Safety & Substance Abuse Prevention
Elementary School Counseling Lesson
PARENT INFORMATION/OPT-OUT REQUEST FORM Medicine Safety/Substance Abuse Prevention Instruction
Dear Parents/Guardians,
To best prepare students to make healthy decisions throughout their lives, school counselors in all Prince William County elementary schools will be teaching one medicine safety/substance abuse prevention lesson to each grade level. These lessons are age-appropriate and increase in depth as students mature. The objectives are designed to inform students, to allow students to develop their own personal values and beliefs, and to address local health issues. The objectives follow both the research-based health objectives from the Virginia Board of Education and the American School Counselor Association's Mindsets & Behaviors. Knowing what is being taught in the classroom is a great way to start a discussion at home. Conversations about medication safety and substance abuse prevention, while difficult to start, should begin early and last a lifetime. Parents/guardians may find that incorporating real world examples helps children to talk.
Medicine safety/substance abuse prevention lessons will be taught in the month of October by the school counselors during classroom counseling lessons. Please contact your school counselor, Mrs. Lydia Larimore, at larimolt@ pwcs.edu. if you have any questions about the medicine safety/substance abuse prevention lessons.
If you determine your child should not participate in the medicine safety/substance abuse prevention instruction this year, please complete this Microsoft form: Opt-Out Form for Medicine Safety/Substance Abuse Prevention. If you would like to request a paper copy of this form you may contact your school counselor. *Do not complete the form if you wish for your child to participate in the lesson. Students who are opted out will be provided with non-punitive instructional activities during medicine safety/substance abuse prevention lesson time. Unless you indicate otherwise, your child will be included in medicine safety/substance abuse prevention instruction. Opt-out forms must be completed by, September 30, 2025 to ensure they are received by the school counselors prior to the lesson being taught.
For information on the lessons per grade-level, the following objectives will be covered in the medicine safety/substance abuse prevention lessons:
Grade Level / Standards & Objectives / Title and Summary of Lesson
Kindergarten: VA Health SOLs K.1-3
Related Standards: ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors M1, B-LS.1, B-SMS.9
Safe/Unsafe Choices
Students review the definition of medicine.
Students learn about safe vs. unsafe choices and practice identifying them in different scenarios.
Students learn a protocol if they come across an unfamiliar substance: Don’t touch! Don’t taste! Tell a trusted adult!
1st Grade: VA Health SOLs 1.1-3
Related Standards: ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors M1, B-LS.1, B-SMS.9
Medication Safety
Students review healthy choices and the definition of medicine.
Students discuss why a trusted adult is needed when taking medicine.
Students identify (draw) trusted adults at home and at school.
Students discuss making safe choices in different scenarios.
2nd Grade: VA Health SOLs 2.1-3
Related Standards: ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors M1, B-LS.1, B-SMS.9
Healthy and Unhealthy Choices: Substance Awareness
Students review the definition of a drug.
Students discuss harmful effects of drugs.
Student practice making healthy vs. unhealthy choices in an activity.
Students review the Don’t touch! Don’t taste! Tell a trusted adult! protocol.
Students discuss appropriate responses to scenarios involving potentially dangerous situations.
3rd Grade: VA Health SOLs 3.1-3
Related Standards: ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors M1, B-LS.1, B-SMS.9
Stop, Think, Chooses: Decision-Making and Substance Awareness
Students discuss how to make positive decisions.
Students learn the Stop, Think, Choose decision-making framework.
Students practice using the decision-making framework to make decisions about medicines and drugs in scenarios.
4th Grade: VA Health SOLs 4.1-3
Related Standards: ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors M1, B-LS.1, B-SMS.9
Lesson 1: Peer Pressure and Substance Awareness
Students review the Stop, Think, Choose decision-making framework.
Students learn the definition of peer pressure.
Students discuss how to address and respond to peer pressure.
Students work in small groups to practice peer pressure refusal skills.
Students learn that we can be positive influences on each other and promote healthy choices.
5th Grade: VA Health SOLs 5.1-3
Related Standards: ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors M1, B-LS.1, B-SMS.9
How Substances Affect the Brain
Students learn how different substances affect the brain.
Students discuss how to refuse harmful substances.
Students act out refusal skills OR work together to create posters about refusal skills/how harmful substances affect the brain.