private Parts Private by Zack and Kimberly King, as well as scenarios from Teaching Kids How to Tell About Sexual Abuse and some coloring pages (linked below.) It will be helpful for you to familiarize yourself with the foundational information about how to teach sexual abuse prevention by reading the posts Teaching Kids How to Tell About Sexual Abuse and Teaching Kids to Recognize Grooming before you teach the lessons. You can link to all my posts about sexual abuse prevention lessons and resources by visiting A Collection of Sexual Abuse Prevention Resources. The objectives and ASCA National Standards addressed in this unit are listed at the end of the post.
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by schoolcounselingbyheart | Jan 22, 2013 | abuse, classroom lessons, personal safety
There is nothing like kids teaching kids – it is engaging, powerful, and another kid’s words can often be more meaningful than an adult’s. It’s great to have role models visit a classroom to talk about how they learned to solve conflicts or stop bullying, but this kind of presentation is not possible when it comes to abuse prevention. Here, though, is a way to provide meaningful kid-to-kid teaching about this important topic. The video, Break the Silence: Kids Against Child Abuse is an amazing, must-have resource. In it, four real kids tell their stories and share the importance of telling an adult about physical and sexual abuse, and how doing so ends the abuse and brings them to safety. See below for suggestions about how you can get a copy. (more…)
by schoolcounselingbyheart | Jan 19, 2013 | abuse, classroom lessons, personal safety
Recently, McKenzie Roman, a community educator from the YWCA in Kalamazoo, Michigan contacted me to ask if she could use some of the ideas in my posts about sexual abuse prevention in a coloring book that she was developing for classroom lessons in Kalamazoo elementary schools. Of course, I said “YES!” The coloring book is now complete and the Kalamazoo YWCA has generously shared it with me so that I can share it with all of you! It was pretty much like my birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and a dance party all wrapped up into one magical moment when I received my copy this week! (more…)
by schoolcounselingbyheart | Jan 1, 2013 | abuse, children's literature, classroom lessons, personal safety
It has been deeply gratifying to hear from so many people about how they have used the sexual abuse prevention lessons and resources that I have written about in various blog posts. I am passionate about the topic of sexual abuse prevention – I have seen such amazing changes in children who are able to report and avoid abuse – and am so glad to be able to help others as they do this important work. To make it easier for people to more easily locate all the posts I’ve written about sexual abuse prevention, I’ve put them all together, with a little help from a friend. (more…)
by schoolcounselingbyheart | Oct 17, 2012 | online safety, personal safety
Most kids and parents would never dream of leaving their front doors wide open so that anybody could walk right into their homes. And yet, many unwittingly do just that. Strangers, advertisers, predators, unkind classmates, and bullies slip directly into homes, bedrooms, backpacks, and pockets, browsing through photo albums, diaries, activity schedules, and other personal details about kids’ lives. Sometimes they leave something behind – perhaps a taunt or threat – and sometimes they take something with them when they leave – a photo or information that can be used to hurt the kid. (more…)
My sexual abuse prevention unit for third grade is comprised of three lessons, which focus on body safety, trusting “yucky” or uncomfortable feelings, recognizing grooming behaviors, and the importance of telling about uncomfortable, scary, or dangerous situations. These lessons revisit and build upon skills and concepts that I cover in previous grades, but prior knowledge is not necessary, so you can use them as a starting place even if your students haven’t already had lessons about safe touch. 
