SEL Curriculum - Big Life Journal

Moderation state
funded
Grant Applicant
Danielle Gallagher
Grant Co-applicants
Diane Welch
School Site
Sierra Expeditionary Learning School
Grant Category
Life Skills & Health
Grant Date
2025-03-31T12:00:00
Description

Diane Welch and I are requesting a grant to support the purchasing of the Big Life Journal social emotional curriculum.  We are looking to include more social emotional education for our 2nd and 3rd graders during our daily Crew meetings.  We have worked with our school counselor, Denise Strecker, to research materials and curriculums that would be a good fit for our program and our students.  Through our discussions and research, we have concluded that the Big Life Journals and corresponding curriculum would be the most beneficial for our needs. 

Benefits of Program

Through this curriculum, we hope to support our 2nd and 3rd grade students in their social and emotional growth.  2nd and 3rd grade is a very important time for students as they face more social challenges and need the tools and emotional resilience to properly face those challenges.  We have also seen students struggle with emotional resilience more in the last few years and are hopeful that opening the lines of communication through this curriculum will support in that area.

Success of Program

Our school counselor, Denise Strecker, has been implementing this curriculum at the middle school level for a few years.  She has found great success with the program and feels that it is relevant to students, and they feel a connection to the lessons which is very important to us.  We want students to feel that the topics and material are relevant to them personally so that there is buy-in from them.  This program will allow students to learn life-long skills around reflecting on and sharing their thoughts.  These skills will benefit them in all aspects of their lives.

Implementation

The Big Life Journals and corresponding curriculum will be used weekly during our Crew meeting time.  Diane and I will facilitate the lessons with the support of the school counselor. We will teach the provided lessons, making adjustments as needed based on the needs of our students, and then students will complete the corresponding activities in their personal Big Life Journals.

Can you share this grant with your grade level or subject team?

This grant will cover materials for both 2/3 combined grade level Crews.  

Sustainability
This is a consumable item that will need to be reordered every two years as our students loop. The hope is to spread this curriculum over a two year period of time instead of completing it in one year.
Amount Funded
$1378.00
Individual Budget Items(s)
$800 - Big Life Journal - 2nd Edition (ages 7-10) (see bulk pricing attachment)
$20 - Lesson Plans PDF for Big Life Journal - 2nd Edition (ages 7-10)
Shipping
$0.00
Taxes
$100.00
Other funding sources

If we are not able to receive funding through Excellence in Education, we will pursue additional grants through the SELS Parent Teacher Crew or look into other options.

File Uploads
BLJ-School bulk pricing_0.pdf (153.21 KB)
Supporting Links
Big Life Journal - 2nd Edition (ages 7-10) - 50 copies
Lesson Plans PDF for Big Life Journal - 2nd Edition (ages 7-10)
Notes

We are so grateful for this opportunity and truly appreciate all of the time and energy you put into supporting our schools!  Thank you for all you do!