Curriculum
The school-based programs are lesson plans designed to reinforce social, ethical, and academic skills in areas such as critical and creative thinking, ethical decision making and interpersonal relationships. Each curriculum book consists of age-appropriate, grade-specific lesson plans that meet the Missouri Show-Me Standards and are easily integrated into core-subjects.
Seekers' Program (Kindergarten—2nd Grades)
The Seekers' Program offers an integrated approach to character development for kindergarten through 2nd grade youth. The program blends character development, life skills, academic learning, and outdoor experiences into a comprehensive program geared to reinforce social skills, critical and creative thinking, ethical decision making, and conflict resolution.
Each of the 61 lesson plans also includes a "Home/Family Activity Worksheet" which teachers may send to the student's parent/guardian as an extension activity to reinforce the lesson plan in the home environment.
Discoverers' Program (3rd—4th Grades)
The Discoverers' Program combines character development, life skills, academic learning, and outdoor experiences specifically designed for 3rd and 4th grade youth. Each of the books have 61 lessons plans that focus on many of the same themes as the Seekers' Program; however, the lesson plans progress in difficulty and cognitive level. Lessons focus on critical thinking, conflict resolution, perseverance, courage, interpersonal skills, and ethical decision making. A "Home/Family Activity Worksheet" is included with each lesson.
To further enhance the Discoverers' Program, each book
contains an interactive CD-Rom game for students. The "SuperSafe"
game presents a series of six age-appropriate scenarios that give students
the chance to make choices about safety issues. The game focuses on issues
such as Internet safety, nonviolent strategies, verbal abuse, bullying, youth
protection and unsupervised children. Click
to see the online demo of this game.
Challengers' Program (5th—6th Grades)
Specifically designed for the cognitive and developmental levels of 5th and 6th grade students, the Challengers' Program continues Learning for Life's character education emphasis by integrating components of both the Seekers' and Discoverers' Program.
The 61 lesson plans in each of the Challengers' books focus on topics such as "Being Responsible," "Making Good Decisions," "Code of Ethics," and "Empathy." The lesson plans are geared to a higher-level of cognitive and developmental learning than the Seekers' and Discoverers' lessons. Teachers can send to the student's parent/guardian the "Home/Family Activity Worksheet," which is included with each lesson to be used as an extension to reinforce the character trait in the home environment.
The Challengers' Program, like the Discoverers' Program,
also comes with a "SuferSafe" CD-Rom game for students; however,
the game for Challengers' offers more difficult scenarios to enhance their
critical thinking skills. Click
to see the online demo of this game.
Builders' Program (7th-8th Grades)
Lesson plans in the Builders' program are designed to reinforce critical and creative thinking, conflict resolution, decision making, interpersonal relationships, practical life skills, self-esteem, writing and language arts, citizenship, and personal fitness. There are 44 lesson plans in each of 7th and 8th grade books, ranging in topics from "Peer Pressure: Who Can I Trust," to "Self Assessment of Skills and Abilities," to "Problem Solving: The Intricacies of Relating to Others." The lessons are action-oriented and use teaching techniques such as role-playing, small group discussions, and reflective and moral-dilemmas exercises.
The lessons are divided into 4 sections.
1. Character Education Lessons: focus on 4 traits.
* Respect: with lesson on empathy and peer pressure
* Responsibility: this focuses on concepts like decision Making and perseverance
* Honesty/Trust: works on commitment
* Self Discipline: exposes students to courage and anger-management
2. Building Relationships Lessons: develop understanding of concepts like
prejudice, problem solving, communications and family dynamics.
3. Citizenship Lessons: discusses freedom, liberty, laws and diversity.
4. Career Education Lessons: show students work-related skills like time management,
job traits, and goal-setting, while investigating career opportunities.
The Builders' Program also comes with an interactive computer game that gives students the opportunity to practice ethical decision-making skills. A series of situations are presented allowing students to make the proper choice. The computer gives the student immediate feedback by providing consequences for each choice the student makes. Reports are given at the end of the game summarizing how the student performed in several key elements of character. Click to see an online demo of this game.
Navigators' Program (9th - 12th Grades)
The Navigators' Program is designed to guide youth in making a successful transition from high school into real-world endeavors, including post-secondary education, acquiring a job, being a productive citizen, and establishing and maintaining positive relationships with others. There are two books in the Navigators' series:
Book one is called "A Personal Compass for Daily Living" and includes lessons in three chapters:
* Habits of Character
* Service to Others
* Ethical Dilemmas
A DVD entitled "Personal Safety Awareness" is included with Book One. This DVD covers youth protection issues facing high school students.
The second book is called "A Roadmap for the Future". Lessons in this book are included in these chapters:
* Life Skills
* Career Education
* College Life
Book two features an interactive CD-ROM game called "Life Choices" that presents situations with career implications. The game culminates with an interactive job interview. Click to see the online demo of this game.
Champions (Special Needs)
The special-needs curriculum teaches youth with mental disabilities/challenges the life skills they need to achieve self-sufficiency. The following areas are covered:
* Self-concept: Youth develop an awareness of personal, social, and civic
responsibility.
* Personal/social skills: Youth learn ways that emotions affect the behavior
of self and others.
* Life skills: Youth are taught basic skills for independent living, including
personal hygiene, meal preparation, and job preparedness training.
Champions Transition (Special Needs)
The Transitions program is available for high school aged special needs students. This program is a series of progressive lesson that prepare youth for a productive role in the workplace environment.
Because of the various forms and levels of disabilities that schools encounter, the Champions and Champions Transition program can be supplemented with the other Learning for Life programs.
Character Quest (After-School)
The Character Quest Program is a teacher-friendly compilation of lesson plans for various age levels. The program is meant to be used as a supplement for before and after-school programs, such as latchkey or the YMCA's SACC program. An activities book is also included with the lesson plan book to make the program flexible and appropriate for all grade levels.
Sample Lesson Plans
View the following sample lesson plans in PDF format:
| Seekers/Discoverers/Challengers Programs for Elementary Schools | ||
| Kindergarten | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| Kindergarten [Espaņol] | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| First Grade | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| First Grade [Espaņol] | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| Second Grade | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| Second Grade [Espaņol] | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| Third Grade | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| Fourth Grade | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| Fifth Grade | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| Sixth Grade | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| The Builders Program for Seventh and Eighth Grades | ||
| Seventh Grade | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| Eighth Grade | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| The Navigators Program for High Schools | ||
| Book One: A Personal Compass for Daily Living | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| Book Two: A Roadmap to the Future | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| The Champions Program for Special Needs Youth | ||
| Champions | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| Transition | Contents | Sample Lesson Plan |
| Drug Abuse Prevention Education Lessons | |
| Kindergarten | Lesson & Activity Sheet |
| First Grade | Lesson & Activity Sheet |
| Second Grade | Lesson & Activity Sheet |
| Third Grade | Lesson & Activity Sheet |
| Fourth Grade | Lesson |
| Fifth Grade | Lesson |
| Sixth Grade | Lesson |