St. Christopher's By-the-Sea Montessori School on Key Biscayne is treating emotional skills like any other subject, with daily lessons, practice and a curriculum families can follow at home.

The school introduced Young Mind Masters, a program that uses five-minute audio lessons and fictional characters to help students identify emotions and choose how to respond, the Key Biscayne Portal reported Oct. 26.

Key Biscayne resident and children's author Marijana C. Schwarte developed the curriculum around a three-step process: notice, name and choose. Children practice spotting an emotion, putting a word to it and picking a response.

The lessons introduce characters that stand in for different thought patterns. "Grumpies," including one called Judgey Jovo, represent negative habits like self-doubt. "Wizards" represent positive mindsets. Each character gets its own module, giving kids repeated chances to recognize familiar feelings.

Upper elementary teacher Rob Ortega said the approach is gaining traction. "One month into the program, we've noticed how student participation and engagement has increased progressively, particularly from the fifth graders," Ortega told the Portal.

Lower elementary teacher Gloria Sanabria said her students are already naming their "grumpies," which helps them self-regulate and return to what she called a state of balance.

The program extends beyond the classroom. Eleanor Yee, head of school, said Young Mind Masters focuses on students, parents and teachers, creating continuity between school and home by encouraging families to learn self-regulation alongside their children.

Parent Hiram Strauss, father of a first grader, said he and his daughter talk every few days about the Grumpies she has noticed in her own thoughts. He said she is learning that simply recognizing a thought pattern, without judgment, is a meaningful step.

Carmen Massiani, school administrator and Young Mind Masters coordinator, said the program gives students tools to see emotions as visiting characters they can identify and respond to. Early childhood teacher Jackie Kellogg said the program has opened conversations about difficult emotions on the playground and supports the school's existing Montessori Peace curriculum.

Schwarte, who said she spent nearly two decades in corporate leadership across five continents before becoming a coach and author, said the program is not therapy. She described it as a way to help children build healthy mental habits before unhelpful thinking patterns take root.