all right everyone we are Live on YouTube for anyone who wants to um view this at a later date um we're also recording locally if we need to share out the um share out the presentation I do want to thank everyone for being here uh we were trying something new this year by offering it during the day in the hopes that parents might be able to um step away during the lunch break take a few minutes to listen in and to be part of the conversation on uh this topic and the presentation that will be going for fifth grade students um we just want to let you know last year I think we had three parents on when we offered in the evening and I'm very excited that we have so many other parents joining us today um and at this time I'm going to turn it over uh to Rachel Perry and if anyone needs to change their name you just click up in your image there are three little dots and if you click that it'll say rename um I appreciate nursing staff being here as well they're such an integral part to everything that we do um and I do want to now uh move forward with uh Rachel Perry taking the lead from here good afternoon everybody Welcome um so I'm going to give you a little bit of background my background what we've been doing and then really dive into the few lessons and talk about some objectives and how this curriculum works and then I will leave some time at the end for for any questions you might have um so I've been the director of physical education and health education for the past nine years here in Medford um we have recently evaluated sorry we have recently evaluated our health curriculum uh we had a heat committee evaluate everything we're doing we've been using the Michigan model um for middle school and high school and based on that heat evaluation they didn't think that what we were doing for um puberty and sexual education at the higher grades um was appropriately meeting the needs of our students so that we needed to make an update uh what we've been using for puberty in the past is just a video was a Proctor and Gamble uh puberty video and that was presented by our nurses um is that served our students well for the time it's time to really move on so that we can make sure um that we're servicing everybody um So based on that heat cat work the recommendation was to look for for uh a new puberty curriculum and puberty happens is the curriculum that that we chose um that was actually a referral from one of my colleagues over in Reading um and what we've done is it's it's a lot of lessons but we've kind of paired it down to about three lessons that we will be able to teach to our fifth graders where before it was only one lesson um the puberty happens curriculum is going to be presented in our Nexus classes and that is going to be by our Nexus teachers and nurses who will be supporting the teachers um with this curriculum um the Nexus teachers did attend a puberty training a one-day puberty training so they have all been trained in um how to teach puberty so what I'm going to do is I'm kind of going to go through the lessons um and talk about the objectives and what kind of activities they're doing and then like I said I will open it up for for all your questions after um so the first lesson is really it it's getting started with the warm-up activity it's kind of an icebreaker um and it sets the stage to help students feel more comfortable with each other before launching into the curriculum content um students may have different expectations about what will be discussed in puberty class um and the warm-up is an opportunity to promote the concept that it's normal for students to have both similarities and differences and that each person develops in different ways at a different pace and in a different time frame um so that first warm-up activity is actually called do you have you or are you um and teachers designate areas in the room um where students gather if they agree with the statement or they don't identify with the statement um some of the statements could be do you like to sleep late on weekends you know things like that uh do you have more than one pet do you hope to be famous one day so so you know a lot of different questions um and when finished and we have the students sit down and what we do is we'll ask them some questions how did it feel when you were in a group with a number of your friends what was it like when you were by yourself or just with a few others and that um we want students to understand that sometimes when you're going through puberty you may feel left out it's important to remember that everyone goes through the change of puberty at different times um we should avoid situations where we cause someone to feel hurt left out or alone and we need to be understanding of other people's failings and value our differences um so so that's our first warm-up activity and that's in that first lesson then we move on to what we call Setting classroom agreements um we want to make sure that we establish a set of Behavioral expectations or classroom rules when we're we're presenting this unit um and some of those are you know respecting others the questions are welcome um that you have the right to pass if you if you're uncomfortable with an activity or question um that we're not going to gossip or or talk about anyone in class or how they've responded to anything um so things like that so we're setting that Community expectation of respect and acceptance uh throughout the class the last piece of that first lesson is we're going to introduce what we call the anonymous question box so each teacher has an anonymous question box on their desk and they're going to give students an opportunity at the end of lessons to ask a question that they might not want to ask out loud that that they might not feel comfortable asking out loud and you know teachers will review those in address if you know in the next lesson um and that's the first lesson uh moving from there what we have is what we call the puberty changes matchup so in this we're looking at physical emotional and social changes that our students might be going through um during puberty students are put into small groups and they uh passed out some cards with physical emotional social changes on them and students asked to put these changes into a grouping is it physical is it emotional or is it social um and teachers will be able to walk around have some conversations with students and then um they will review those at the end the second piece to this lesson um is the dear puberty activity where students are going to be given some scenarios um that they need to discuss in a group and how they would deal with those scenarios and then uh the teacher would address it at the end and the last part to that lesson is a supplemental home activity which we are choosing to use it's called the interview and this is set up so that our students come home to our parents and caregivers and are able to have some conversation with them um and some of those questions they're going to ask on that assignment is what was popular in clothing and music when you were my age what did you like most when you were my age what did you like least how old were you when you started going through puberty who was your best friend and what did you like about them what do you want me to know about growing up and who was someone you could talk to when you had a problem or concern so that's the assignment that that students will take home to to start those conversation with um parents and caregivers um the last lesson uh will Encompass some hygiene and taking care of my body and that is going to um go over some Anatomy the um um sexual organs penis and vagina and then they will be going into how do I take care of my body uh how do I deal with hygiene um uh what do we use when we are having our menstrual cycle um how do we deal with you know puber care and things like that um um so those will all be addressed in that lesson and that lesson may take one to two classes um it might not be you know all done in one lesson um I will say there are a lot more lessons uh within this curriculum that we will not be covering in the fifth grade um we just don't have the time one and those are maybe some things that we could push over to the the Middle School level um so that that that's what we have of and kind of in a nutshell um so I will be open now to take any questions that you might have um Jessica Haley Hi how are you good how are you good um I just have a question um are we gonna well are the teachers going to be discussing um like sexual orientation um gender identity so we will be using inclusive language but we will be to really going over What's happen happening in the body during puberty okay so War geared towards the changes of the body not so much yes not not in the fifth grade we won't be going that it would just be the changes in the body okay thank you for that you're welcome um Christine hary hi um thank thank you for for doing this we have our first um child going through this so we um you know all the guidance is helpful so um so when is this going to start just so we have time to chat with our son about it next week so 13th is the first yes okay and then so just just sorry um but we so basically it's changes in the body and then nothing like really beyond that I'm just trying to figure out when my husband and Steph talks with our son what we should be talking about correct so we're talking about changes in the body we will be talking a little bit about Anatomy um not that further than that until sixth grade okay well hopefully you guys will get across that deodorant is good yes that's part of it we're trying okay hey Christine as a as a former Middle School principal High School teacher assistant principal I've had a lot of those conversations over the year so any home conversations would be great as well yes of course thank you thank you um Carrie Casey hi good afternoon so two questions um for lesson two you um you talked about the small groups and the cards for identifying physical emotional and social changes you said there was a puberty activity but you didn't provide any um details on that so I'm just curious what that activity looks like small groups class activity and then for lesson three is just is this the teacher just talking to them about Anatomy hygiene menstrual cycle or is there no they're actually gonna be with this like how how is this going to be presented sure so that piece they're going to be given pictures of different things that we might use during puberty and talk about how they can be used and then um the teacher will um review it after um if that makes sense I'm just trying to pull up some of those scenarios from the dear puberty activity for you um I hope did that answer your question for that for the taking care of my body or no no I'm sorry could you expand on that sure so I'm going to see if I can show so I don't know if you can see this at all these pictures will be given out to students and they'll talk about how these can be used during or should be used during puberty a soap how should we be you know we should be showering every day um we have a pad and tampon showing things for uh females when they get there um menstrual cycle um we talk about you know shaving and taking care of our bodies that way we also going to be talking about SPF um and making sure that our um that we're you know safe using you know in the sun using products in the Sun so does that help so that's lesson three yes that is lesson three and talking about taking care of our bodies and then I'm just looking for I didn't expect you to ask about scenarios I'm just going to try to pull them and while you're speaking about that just so everybody's aware we are actually today um and the remainder of this week installing um they're called eal feminine product dispensers uh throughout our middle schools and high schools uh they're essentially feminine products on a rooll um that will be in one stall of the fourth fifth middle and high school bathrooms um but just so that everybody's aware uh that we're we're taking it beyond the nurse's office at this point thank you Peter um all right so there's a lot of different scenarios that students will be reviewing and then they'll um talk about how they might deal with it for example I am one of the shortest kids in my class when I was younger I did a school science project on shrimp some kids in my class gave me the nickname shrimpy and it's stuck now where the kids are using the name and it really makes me mad why am I so short and how can I get them to stop calling me shrimpy so students would read that scenario talk about what advice they have in who might this person go to for help so that's one example um see if I can give you another one I was given a presentation at school and my voice started to crack and squeak now I'm embarrassed to talk out loud in class again what advice do you have and who might this person go to for help um so so there's a lot of different scenarios that will be presented to students in in groups and they'll come up with ideas on how they can deal with those scenarios and that was from the the deer puberty activity oh great thank you you're welcome um Jessica Haley think we're next hi sorry I just had one more question um my son is in a inclusion class he's on an IEP is there going to be someone there that's able to help him like navigate the reading the writing um I would have to check with the teacher and the principal but we we can absolutely um follow up on that what school is he at Brooks School the Brooks okay I'm just making a note so does he usually have support in the Nexus classroom um I'm not sure I'm his par might go there with them I'm just not 100% positive if they do we can you know I can talk to the principal and teacher and make sure if you feel he needs that support that we have that there for him okay yeah because he's just he's a non-reader and stuff so he'd be a little you know in a group of just kids he'd be a little intimidated with not being able to maybe completely understand what's being said correct okay yep I can um drop you an email I'm sure I can find your email in um School brains and I will reach out to the principal and teacher and and get back to you on that perfect thank you I appreciate it you're welcome um Tracy Wagner hi saying thank you for doing this I'm involved in a curriculum review and another school districts I'm thrilled that midford is following the new Comprehensive Health standards that's fantastic hi Peter and a couple comments one is totally hearing that this is not about um gender or sexual orientation and noting that uh many families like ours um are two parents my son has two moms and so just making sure language is gender and sexual orientation familywise inclusive is really appreciated you know there's a number of non-binary students in my son's class so language around that while that's not what is being taught in talking to the children about their families and their own identity is really appreciated um and also just noting I'm already starting to get teed when I think about those interviews those questions are super powerful and poignant and I think that's really nice you're doing the Home Connection there so thank you you're welcome thank you also um and I can't remember if Rachel mentioned this but this is now our second year in a row of combining the genders previously Medford separated boys and girls and so one of our ways of trying to be more inclusive is not by um creating that level of stigma by separating out the genders everyone will be together and what our nurses like to offer anything uh to the conversation at this time uh we have great nurses in our district and and um just uh you know checking in to make sure that if you have anything to add um feel free I don't I'll just speak we I don't I don't have anything in particular to say but just to um reiterate that the nurses are also there with the Nexus teachers to support um the education appreciate that thank you so much for that yes all right if there are any other questions um feel free to raise your hand you can also uh email Rachel R Perry medford.ma us uh she'll be able to send our excuse me she'll then be able to send any questions to the nurses if you need you can also email me anytime you want at pushing at medford.ma us um and if there are no further questions at this time then I want to wish everybody a great day I am really excited that by offering this it seems that we've gotten a lot more parents so um perhaps we'll offer during the day and then an evening at some other point for other things moving forward but I do want to thank one for being here and also if you want to have a one-on-one meeting with me to kind of have you know talk about this or look at the actual lessons I I I can make those appointments as well email me and we'll set something up and I I just want to add um this is one of the nurses if your child feels uncomfortable talking to you and feels more comfortable talking to either the Nexus teacher or the nurses um sometimes the kids will come down after class and talk to the nurses and ask us questions so that is still an opportunity even though um at the missak we won't be in the classroom but um if they need anything then um they certainly can uh stop down all right thank you everybody I really appreciate it and uh as