Learning for Life

The Seekers' Program offers an integrated approach to character development designed for kindergarten through 2nd grade youth. The program blends character development, life skills, academic learning, and outdoor experiences into a comprehensive program geared help students successful handle the complexities of contemporary society, reinforce social skills, critical and creative thinking, ethical decision making, conflict resolution, and build their self-esteem. The 8 core character traits promoted in the Seekers' Program are: 1) Respect, 2) Responsibility, 3) Honesty/Trust, 4) Caring/Fairness, 5) Perseverance, 6) Self-Discipline, 7) Courage, and 8) Citizenship, A group of Life Skills lesson plans with themes like Safety and Classic Literature are also included..

Curricula books for each grade level consists of 61 lessons plans, all age-appropriate and grade specific. Lessons focus on themes such as "Accepting Consequences," "Gangs," "Meeting Deadlines," "Respecting Differences," and "Sticking to What's Right." Through reflection activities in each lesson, students engage in analyzing their behaviors. Lessons are easily integrated into core curricula subjects. Each lesson plan also includes a "Home/Family Activity Worksheet" which teachers send to the student's parent/guardian as an extension activity to reinforce the lesson plan in the home environment.

The Seekers Program has its own recognition plan that includes honor charts and 15 colorful stickers for student participation

Other valued-added features of the Seekers' Program includes: outdoor experiences, community speakers, field trips, and teacher training.

Safety Seekers is value added program book filled with many individual and group activities that review the four rules of personal safety. The book can be used in any instruction setting. or sent home to be used by parents. The four rules include:

• Check with a parent
• Go with a friend
• It's your body
• Tell a trusted adult

An English and Spanish version is available and can be ordered from your local office.

The Discoverers' Program combines character development, life skills, academic learning, and outdoor experiences specifically designed for 3rd and 4th grade youth. It mirrors the Seeker's Program by providing an integrated approach to character development. The age appropriate, grade specific lesson plans focus on the same 8 character traits as the Seekers' Program: 1) Respect, 2) Responsibility, 3) Honesty/Trust, 4) Caring/Fairness, 5) Perseverance, 6) Self-Discipline, 7) Courage and 8) Citizenship. Life Skills with topics on Youth Protection, Hobbies and Art lesson plans are also part of the Discoverers Program.

Each of the 3rd and 4th grade books has 61 lessons plans focusing on many of the same themes as the Seekers' Program; however, 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 which each lesson to the lesson plan at the home.

To further enhance the Discoverers' Program, each book contains an interactive CD-Rom game for students titled "SuperSafe." The game presents a series of six age-appropriate scenarios where students have to make choices about safety issues. The six scenarios are: Internet Safety, Nonviolent Strategies, Verbal Abuse, Bullying, Youth Protection, and Unsupervised Children. The game also provides information that can be sent home to parents. The information details issues that are being addressed in the SuperSafe CD-Rom game and shows ways parents/guardians can help their child's development. See the online demo of this game.

The Discoverers Program also has a unique recognition plan that includes honor charts and 15 colorful stickers.

Other valued-added components of the Discoverers' Program includes: community speakers, mentors, outdoor experiences, field trips, and teacher training.

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 Challengers' Program focuses on the same 8 character traits as Seekers' and Discoverers: 1) Respect, 2) Responsibility, 3) Honesty/Trust, 4) Caring/Fairness, 5) Perseverance, 6) Self-Discipline, 7) Courage, and 8) Citizenship. Life Skill themes such as Money Management and Fire Safety are an added feature.

The 61 age appropriate, grade specific lesson plans in each of the Challengers' books focus on topics such as "Being Responsible," "Making Good Decisions," "Code of Ethics," "Empathy," etc. 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. It can 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' is completely different from the Discoverers' game, and offers more difficult scenarios to enhance their critical thinking skills. See the online demo of this game.

Like the Seekers and Discoverers Program, Challengers have a set of 15 stickers and honor charts specific to the program.

Other value added features in the Challengers' Program are: community speakers, mentors, outdoor experiences, field trips, and teacher training

The Navigators' Program is designed to extend the learning experiences taught through Learning for Life's Builders Program for seventh and eighth grade students. Just as the word "navigators" implies, the program serves to guide youngsters 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 (2) books in the Navigators' series. One book is entitled: "A Personal Compass for Daily Living". It 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. A meeting Guide for Personal Safety Awareness which can be used with high school aged youth. Guide is available at the below link in English and Spanish.
http://www.learningforlife.org/pubs/av/46-506 [pdf].

The Leadership Workshop Series DVD ROM is now available as a printed book called "Leadership Development Guidebook for Teenage Youth". It includes the 16 Workshops as well as options on how to organize the workshops. A sample certificate for local reproduction is also included. It can be ordered through your local Learning for Life office (32148).

A Character Achievement Award is also available.

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 a CD ROM included with the teacher's edition. It is called the Life Choices a Career Game. This is an interactive game that presents situations that require a selection that involves character and could have career implications. The game culminates with an interactive job interview. See the online demo of this game.

Students using this book can work on earning the Career Achievement Award in one of 12 different career clusters.

In addition the Navigators program services can also include Career Seminars and Career Fairs. The local Learning for Life staff can work with your school to recruit qualified speakers. The Student Career Interest Survey is a resource that helps to identify potential career topics.

Speakers are recruited and trained by Learning for Life so that they can make an effective career presentation to high school students.

Although aspects of these two books are introduced in Learning for Life's programs for elementary schools and taught in a more extended way through the 7th and 8th grade Builders Program, the Navigators' Program takes students to a much deeper level of learning and a much broader set of learning experiences. When students complete the Navigators' Program, they will be much better prepared to enter the workforce or enter post-secondary education. They will have deeper understandings and many more strategies to support their efforts to achieve success in their chosen venture.

Drug Abuse for Teens is available: This is a publication created in cooperation with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). It is aimed at helping give teens information on the dangers of drugs so they can make good choices. It can be downloaded at http://www.learningforlife.org/lfl/resources/99-349.pdf [pdf].

The Builders' Program is a comprehensive, four-tier blend of elements focusing on Character Education, Career Education, Building Relationships, and Citizenship for students in the 7th and 8th grades. Lesson plans in both the 7th and 8th grade books are designed to reinforce social, academic, and career education skills in various areas, such as 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 the Builders' 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 uses teaching techniques such as role-playing, small group discussions, and reflective and moral-dilemmas exercises. In addition, many of the same value-added features included with the Seekers', Discoverers', and Challengers' Programs are also part of the Builders' Program, including community speakers, mentors, outdoor experiences, field trips, and teacher training.

The special-needs curriculum teaches youth with mental disabilities/challenges the life skills they need to achieve self-sufficiency. The program focuses on and enhances coping skills. Areas covered include the following:

• Self-concept. Youth develop an awareness of personal, social, and civic responsibility.
• Personal/social skills. Youth learn ways in which emotions affect the behavior of self and others.
• Life skills. Youth are taught basic skills for independent living, such as personal hygiene, meal preparation, and job preparedness training.

The teacher's edition of the Champions curriculum presents 57 lesson plans in 12 themed chapters. Chapters include:

• Safety
• Calendar
• Self Concept
• Parts of the Body
• Grooming
• Clothing Care
• Dressing
• Human Growth and Development
• Nutrition
• Wellness
• Table Manners
• Meal Preparation

The Champions Program also has its own recognition plan that includes stickers that collate with the 12 chapters. Stickers are placed on honor charts. Iron -on emblems are also available.

Transition Program

For Special Needs High school aged youth, a Transition Program is available. This program is a series of progressive lesson that assist educators prepare youth for a productive role in the workplace environment. The transition plan has its own recognition plan with certificates and medals.

Because of the various forms and levels of disabilities that schools encounter, the Learning for Life special-needs curriculum is sometimes supplemented with the elementary, seventh- and eighth-grade, and senior high school Learning for Life program materials. In this way, Learning for Life is tailored to fit the needs of each individual class and youth and is certain to be age appropriate.

Exploring is a worksite-based program. It is part of Learning for Life's career education program for young men and women who are 14 (and have completed the eighth grade) through 20 years old.

Exploring's purpose is to provide experiences that help young people mature and to prepare them to become responsible and caring adults. Explorers are ready to investigate the meaning of interdependence in their personal relationships and communities.

Exploring is based on a unique and dynamic relationship between youth and the organizations in their communities. Local community organizations initiate a specific Explorer post by matching their people and program resources to the interests of young people in the community. The result is a program of activities that helps youth pursue their special interests, grow, and develop.

Exploring programs are based on five areas of emphasis: career opportunities, life skills, citizenship, character education, and leadership experience.

Career Opportunities

• Develop potential contacts that may broaden employment options
• Boost self-confidence and experience success at school and work

Life Skills

• Develop physical and mental fitness
• Experience positive social interaction

Citizenship

• Encourage the skill and desire to help others
• Gain a keen respect for the basic rights of others

Character Education

• Help make ethical choices
• Fulfill one's responsibilities to society as a whole

Leadership Experience

• Acquire leadership skills necessary to fulfill one's responsibilities in society
• Develop a variety of leadership traits

Young adults involved in Exploring will

• Gain practical knowledge of and experience in a career
• Engage in a program of activities centered on career opportunities, life skills, citizenship, character development, and leadership experience to encourage the development of the whole person
• Have opportunities to take on leadership roles
• Have a chance to learn and grow in a supportive, caring, and enjoyable environment

Explorer posts can specialize in a variety of career skills, including the following:

Arts & Humanities | Aviation | Business | Communications | Engineering Fire Service | Health | Law Enforcement | Law & Government Science | Skilled Trades | Social Services

An array of awards and scholarships are available for Explorers.

Download resources to support your Exploring program.

According to a national study conducted by Louis Harris & Associates, the Exploring program contributes to the healthy development of today's young adults by providing them with the environment, resources, and relationships they need to learn and grow.