 |
 |
 |
  |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 Second Step is an integral part of the social and emotional curriculum at Explorer Elementary, starting in kindergarten and continuing all the way through fifth grade. The Second Step curriculum focuses on helping children develop skills in empathy; impulse control; recognizing emotions in themselves and others; problem solving; and anger management. The children practice these skills through role-plays at each grade level. By the time the children are in fifth grade they have become expert problem solvers in their role-plays and in real life. This year we wanted to put together short films of role-plays by the fifth graders to show just how much they have learned about problem solving. The goal of this project was for the students to come up with a conflict and use their problem solving skills to resolve the conflict on film. Students worked collaboratively on their videos in groups of four, beginning the process by coming up with a social issue on which to focus (i.e. peer pressure, gossip, bullying). It was important that the students had creative freedom with this project to come up with a social issue that is relevant to their own lives for their film. After they decided on a topic they worked with their group to write their script, plan their scenes, rehearse, and direct their own films. Throughout the planning process the students had to work cooperatively with their group to come up with the ideas, share responsibilities, and decide on which roles they would each play. They not only modeled their problem solving skills in their videos, but also in how they worked together as a group. This culminating project not only prepared them for the social issues they will encounter as they get older and how to deal with them in a safe, empathetic, and effective way; but it is also is representative of everything they have learned over the course of their Second Step education here at Explorer.
|
||||||||
