Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s) of 5th Grade Students:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you that information about puberty will be discussed in your child’s classroom on DATES. The topic of puberty is covered during one class period. The boys and girls are not together for the lesson and are taught at separate locations in the school. There will be two female teachers for the girls’ lesson and two male teachers (the P.E. teachers) will teach the boys. Kathy Henry-Starace, a health education teacher, will be teaching the girls’ puberty lesson.
The content covered during the lesson comes from the NYS Health Education Curriculum: A Guidance Document for Achieving the New York State Standards in Health Education:
- Individuals have the right to privacy and an obligation to respect the privacy of others.
- As individuals grow, their appearance, interests and abilities change.
Individuals appreciate and accept personal growth and developmental patterns. - Individuals are unique and special and deserve to be treated with respect.
- The average age of the onset of puberty is between the ages of eight and fourteen in females, and nine and fifteen in males with females generally experiencing physical growth characteristics of puberty two years before males.
- Hormones influence growth and development, feelings and behavior.
- Individuals pursue their interests regardless of their gender or gender stereotypes.
- Although males and females are alike and different in many ways, each individual has unique physical, psychological, and emotional needs.
- Empathy requires the identification of others’ feelings through verbal, physical, and situational clues and an understanding of the effect people have on one another.
- Selecting and using effective health care information, products and services contributes to an individual’s health.
Parents have the right to opt their child out of this lesson. To do so, a parent must make this request in writing to the principal. If this occurs, the teacher will provide an alternative assignment. If you have any questions about the lesson or wish to make arrangements to review a copy of the curriculum, please call me at 518-399-9141, ext. 83500. A copy of the curriculum is housed in the principal’s office.