We recently received a grant from the Athens Foundation to continue our violence prevention programs at Amesville Elementary, started a new program with the Redbud Homeschool Cooperative, and finished our strategic plan with Carol Kuhre.

Amesville Elementary’s monthly whole school meetings gave students a chance to shine in front of their peers and set a fun, positive tone for the day. Each grade presented a song, poem, or skit that related to what they were working on in the classroom. 3rd Grade did a skit depicting Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1st Grade sang songs about taking care of the environment, and Pre-K and K classes sang a song that celebrated each other and the whole school. APJN also started a bully prevention curriculum called Stepping Up in the two new 6th grade classes. We did lessons on passive, aggressive and assertive; disagreeing respectfully; and what to do if you or somebody else is being bullied.

Chauncey Elementary’s classroom lessons on bullying, anger management, peace, self-control, respect, and responsibility have been a great way to connect social-emotional learning to language arts.   We’ve been playing Responsibility Bingo, Bully-Wise Dominoes and Self-Control Cards.  These resources are a fun way to learn important social skills while reading, communicating, and helping friends.  These resources were bought with a grant from the Sisters of St. Joseph of West Virginia.

West Elementary’s new DENS (Developing, Educating and Nurturing Students) program has been a huge success!  6th graders led multi-age groups in activities that taught CARES themes (Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy and Self-control).  We did activities in which we interviewed each other to find out how we are similar and different from each other, did role plays on being responsible in different parts of the school, and played lots of cooperation and team building games.  DENS leaders said the most important thing they learned from DENS was, “That you have to be patient with the kids if you want them to be patient with you.” - Zion  “How to work together and how to listen to each other.” - Klir  “When working with Kindergarteners, you have to smile or they think you’re a monster.” - Drew  “How to be responsible and to control myself when I need to.  Also, I have learned how to control what I am going to say around the young children.” - Edwin. 

Redbud Homeschool Cooperative began a new program on understanding feelings and acting empathetically.  We also did guided relaxation, meditation, and visualization exercises.  One student said, “I learned to be calm and stay focused and also if I’m mad to talk it out.”  He shook my hand at the end of the class and said, “Thanks for teaching.  You have a great class!"

We want to thank all of the extraordinary teachers, principals, and parents at these schools that make all of this work possible!  None of this could happen without the generous contributions from donors like you, The Sisters of St. Joseph of West Virginia, and The Athens Foundation.  Thank you all so much!!! : )