Cherry Avenue’s Fifth-Grade Science/Health Class focuses on STRIDES' Self-Esteem

To support Sayville’s new STRIDES initiative, eighty-six of Cherry Avenue’s Fifth graders took part in a three-part lesson in their Science/Health class. Mrs. Elizabeth Denton, the Fifth-grade Science/Health teacher, utilized the educational tools from Kidshealth.org to teach the students how to identify the differences between positive and low self-esteem.

“Students identified character traits someone with positive self-esteem displays,” Mrs. Denton explained.  “They identified signs that someone may be experiencing poor/low self-esteem and discussed ways to build self-esteem. The students then created Inspirational Self-Esteem Pennants to line the hallway by the Fifth-grade classrooms. These pennants display general positive self-esteem messages to encourage positive self-esteem in others, such as Believe in yourself; You are the best YOU there is; How you treat yourself sets the standard for others; etc.

“The next day,” Mrs. Denton continued, “students focused on developing and supporting their own positive self-esteem. They created digital self-esteem portraits in Google Slides. The students chose positive traits about themselves to adorn their portrait, such as positive; strong; leader; honest; problem solver.  These portraits line the walls outside the Fifth-grade classrooms to demonstrate to others that it’s admirable to have positive self-esteem.

“The third day, students focused on supporting the self-esteem of their classmates. They discussed what compliments are and how they affect others. Each student wore a sheet of paper on their back. The students walked around the room writing encouraging compliments on the backs’ of their classmates. The students were then allowed to keep their compliment paper to remind themselves how many wonderful traits they have.

 Cherry Avenue Principal Dr. Lisa Ihne complimented Mrs. Denton for her “fantastic” and “wonderful” lessons.  “The artwork is adorable, but more important, the learning and pointing out the positives of their classmates leaves a lasting impression.”

To support Sayville’s new STRIDES initiative, eighty-six of Cherry Avenue’s Fifth graders took part in a three-part lesson in their Science/Health class. Mrs. Elizabeth Denton, the Fifth-grade Science/Health teacher, utilized the educational tools from Kidshealth.org to teach the students how to identify the differences between positive and low self-esteem.

“Students identified character traits someone with positive self-esteem displays,” Mrs. Denton explained.  “They identified signs that someone may be experiencing poor/low self-esteem and discussed ways to build self-esteem. The students then created Inspirational Self-Esteem Pennants to line the hallway by the Fifth-grade classrooms. These pennants display general positive self-esteem messages to encourage positive self-esteem in others, such as Believe in yourself; You are the best YOU there is; How you treat yourself sets the standard for others; etc.

“The next day,” Mrs. Denton continued, “students focused on developing and supporting their own positive self-esteem. They created digital self-esteem portraits in Google Slides. The students chose positive traits about themselves to adorn their portrait, such as positive; strong; leader; honest; problem solver.  These portraits line the walls outside the Fifth-grade classrooms to demonstrate to others that it’s admirable to have positive self-esteem.

“The third day, students focused on supporting the self-esteem of their classmates. They discussed what compliments are and how they affect others. Each student wore a sheet of paper on their back. The students walked around the room writing encouraging compliments on the backs’ of their classmates. The students were then allowed to keep their compliment paper to remind themselves how many wonderful traits they have.

 Cherry Avenue Principal Dr. Lisa Ihne complimented Mrs. Denton for her “fantastic” and “wonderful” lessons.  “The artwork is adorable, but more important, the learning and pointing out the positives of their classmates leaves a lasting impression.”