ERIC Number: ED357818
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1988
Pages: 122
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Growing Up Strong: A Mental Wellness and Life Skills Development Program for Preschoolers. Second Edition.
Hammer, Judith McGowan; O'Bar, Angelina Merenda
Growing Up Strong (GUS) is a curriculum designed to develop strong mental health in preschool through sixth grade students. This document contains a GUS teacher's guide for preschool classrooms and masters of materials that can be sent home with preschool children to promote family involvement in GUS. Part I of the four-part teacher's guide provides background information about the program. Part II includes a sample letter to families, information on the GUS Observable Behavior Checklist, tips on using family involvement information and activity handouts, and information on making and using Gus and Gussie dolls and puppets. Part III offers suggestions on classroom management, task-oriented instruction, and ways of making positive comments to children and helping students note their accomplishments; instruments to help teachers deal with parents' criticisms of teachers, irate parents, and child abuse; and advice on enhancing young children's self-concept and lists of resources. Part IV provides 33 in-class GUS activities that are designed to help young children become aware of themselves and of others and to develop socially, creatively, emotionally, and verbally. The materials designed for children to take home include: (1) a letter to the family that explains the GUS program and the importance of family involvement, and offers parenting tips; (2) information sheets for parents covering such topics as instilling confidence in children, setting a good example in the proper use of medications, and permitting children to solve their own problems; and (3) activity sheets for children to help them identify things that make them feel good, annoy them, and are bad for them; and to teach them about first aid, responsibility, and safety. Sample awards for children and GUS promotional materials are attached. (AC)
Descriptors: Activity Units, Check Lists, Child Rearing, Class Activities, Classroom Observation Techniques, Daily Living Skills, Decision Making Skills, Early Intervention, Family Programs, Instructional Materials, Language Skills, Learning Activities, Mental Health, Parent Participation, Parent Student Relationship, Preschool Children, Preschool Education, Prevention, Safety, Self Esteem, Substance Abuse, Teaching Guides, Wellness
Center for Child and Family Development, The University of Oklahoma, 555 Constitution, Suite 221, Norman, OK 73037-0005 ($25, plus $2.50 postage and handling).
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners; Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: Oklahoma State Dept. of Mental Health, Stillwater.
Authoring Institution: Oklahoma Univ., Norman. Center for Child and Family Development.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A