Skip to content
Grade 5 SEL Curriculum for Schools | Foundations Program
School: Grade 7 SEL Curriculum

Strength: Confidence, Resilience & Leadership

A research-backed, Tier 1 program that builds the confidence, resilience, leadership, and social navigation skills students need to stay engaged and succeed during early adolescence.

Schedule a Call
Student Walking with Overlays

Grade 7 SEL Curriculum That Builds Confidence, Resilience, and Self-Leadership

A research-backed, Tier 1 program designed to strengthen identity, courage, coping skills, and leadership as social and academic pressures intensify in early adolescence.

Grade Level
7
Age Range
11–12
Program Length
7 courses 28 weeks
Delivery
Advisory, SEL Block, Core Period, Enrichment, or After-School
MTSS Tier
Tier 1 (Universal)
Schedule a Call

Why Grade 7 Matters

Grade 7 marks a critical developmental shift into early adolescence.

Students are:

  • becoming more self-conscious and peer-aware
  • engaging in increased social comparison and identity exploration
  • navigating more complex friendships and group dynamics
  • experiencing higher sensitivity to evaluation, failure, and embarrassment
  • encountering greater academic and social pressure

Research consistently shows that confidence, resilience, belonging, and leadership skills at this stage predict:

  • academic participation
  • persistence and motivation
  • healthy peer relationships
  • reduced avoidance and withdrawal
  • stronger school engagement
Grade 7 is where confidence and identity either strengthen — or begin to erode.

Program Overview

Core Developmental Question:

How do I stay confident and lead myself as life becomes more complex?

The Grade 7 Strength Program intentionally develops:

self-confidence and positive identity
courage and approach behaviors
coping and emotional resilience
social awareness and group dynamics
conflict navigation and repair
early leadership and peer influence
This year strengthens the internal and social “strength competencies” students need to navigate early adolescence successfully.

Grade 7 Course Lineup (28-Week Sequence)

Confident You: Believe in Yourself

Self-confidence and positive self-belief

FearLESS: Building Brave Young Hearts

Courage, emotional bravery, and approach behaviors

Resilient You: What is Resiliency?

Coping strategies and recovery from setbacks

Human Dynamics

Social awareness, peer norms, and group dynamics

Conflict Resolution Foundations

Negotiation, communication, and relationship repair

Building Leadership Skills

Self-leadership, agency, and peer influence

Don’t Wait: Create!

Creative agency, initiative, and identity expression

Each course builds on the last — reinforcing strength-based competencies rather than addressing them in isolation.

What Students Learn by the End of Grade 7

Students develop the ability to:

✓
maintain confidence in the face of peer pressure
✓
approach challenges rather than avoid them
✓
cope with setbacks and recover emotionally
✓
navigate complex peer and group dynamics
✓
manage conflict constructively
✓
demonstrate leadership and initiative
✓
express identity through creative and productive outlets
✓
take ownership of decisions and their consequences
These are protective learning and life behaviors districts prioritize during early adolescence.

Academic Impact: How This Supports Learning

Grade 7 Strength improves academic outcomes through four validated pathways:

1

Agency → Motivation

Confidence, courage, and leadership increase initiative, participation, and willingness to attempt challenging academic tasks.

2

Coping → Persistence

Resilience and stress management reduce shutdown, avoidance, and withdrawal during difficulty.

3

Social Navigation → Belonging

Social awareness and conflict resolution strengthen peer relationships, collaboration, and engagement.

4

Classroom Climate → Instructional Time

Reduced peer conflict and emotional escalation increase effective learning time.

“SEL programs improve academic outcomes by 11 percentile points.” — Durlak et al., 2011

Research & Standards Alignment

Grade 7 Strength aligns with all major district frameworks, enabling easy approval and board justification.

Framework Alignment Includes:

✓
CASEL Five Core Competencies
✓
Executive Function & Metacognition
✓
Portrait of a Graduate
✓
College & Career Readiness (CCR)
✓
MTSS Tier 1
✓
ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors
✓
Whole School, Whole Child (WSCC)
✓
Employability & CTE Soft Skills

Implementation Made Easy

Designed for real school schedules and staffing realities.

Designed for School Schedules:

  • Two 10–20 min sessions weekly
  • Or one 30–45 min session weekly
  • 30–45 mins total per week
  • No clinical language
  • No diagnostics or therapy
  • No additional staff or certifications required

Can be delivered by:

  • classroom teachers
  • advisory or homeroom staff
  • counselors
  • enrichment or after-school leads

Fits seamlessly into:

  • Advisory / Homeroom
  • SEL Block
  • Enrichment
  • Core Period
  • After-School
  • Summer Bridge

Assessment Without Burden

Grade 7 uses authentic, non-punitive indicators:

  • participation and engagement
  • skill demonstrations
  • reflection artifacts
  • communication, leadership, and collaboration behaviors

No grades.

No clinical screening.

No student labeling.

This preserves MTSS Tier 1 status while still providing progress visibility.

School & District Outcomes

Districts implement Bloomster across Grades 5–8, with Grade 7 strengthening:

Student Outcomes

  • stronger confidence and self-belief
  • improved coping and resilience
  • increased participation and initiative
  • healthier peer relationships
  • emerging leadership identity

School Outcomes

  • improved climate and belonging
  • reduced social conflict and withdrawal
  • stronger engagement during early adolescence
  • increased instructional efficiency
Often summarized as:
“Confident, resilient, socially competent learners.”

Funding & Allowability

Grade 5 implementation is grant-ready and procurement-safe.

Common Funding Sources:

ESSA Title I
ESSA Title IV-A (Strongest Match)
ESSA Title IV-B (21st Century)
State SEL / Climate Funds
MTSS Tier 1 Behavioral Funds
PTA / Foundation / Local Funds
Bloomster is non-clinical, avoiding mental health compliance barriers.

Why Districts Choose Bloomster (Grades 5–8)

Districts adopt Bloomster as a cohesive, multi-year Grades 5–8 life-skills curriculum, not isolated grade-level programs.

They choose Bloomster because it is:

Research-backed and developmentally sequenced

Skills build intentionally from Grade 5 through Grade 8, aligning with identity development, resilience, and leadership needs across adolescence.

Designed for real classrooms and real schedules

Flexible delivery models without staffing changes.

Easy to justify to boards and stakeholders

Clear alignment to CASEL, MTSS Tier 1, Executive Function, Portrait of a Graduate, and CCR frameworks.

District-scalable and implementation-ready

One platform, consistent language, consistent outcomes.

Preventative, not reactive

Builds internal strength early to reduce disengagement, anxiety, and social withdrawal.

Focused on competencies that matter

Confidence, resilience, leadership, social navigation, and participation.

Grade 7 strengthens the core capacities students rely on as adolescence intensifies.

Bloomster ensures the entire Grades 5–8 progression is built intentionally.

See If Bloomster Is the Right Fit for Your District (Grades 5–8)

Our team will walk you through:

  • The full Grades 5–8 developmental sequence
  • how Bloomster aligns to your district frameworks and priorities
  • implementation models across upper elementary and middle school
  • funding pathways and procurement alignment
  • what district-wide adoption looks like in practice
Schedule a Call