Growing Great Girls: A Gender Responsive, Life Skills Curriculum

Growing Great Girls: A Gender-Responsive, Life-Skills Curriculum

By Denise Bray, MS and Wendy Dougherty, M.Ed. Growing Great Girls, A Life Skills Curriculum for Girls, creatively blends research-based content with interactive exercises and meaningful worksheets. The curriculum is designed to meet the unique needs of girls, Middle & High School ages, guided by gender identity. Participation in this will create rich exchanges between girls that will result in the acquisition of life skills, self-expression, and attitudinal change.

The 30-Window Box Life Skills Curriculum focuses on decision-making skills, social resiliency, critical thinking skills, emotional knowledge, self-discovery and practical skills across six developmental domains. These domains include physical, sexual, emotional, relational, intellectual, and spiritual.

The Window Boxes are uniformly structured with a Quote of the Day, Objectives, Materials Needed, Jump Start Activity, Core Activity, Demonstration of Knowledge, Closing Activity, and Extension Activity (on selected Window Boxes). Additionally, they are designed for meaningful exchanges with small groups of girls, and include music and interactive movement. A garden metaphor is threaded throughout the Window Boxes along with the core values of Protect, Respect, & Connect. The three sections of the curriculum include: Cultivating the Earth, Planting the Seeds, Nurturing the Harvest. 240-pages, spiral-bound book.