Dear Intermediate School Parents,
The newly designed seventh and eighth grade Seminar course includes developmentally appropriate health and wellness topics that align with national standards. One of the main objectives of these health and wellness lessons is to equip students with facts related to each topic. In addition, the lessons offer the students a safe environment to discuss, ask questions, and examine each topic thoughtfully as they begin the important work of developing their understanding of health and wellness.
As we have done in the past, we are partnering with Dr. Jenna B. Messman to design our lessons focused on sexual health and wellness. Dr. Messman works with several independent schools in the DC metro area and has facilitated sexual health and wellness programming in Potomac’s Upper School for almost 10 years. She is the sexual health program coordinator at the University of Maryland Health Center, College Park, and works with schools and other organizations through the WE CARE Collaborative; click here to learn more. While Dr. Messman designs Potomac’s sexual health and wellness curriculum, Miriam Levitin, a certified sex educator and WE CARE Collaborative instructor, will teach the seventh and eighth grade classes.
Mrs. Levitin will be on our campus January 9-12 to share two lessons with our seventh graders. The lessons will be delivered during Seminar classes, and Potomac teachers will be present. The eighth grade lessons are scheduled for the week of March 27. Below is an outline of the topics to be covered during Mrs. Levitin’s time with our students:
Seventh grade lesson 1
Values, puberty, and reproductive anatomy
Seventh grade lesson 2
Ovulation/menstruation, erections/ejaculation, and reproduction/pregnancy
Eighth grade lesson 1
Review of ovulation/menstruation, erections/ejaculation, and reproduction/pregnancy
Eighth grade lesson 2
Pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and STI prevention
All Intermediate School parents are invited to hear directly from Dr. Messman about these lessons at 6:30 pm on Thursday, January 5, via Zoom. After a short presentation, she and I will be available for questions pertaining to the sexual health and wellness classes and adolescent sexual development in general. For those who cannot attend, the presentation slide deck and handouts will be posted on CampusNET.
We are excited to partner with you to help our students learn about the actions and benefits associated with healthy living. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions.
Best,
Ryan Woods
Head of Intermediate School
