This Month's Best Practice
Each Month the Maryland Center for Character Education (MCCE) picks one of the Best Practices from a Character Education award winning school to share with you.
JULY
This month's Best Practices is from an award winning school from 2008-2009.
BEST CHARACTER EDUCATION PRACTICES
School: Princess Anne Elementary School
Address: 11576 Lankford Street, Princess Anne, MD 21853
Principal: Lynnette Johnson
E-Mail: ljohnson@somerset.k12.md.usPhone: 410-651-0481
Primary Principles Emphasized: 4, 5, and 10
Principle 4: Creates a caring school community.
Emphasizing caring relationships among students within and across grade levels.
Objective(s): The best way to create a positive character is to have that student be the role model for others.
Description:
Since the beginning of the school year through the Character Education Program Mrs. Evans has discussed and practiced through various motivating and hands-on activities the importance of positive relationships. To make it more meaningful older students mentored our younger students. While mentoring, these older students often visited the younger students’ classrooms and role-played positive character scenarios. As a culminating activity our fifth grade students created raps and cheers about respect. The raps and cheers were made into posters that were showcased in the school lobby. The students were asked to perform their creations during morning announcements and during an assembly. The role models went into the classrooms to teach the younger students their cheers and raps. Please see our attached pictures of the raps, cheers and assembly.
The data from our P.B.I.S. scores would demonstrate our success with instilling positive character. The number of student referrals for behavior has decreased from last year and more students are attending our monthly incentives for positive behavior.
Principle 5: Provides students with opportunities for moral action.Allowing students to develop good character by providing them with opportunities to show compassion, responsibility and selflessness in their interactions with community members.
Objective(s): To create a compassionate individual they should have many opportunities to practice in the community.
Description:
After learning about compassion with Mrs. Evans in the Character Education Program, students have been given opportunities to practice their social skills in the community. Two experiences come to mind. The first experience involved the entire school. Students were asked to replenish the game room at our local nursing home. Students donated cards, yarn, dominos, checkers, paint and various other items that filled a basket. After the basket was completed, Mrs. Evans and several students delivered it to the nursing home staff.
The second experience involves a club at our school that is facilitated by our School Principal, Mrs. Johnson, and our Learning Support Specialist, Mrs. Abbott-Gray. The “Kids Care Club” read a story “Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen” and the students discussed the importance of “giving back” to others in the community.
The students were able to visit a local soup kitchen as a culminating activity.
While there, the students watched volunteers prepare soup to be delivered to community members in need. A volunteer explained the need for such a service, the number of people that are typically served and the effort that is given generously by others. The “Kids Care Club” hopes to return in the future to donate some of their time!
Observable results from these activities include: an increase in the number of students wanting to help other students/teachers and expressing an interest in volunteering in the community, a decrease in the number of student referrals for behavior as compared to previous years and an increase in students who are attending our monthly incentives for positive behavior.
Principle 10: Engages families and community members as partners in the character-building effort.
Making every effort to include parents in positive activities and experiences that involve their child’s education.
Objective(s): Connecting with parents allows for optimal student success.
Description:
Princess Anne Elementary has made numerous attempts and has provided various activities on and off-site to connect with our students’ parents. Our school has a parent teacher organization (PTO) that meets monthly. The PTO allows teachers and staff to offer input and plan upcoming events. Every parent and staff member is allowed to attend. At the beginning of the school year our school hosted a “Back to School Night” in which parents were invited to visit the school. During this time parents/guardians had time to ask questions and offer the school additional feedback. Throughout the year there are parent conferences so that parents have an opportunity to speak with their child’s teacher after-school hours. At times these conferences have been student led. In addition each grade level offers parent/teacher collaborations per quarter. Collaborations are offered in the morning, afternoon and evening and the parent can choose the time that most suits their schedule. Transportation to collaborations is also available if necessary. During the collaboration parents are presented with the information that their child will be learning that quarter.
Our school annually holds a Family Math and Reading Night in which students and their parents are encouraged to participate in. The Family Math Night this year was held in October and students and their families were able to carve pumpkins. Family Reading Night was held off-site this year at our local University’s Library. During Reading Night students had an opportunity to hear various stories and meet the characters in those stories. Other opportunities this year to connect with our parents: weekly grade-level newsletters and a monthly school newsletter, Goodies for Grandparents, Breakfast with Me, PAE goes caroling, Inauguration celebration, Girls Night Out, Boys Night Out, Pizza/Bingo Night, Family Movie Night and many more events!
Our observable results are documented with various sign-in sheets that demonstrate an increase in parent participation.
The Maryland Center for Character Education
29 West Susquehanna Ave., Suite 300, Baltimore, MD 21204
E-Mail: MCCEcharacter@aol.com
