Fourth grade students are encouraged to make positive choices

Taft Elementary School fourth graders learned about decision-making in their recent Too Good for Drugs lesson on Friday morning. 

The lessons are part of a ten-week program, hosted by The Alcohol and Drug Awareness Council of Orange County, in which students gain the resources needed to help prevent substance abuse, peer pressure, and bullying. ADAC recently finished up their lessons with the fifth grade and is currently working with the third and fourth-grade students. 

Today, Jason Anson’s class learned about steps they can take to help determine if a decision they are making is the right one, or the wrong one. They discussed positive and negative outcomes. Through different examples, students learned what can happen if they make certain choices and they also discussed how these choices may affect their friends or other people around them. For example, students thought about a scenario in which they had to choose between going to school or staying home. Then they discussed what the consequences would be for each choice. 

Justine Schwab, an educator from ADAC, led the lesson for the day and taught students STAR, which is an acronym that stands for Stop, Think, Act and Reflect. Students can refer to STAR whenever they are faced with a tough decision. 

Making a decision is not always easy and Ms. Schwab explained to students that it’s important to have a trusted adult who can help if they can’t do it alone. She encouraged them to make a list of four or more people whom they could turn to if they ever needed it.

“Trusted adults are there for you for everything,” Ms. Schwab said. “They are people in your life that you can talk to.”