OWL K-1 Schedule

Our Whole Lives Program for Kindergarten & Grade 1 Schedule

April 5: Parent/caregiver and Child Orientation (required)

April 19: Our Wonderful Bodies

In this introductory workshop, children will explore what they know about the parts of their bodies and teach accurate genital names as needed. They will explore similarities and differences in terms of body parts, skin color, and ability by listening to a story about body parts, naming and categorizing activities, and drawing pictures of themselves.

April 26: Bodies & Gender

This workshop teaches more information about the genitals and then addresses gender identity and gender roles. STORYBOOK: “Neither” by Airlie Anderson.

May 3: Body Boundaries

In this workshop, children learn the importance of “yes” and “no” boundaries for physical touch. They will learn that no type of touch should ever be a secret, and will practice both asking for permission to touch other people, and saying no to unwanted touch. All of these are important components of preventing child sexual abuse. STORYBOOK: “Uncle Willy’s Tickles” by Marcie Aboff

May 10: Families

This is often a joyous workshop, celebrating family life in all its diversity. Children gain awareness and appreciation of family configurations different from their own. They express family diversity through an art project, and they write and draw about their own families as a HomeLink activity. STORYBOOK: “A Family is A Family is A Family” by Sara O’Leary

May 24: How Babies Begin

The workshop begins with a review of information from previous workshops. The rest of the workshop focuses on teaching the elements of how all babies are conceived and explaining a few ways these elements fit together. STORYBOOKS: (Optional) “A Child Is Born” by Lennart Nilsson “What Makes a Baby?” by Cory Silverberg and “It’s Not the Stork” by Robie Harris

May 31: Pregnancy & Birth

In this workshop, children will learn about how a baby grows in a uterus and about different ways babies are born, and about the joy when a baby joins a family. They will be reminded that some babies are cared for by the same people whose eggs, sperm, and uterus were used to create them, and others are cared for by different people (adoption, foster care, surrogacy, etc.). STORYBOOK: “Nine Months: Before a Baby is Born” by Miranda Paul

June 7: Babies

Up to this point, Our Whole Lives has explored with children how babies begin, how babies grow in utero, and various kinds of families. This is our chance to talk about babies themselves once they enter the world and join families. Unless children have a younger sibling, babies are unfamiliar to many––often seen only from afar––yet fascinating. Learning about them can be a way to increase empathy for caring for beings smaller or weaker than we are. Whether a child lives with a baby or not, understanding how babies communicate, why babies cry, and what babies need helps children understand more about the stages of human growth and development and how we all grow and change.

June 14: Celebration – Parents/caregivers invited

In this workshop, children celebrate with their OWL facilitators and parents/caregivers the completion of Our Whole Lives K-1. They review some of the key elements of what they learned in each workshop and share that information with their parents/caregivers. 

Note: Most of the books are available at the public library or in our church library.