Junior Social/Emotional Development

In addition to the academic program, students are instructed in social skills and work habits as part of their homeroom activities. Students are explicitly taught time-management and organizational skills from the beginning of third grade. Homeroom time includes practice with cursive penmanship, development of keyboarding skills, and exposure to appropriate computer usage. While our students’ academic work is above that of their age-group peers, in homeroom we also find time to work on the social skills relevant to students’ lives in and outside of school. We actively address issues germane to gifted students, such as managing perfectionism, fostering intrinsic motivation, and navigating interpersonal interactions. Many of our goals for homeroom can be pursued through games, independent reading and reading aloud, and time spent sharing with classmates. Homeroom is where students start and end their days, and it provides the foundation for relationship building. Homeroom allows us to know our students as people and individuals, just as academic classes allow us to know them as students and learners.