Grade 6 Program:
HORMONES… Our Friends or our Frenemies?
Hormones are chemical messages which are sent around your body through your bloodstream. Your body produces many different hormones, and they affect your body and emotions. Many of you would have heard of the hormone testosterone, this is the masculine one and it is responsible for things such as muscle growth, bone mass, hair growth and aggression.
More importantly, it is this hormone which tells a males’ testicles (balls) to begin making sperm. Once this begins, males may have what is known as a ‘wet dream’, where a little squirt of sperm will come out of the end of their penis in the night. We call this squirt, ejaculation. It is likely that a male will have many wet dreams in his lifetime, it is completely normal, and you have very little control over it.
The hormone which most affects females is called oestrogen. This is responsible for breast development, keeping muscles smaller and slower fat burning. More importantly, it is responsible for telling ovaries to start releasing eggs. Once this happens, a month-long cycle begins which includes menstruation or a period. When an egg is released from an ovary (egg store) it travels down the fallopian tube toward the uterus, whose lining is thickening with blood and mucous.
The program:
Within the Grade 6 Program, much like the Grade 5 program, we will go over all the changes that children will go through during puberty. Exploring the physical and emotional side effects that are a result of our hormones, we look into how our hormones work to carry out these changes, and our role in dealing with each change. As we progress into the program we have a session that focuses heavily on healthy and good decision making patterns. Considering the risks, effects and impacts that a decision may have on both the individual making the decision and those around. We take the students through a D.E.A.L strategy and speak to them about the importance of not merely making wise decisions, but knowing where and who to find help from when they need it. It is within this part of the program that we speak on the risks associated with poor decisions, outlining the necessity in knowing how and where to find help due to the common decisions young people make regarding their lives and suicide etc.
In the final week, the Grade 6’s will receive the “sex” talk, in which we explain to them on a cellular level how babies are made. We provide a basic outline of the physical element of reproduction however only enough to allow students to grasp an awareness and understanding of the physical processes that occur alongside the chemical during reproduction.