What we practice becomes a habit, and good habits grow character. Each month students are learning a character trait that teaches them to be successful in school and in the community. We have talked about kindness, respect, responsibility, gratitude, empathy, and perseverance so far in grades K-4.
Here are some of those topics by grade level -
Kindergarten: has been learning a lot about being a respectful and responsible listener. They were challenged to think about things they are grateful for by rolling a dice and depending on what number it landed on they had to answer a question that corresponded to that number. (1:a person I am grateful for, 2: something that makes me happy, 3: a thing I am grateful for, 4: a feeling I am thankful for, 5: an activity I am thankful for, 5: something I am looking forward to).
First Grade: did the Responsibility Hokey Pokey where for each body part they had to think about how they show responsibility. They also worked on perseverance by working as a team to spell a big word and practice some tongue twisters, showing that it can be fun to keep trying and working hard towards goals.
Second Grade: learned the importance of being engaged at school and how engaged learners speak up to share thoughts and ideas, ask questions, cooperate when working in a group, and listen to learn from others. All of these skills combined can help us persevere to make the community and world a better place. Students were able to work with others to persevere and think of an invention that could make the world a better place.
Third Grade: wrote kind cards with fun winter jokes to people in the community who receive meals on wheels. They also played gratitude bingo.
Fourth Grade: acted out how to respectfully talk out a conflict. They also worked on gratitude by writing genuine compliments and reasons to be grateful for a peer at random. The room was full of smiles when kind things were said about one another.