Elementary School Prevention Curriculum
The Following Programs Are Free Of Charge
Healthy Alternatives For Little Ones (HALO)
This program is designed to address risk and protective factors for substance abuse and other health behaviors, by providing children with information on healthy choices. HALO is an evidence-based program that encourages healthy eating, exercise, and emotion recognition, and educates children about the harmful effects of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) on the body. HALO provides learning opportunities for children through fun, hands-on activities that involve educational songs, videos, group activities, and books.
Suggested Schedule:
8 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
Pre-K – 2nd Grade
Leaps & Bounds
This is a curriculum developed in support of the Alberta Learning Program of Studies. This program focuses on improving and practicing positive health behaviors, and cover concepts such as safety rules, healthy alternatives to alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and gambling, the importance of personal goals and role models, the benefits of healthy choices, the effects of positive and negative peer influence, and the importance of recognizing personal skills and assets. Leaps and Bounds is designed with objectives and activities for a hands-on informative experience.
Suggested Schedule:
6-8 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
3rd – 6th Grades
Life Skills Training
This is a developmentally appropriate program that improves personal self-management, general social skills, and drug resistance. It has been proven to promote self-esteem, healthy attitudes, and learning skills that will promote healthy and positive development. Included within each lesson is a student guide with informational pieces as well as activities to create a pro-active impact.
Suggested Schedule:
8 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
3rd – 6th Grades
I Can Problem Solve
This is a developmentally appropriate program that improves personal self-management, general social skills, and drug resistance. It has been proven to promote self-esteem, healthy attitudes, and learning skills that will promote healthy and positive development. Included within each lesson is a student guide with informational pieces as well as activities to create a pro-active impact.
Suggested Schedule:
5 classroom sessions
Grades:
Pre-K – 6th Grades
Over The Counter Medicine Safety
This is a Scholastic evidence-based program designed to instruct students on the safe use of OTC medications. OTC Medicine Safety includes resources and engaging educational activities specifically designed for students to increase their knowledge and responsibility about OTC medicines. Lessons define what OTC medicine safety means, teach students how to read a drug facts label, measure and store medicines, education regarding medicine misuse and harms, and true to real-life scenarios for students to practice what they have learned about medicine safety.
Suggested Schedule:
5 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
5th & 6th Grades
Operation Prevention
This is a PowerPoint presentation designed for students to examine the reasons people turn to opioid use and misuse, and act as investigative reporters to consider the who, what, when, where, why, and how of opioid use and misuse. They will also investigate how the opioid epidemic may be impacting their own community. This program is sponsored by the DEA.
Suggested Schedule:
4 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
3rd – 6th Grades
Too Good For Drugs
TGFD is an evidence-based program to promote healthy decision-making and positive, healthy, youth development. TGFD teaches students about goal-setting, decision- making, bonding with others, identifying and managing emotions, and communicating effectively. In addition, the curriculum includes information about the harmful effects of the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs on students’ bodies and minds. The curriculum is engaging and educational, utilizing hands-on activities, such as, group work, games, and role-playing activities. Please note that the Too Good for Drugs program correlates with the Pennsylvania Health Education Content Standards.
Suggested Schedule:
10 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
Kindergarten – 6th Grades
Too Good For Drugs – Social Perspective
Too Good for Drugs- Social Perspectives is an evidence-based program that lays the groundwork for peaceable living through a fun and interactive journey of setting reachable goals, communicating effectively, and making responsible decisions. The program focuses on developing students’ social skills and reinforces those skills through interactive, social activities.
*The Social Perspective lessons can be partially conducted in conjunction with the Too Good for Drugs program for a total of 15 lessons.
Suggested Schedule:
10 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
3rd, 5th, 6th Grades
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
The NOFAS FASD Education and Prevention Curriculum is a comprehensive, school-based curriculum that addresses many important topics for students beyond Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and what can happen to human development when a pregnant woman drinks alcohol. It teaches about the overall effects that alcohol can have on the body, why some people who drink alcohol become addicted while others do not, and acceptance of all people regardless of individual capabilities or disabilities.
Suggested Schedule:
1 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
Kindergarten – 6th Grades
Weeding Things Out
The Truth about Marijuana is a program that helps younger students develop a fundamental understanding of what addiction is, the difference between drugs and medication, the difference between adult use and use by young people and the very basics of marijuana.
Suggested Schedule:
1 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
5th & 6th Grades
CATCH
The CATCH My Breath E-Cigarette and Juul Prevention Program provides students with the skills to resist peer pressure and media influences to try e- cigarettes. The overall goal of the program is to prevent the initiation of e- cigarette use among preteen and teen adolescents through educational strategies such as, social emotional learning, peer-facilitated cooperative learning groups, large group discussions, analysis of mass media, and goal setting.
Suggested Schedule:
4 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
5th & 6th Grades
Why Animals Don’t Smoke
This is a non-curriculum-based tobacco prevention program. Story boards and animal puppets reinforce with children the dangers of tobacco and its effect on the body.
Suggested Schedule:
1 Classroom Session
Grades:
Pre-K – 1st Grades
Why Athletes Don’t Smoke
This is a non-curriculum-based tobacco prevention program. This program discusses why athletes of all kinds, from skateboarders to dancers to basketball players, should say no to tobacco and how tobacco can affect the body.
Suggested Schedule:
1 Classroom Session
Grades:
1st – 3rd Grades
Wise Owls Drug Safety Kit
This is a prevention approach using an animated three video lesson based on healthy decisions related to drugs and medicine. This interactive method uses questions as the base of the three videos which features Wise Owl and his niece Wendy and descriptive problem-solving solutions. Poster’s, games, and activities are all apart of the lesson objectives.
Suggested Schedule:
3 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
Kindergarten – 3rd Grades
Kids Don’t Gamble…Wanna Bet?
This is an innovative program designed to discourage underage gambling and to improve critical thinking and problem solving related to gambling. The curriculum explores age-appropriate, real- world issues associated with games of chance within the context of math, language, health, and social studies.
Suggested Schedule:
5 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
3rd – 6th Grades
We Better Know
This is an alcohol, tobacco, other drug, and gambling (ATODG) prevention program that offers interactive hands-on lessons about media influence, the disease of addiction, decision making and refusal skills while also raising student’s awareness of all forms of addiction including gambling.
Suggested Schedule:
5 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
4th – 6th Grades
2M2L (Too Much to Lose)
2M2L is a curriculum developed to address problem gambling among youth. Through interactive games, activities, and class discussions the program educates young people about the dangers of problem gambling. Information will guide students in making healthy life decisions. Studies show that youth are at risk for developing a gambling problem the younger they start.
Suggested Schedule:
4 Classroom Sessions
Grades:
3rd-6th Grades