The Second Step Violence Prevention Program--Third Edition
Review by Hal Shigley, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist
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Resource: |
Second Step-A Violence Prevention Curriculum, Committee for Children (Third Edition), 1-800-634-4449, http://www.cfchildren.org/violence.htm |
Second Step: A Violence Prevention Curriculum was reviewed previously for the LINK website. There is now a new third edition with some nice additions. If you thought about buying this program but have been putting it off, then you are in luck. The new third edition includes updated, poster-sized photo-lesson cards, a variety of new materials, and a Family Overview video. The focus is on developing children’s language skills and teaching children to identify feelings, solve problems, and get along with others. In addition to the Impulsive Puppy and Slow Down Snail, puppets that were in the original kit, the Be-Calm Bunny has been added, which encourages students to take turns speaking and to listen respectively. There is a new CD with sing-along songs that teach basic concepts and help students remember important social and emotional skill steps. The new CD also includes instructions for teaching sign language to accompany the songs. There is also a new Family Overview Video, which provides parents with the tools to support classroom learning at home, and an Administrator’s Guide supports school-wide social and emotional learning.
Kathleen Robinson, a kindergarten teacher from Bellevue, Washington helped pilot the new third edition of the Second Step Curriculum. She linked the songs with a literacy program in which she wrote each song on sentence strips and on large tag board. .She reported that the sentence strips worked well for word and sentence matching activities, and by using the songs in this manner, she was able to work on keywords, which the students then learned to sign. Her children responded positively to small hearts, which are in the new curriculum to reinforce participation of students. She found the hearts worked well to reinforce appropriate behavior of her students. She also reported that the Be-Calm Bunny was especially helpful in keeping order during Second Step discussions. She stated, “Whenever a student was holding Be-Calm Bunny, the rest of the class was fully aware it was time to listen quietly and respectfully.”
The Committee for Children (developers of The Second Step Curriculum), located on the web at http://www.cfchildren.org/edutoc.shtml, also have developed two products related to keeping children safe from abuse. The first is Talking About Touching Personal Safety Curriculum for preschool and kindergarten age children. This program teaches young students basic skills to help keep them safe from dangerous or abusive situations. The Talking About Touching Curriculum helps teachers and parents address this difficult subject more easily. The photo cards with fully scripted lessons on the reverse side serve as a basis for classroom discussions.
The What Do I Say Now video helps parents and teachers talk to children about personal safety. This package would be helpful for parents or teachers planning to educate others about prevention of child sexual abuse.
All of these resources are rather expensive and might be most practical for schools or centers to buy rather than individuals. The third edition of The Second Step Violence Prevention Curriculum is $279.00, Talking About Touching is $269.00, and the What Do I Say Now video is $95.00.