Life Skills Room At Holmdel School A Hands-On Learning Experience

HOLMDEL, NJ — It's the little things in life that can trip us all up. But when you're just a youngster, you first need to learn how to do the "little things," such as setting a table or following a recipe.

That's where training in life skills comes in, and in Holmdel, its educational foundation is helping kids do just that.

The Holmdel Foundation for Educational Excellence has helped the Life Skills program at Indian Hill School reach new heights, said Lisa McTague, school library media specialist.

She said that students who receive speech and language therapy or occupational therapy - or students with other learning issues - make use of the Life Skills room as part of their school week.

Students can work on a variety of activities there, such as using a cash register, implementing recipes and setting a table, she said in a news release.

The foundation provided a $2,500 grant to help set up things like furniture, cleaning supplies, a color printer, everyday kitchen utensils, realistic money, and items to practice doing household chores, like laundry or hosting a meal. It also offered first aid items to help learn about that, McTague said.

Indian Hill School serves students in grades 4 to 6.

The goals of a Life Skills curriculum are to build self-confidence, encourage critical thinking, foster independence, bring progress made in school to a real-world setting, and help students to communicate more effectively, she said.

"Our Life Skills curriculum allows for a more inclusive setting for students to be successful with independent daily living skills," she said in the news release.

Using materials in the Life Skills room, students have the opportunity to employ the necessary skills needed for everyday life, she added.

"Skills such as, making a recipe correctly, learning how to place an online order, mailing a package at the post office, understanding the steps to get a job, and so many more of these types of real-world skills," she said.

Motivation and engagement are a key component of learning, she said. By making learning meaningful, it can continue to make a difference in students’ lives for years to come, McTague observed.

So the grant from the foundation was particularly welcome - and useful.

The Holmdel Foundation for Educational Excellence was founded in 1996 to bring private funding to Holmdel Public Schools, its mission statement says.

The foundation’s goal is to "enhance the educational experience of each and every public school student by fostering innovative programs in the areas of academics, athletics and the arts, and providing funds for the purchase of equipment and other materials used in these programs," its website states.

The foundation also enables faculty members and students to "undertake a number of unique classroom projects at all grade levels" by awarding numerous classroom mini-grants, its website says.

The foundation is governed by parent volunteer Board of Trustees. The Holmdel schools superintendent, the president of the Board of Education, and a representative from each of the four Holmdel schools are permanent board trustees.

Residents can contribute to the foundation through its various fundraising events or any time during the year with its secure site hfee.org/give.