GROWING UP STRONG®, or GUS, is a research-based, adaptable, and affordable mental wellness and substance abuse prevention curriculum for preschool aged children. GUS assists children with the acquisition of life skills such as problem solving, accepting responsibility, and developing social and emotional competence through age appropriate activities.
Early childhood is a time when a child begins to build the capacity to interact with others, to reflect on his own thinking, and to plan and guide his/her own behavior. GROWING UP STRONG is a curriculum that is intended to help develop the social and emotional competence of children and to prepare them for success in school. As children's social and emotional competencies increase, readiness for school also increases by reducing the risk factors of early academic failure and low commitment to school and increasing the protective factors of opportunities and rewards in the school domain and of increasing social skills in the peer-individual domain. GUS also provides teachers with self-awareness regarding their interaction with preschoolers in emotionally charged situations and provides a skill set for teachers to use that effectively helps the child move him or herself through emotional events and into a problem-solving mode.
 The GROWING UP STRONG Curriculum consists of a variety of components designed to enhance the learning process and encourage positive communication both within the classroom and in the home environment. The curriculum kit includes a Teacher's Guide, duplication masters of Family Involvement materials and a classroom poster.The other central component of the curriculum is the set of GUS and GUSSIE soft-sculpted dolls which are central to the curriculum’s learning activities.
Curriculum accessories include GUS and GUSSIE puppets and multicultural GUS program supplements that are available for purchase for use in classrooms with Native American or Spanish-speaking children.
GUS classroom activities can be used in a variety of classroom formats – in learning centers, with small groups of children, with individual children, and with the class as a whole. Teachers can have a specific "GUS time" or can easily include the activities with other units. Many of the GUS activities blend well with other units such as "Body Parts," "Birds," and "Holidays." GUS also utilizes emotion coaching to help children to cope with the powerful world of emotions they face every day.
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