Character Word for April: Courage

COURAGE

Facing your fears, and 

having the strength to do what is right

COURAGE is our character word for the month of April! Several students have already been caught in the Character Spotlight for acting courageous. One student showed tremendous courage by stopping bullying behavior!

In the Character Education lessons this month, Ms. Diesner and intern Ms. Moore have been talking to Pre-K through 1st grade classes about showing courage. We read the book, "There's a Big, Beautiful World Out There" by Nancy Carlson which talks about common fears that many kids have and emphasizes facing fears and discovering all of the wonderful things in the world. During our discussions, students have shared some of their fears, and talked about times that they acted courageously and overcame them. Our younger students were asked to draw a picture of a time that they showed courage and create a courage badge and had the opportunity to share these pictures with their classmates. 

Encourage your child to continue to face his or her fears and show courage both in and out of school. He or she could be caught in the Character Spotlight!

Character Word for March: Determination

Synonyms:  Hard work; perseverance

Definition:  Continuing to try your best even when something gets difficult; never giving up

DETERMINATION is our character word for the month of March!

Students have the opportunity to be caught in the character spotlight by teachers who notice them showing determination at school.

In the Character Education classes for Pre-K through 1st grade, Ms. Diesner and counseling intern Ms. Moore have been conducting lessons about determination. In these lessons, students have listened to a story from a puppet about his determination to learn how to ice skate. Students were asked to share times that they have been able to learn and practice a new skill. Students were also asked to set goals for new skills that they wanted to accomplish. Examples included: doing a flip, crossing the monkey bars, tying shoes, reading a chapter book, riding a bike without training wheels, and many more! Counselors have been checking in on students' progress toward these goals, so encourage your child to keep up the good work and determination!

Character Word for February

To catch up from last month, here is some information about our character word for February: RESPECT! 

Character Education lessons for this month emphasized being respectful by "treating others how you would like to be treated." Students read the Dr. Seuss book "The Sneetches" as an example of characters being disrespectful to others based on differences. The students were challenged to find similarities and differences between themselves and a partner, as well as their whole class. Counselors emphasized not teasing or excluding based on these differences as an important way to show respect.

Character Word for January

To catch up from the past few months, here is some information about our character word for January: RESPONSIBILITY!

       Responsibility

           Doing your part to take care of yourself,

your classroom, your home, and our world –

          even when no one is watching.

For Responsibility, character education lessons included helping students identify ways in which they can be responsible for themselves (ex. brushing teeth, getting dressed), their classroom (ex. cleaning up, classroom jobs), home (ex.chores, caring for a pet), and world (ex. picking up trash, recycling, saving water). Students read "The Earth Book" by Todd Parr and had the opportunity to make classroom earth books with ways to take care of our planet.