4th Grade Program Overview

Building Confidence, Healthy Friendships, and Safe Decision-Making

Fourth grade is a major developmental stage where students begin navigating stronger peer influence, growing independence, emotional ups and downs, and increased exposure to online content and risky behaviors.

Operation Aware’s 4th grade program helps students build the skills needed to make healthy, thoughtful decisions while strengthening confidence, empathy, communication, and emotional awareness.

Through interactive discussions, movement activities, real-life scenarios, videos, and classroom participation, students practice skills they can use both now and in the future.

What Students Will Learn

Healthy Decision-Making

Students learn how choices affect their friendships, safety, emotions, goals, and future direction.

Emotional Awareness & Coping Skills

Students identify emotions, recognize stress responses, and practice healthy coping strategies for difficult situations.

Positive Friendships & Peer Influence

Students explore what healthy friendships look like, how peer pressure can appear in everyday situations, and ways to respond confidently.

Bullying & Upstander Skills

Students discuss bullying behaviors, empathy, respectful communication, and safe ways to support others.

Digital Safety & Online Behavior

Students examine how online choices, messaging, gaming, social media, and digital behavior can impact themselves and others.

Substance Awareness & Prevention

Students receive age-appropriate education about nicotine, vaping, marijuana, and medication safety with a focus on protecting the developing brain and body.

Skills Students Practice

  • Decision-making

  • Refusal skills

  • Emotional regulation

  • Healthy coping strategies

  • Communication skills

  • Self-awareness

  • Peer pressure resistance

  • Digital responsibility

  • Empathy and respect

  • Identifying trusted adults and support systems

Program Goals

By the end of the program, students should be able to:

  • Identify healthy ways to manage emotions and stress

  • Recognize positive and negative peer influence

  • Demonstrate strategies for responding to pressure situations

  • Explain basic risks related to vaping, nicotine, marijuana, and unsafe medication use

  • Understand how online choices can affect themselves and others

  • Build confidence in making healthy, informed decisions

Our Approach

Operation Aware is not a scare-based program.

Our goal is to help students build confidence, resilience, and practical life skills before they face difficult real-world situations.

Lessons are designed to be engaging, age-appropriate, discussion-based, and focused on helping students think critically, communicate effectively, and make positive life choices.

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