Dear Parents: 

Don’t be surprised if you start hearing the phrase “Second Step” mentioned at school and by your children.  If you haven’t heard it yet, our hope is that you will hear it often and be interested and excited about it, as we here at Lawrence Avenue are!

Second Step: A Violence Prevention Curriculum is a research-based program that teaches students essential skills in empathy, impulse control and problem solving, and anger management.  Classroom use of the Second Step program helps provide children with the skills they need to create safe environments and become successful adults.

Lawrence Avenue School will begin Second Step lessons in classrooms the week of September 20th. All students will have the opportunity to learn about: their emotions and how to respond to them, individual attitudes and beliefs about aggression, and social and emotional skills to help them succeed in school and in life.  The lessons are interactive and students will be given time to practice newly learned skills and begin using them.

Parents will receive information about lessons their students are being taught and ways to help reinforce the lessons at home.  By partnering with families, the opportunity for students to increase their social and emotional competence is much greater than the school doing it alone.  We need your support and welcome your feedback at any time!

For more information about the Second Step program, go to http://www.cfchildren.org/ssf/ssf/ssindex/.

Sincerely,
Susan A. Pike
Guidance Counselor