Classes | Arts | Math & Science | Reading & Writing | Social Skills

The development of social and life skills is a cornerstone of the Northstar experience. With daily lessons, we prepare students to integrate with their peers and to develop social competence at home, in school and in the workplace.

Exploration of Self and Others Students will learn about being part of a community and how to identify important people in our lives within varying degrees of intimacy. Students will learn about defining friendship and the importance of including others, as well as how to handle kidding, teasing and bullying.

Emotions and Relationships Identifying and dealing with emotions is an important area of focus. Lessons such as recognizing emotions, dealing with negative feelings and preventing stress will be studied, as well as identifying the consequences of emotions. We will help students express their emotions verbally and nonverbally and to learn to empathize with others. Communication and Social Exchange As we introduce verbal and nonverbal communication concepts, students will learn to interpret and define body language, such as hand gestures, proximity, posture and fidgeting. Students will also learn about proper speech as well as style of voice for formal and informal address. Social Language Students will work on conversational skills, intention of the conversation and conversational beginnings and endings. We will also practice turn-taking and listening as well as reciprocity with comments in social situations. Peer Issues Conflict resolution is an important social skill we teach our students, including learning the difference between facts and opinions and thinking critically about other people’s behavior.