Growing Up Strong Preschool Curriculum

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Why GUS?

Research, as well as common sense, indicates that the early social and emotional experiences of very young children affect their growth and potential. The failure to learn effective methods of handling emotions may lead to various difficulties in adjusting to kids school. There may be problems with accepting directions from the teacher or problems getting along with peers. Given these realities, it helps for teachers and care givers to provide a focus on emotional health for all children.

Children whose families are experiencing crises, (i.e. divorce, illness, job loss, etc.) need extra support. Many of these families have a "don't talk/don't feel" rule. These children can be helped to recognize, name, and deal with their emotions.

The Growing Up Strong® (GUS) Curriculum is designed to do just this. GUS is a collection of activities designed to assist preschool children in developing strong social and emotional competence. GUS provides curriculum materials such as:

classroom activities (click here for a sample of an activity)
hints for teachers
information for teachers to share with parents and
a skill set for helping children deal with emotions.

The Teacher's Guide is easy to use and the activities can be integrated into any classroom setting and fit within most academic programs. GUS and GUSSIE dolls function as an outlet for children to use as a "special friend" or to help children express their feelings. The Family Involvement handouts provide important communication tools to develop relations between the classroom and the family as well as exciting opportunities for parent/child interaction and encouragement.

Also, being trained to use GUS and utilizing it in the classroom can help your child care center improve its rating in your state's quality rating and improvement system. For example, Oklahoma Child Care Services' Quality Rating and Improvement System gives ratings according to several organizational factors including director qualifications and training, learning environments for children, staff qualifications and training, parent involvement, and accreditation. Being trained on the proper implementation of the GUS program can help increase ratings in each of these categories when the program is properly integrated into the activities of the classroom.

GUS RESEARCH

For GUS Evaluation info click here