Hoosac Valley Sixth-Graders Get $2K Grant for Social-Emotional Programs
CHESHIRE, Mass. — Adams Cheshire Educational Partnership has awarded the sixth-grade class of the Hoosac Valley Regional School District a $2,000 grant to support ongoing social-emotional learning programs.
ACE, which awarded the the most money the grant can offer, chooses recipients based on improving educational experiences for students in the district. James Bergeron, one of the district's sixth-grade teachers, said he was thankful for the grant, noting the money should help bolster social-emotional programming that is already ongoing.
"Every month, they have what's called a 'whatever they need' program," he said. "Which is basically just they get together and they do something with social-emotional skills ... By themselves, none of them cost a lot. But over the course of the school year ... ."
One significant project the sixth-grade class has already undertaken as part of the social-emotional learning curriculum is the "New Kid' Handbook, which was presented to and approved by the School Committee earlier this month. Bergeron gave several other examples of social-emotional programs, such as gingerbread houses at Christmas, painting self-portraits and team-based competitions.
Bergeron said the social-emotional programming has been very successful for the sixth-grade students so far.
"The kids look forward to it," he said. "It's also because of the [COVID-19] pandemic ... almost two full years, where they were not with their friends on a daily basis. This allows them opportunity where they're in school, where they can learn how to cooperate and use cooperative skills and how to get along with a group. And stuff they really haven't had to do in the last two years."
As a teacher, Bergeron said it is not often you see kids show enthusiasm for school. He said it's exciting to see the students getting so much out of the social-emotional work.
"If you just watch the kids, you see they're enthusiastic about it. It seems like it's meeting the kids where their needs are," he said. "They might be enthusiastic about it, but they rarely show it to the degree that they have. So that's been a window and it's been very positive."
Tags: HVRSD, school grant,
