Character Education
Overview
Family Circles
A Little History
Several years ago, we surveyed our parents, students, and staff to determine the values that are most important to our community. The five character traits that were chosen are: respect, kindness, integrity, perseverance, and responsibility. These values are the foundation upon which we will build our character education program. Our lessons, our behavior reinforcements, and our daily interactions will embody these five traits. We invite you to use these same traits at home when having conversations with your children.
The Role of Family Circles
Leonard was the first school in Troy to implement the concept of multi-age/grade character education groups – we call these our Family Circles. We consider this a point of pride. Family Circles are groups of students and staff that meet regularly to focus on building relationships within our school and fostering the development of character. Students in grades K-5 are assigned to a specific family, and they will stay with the same group of children (and the same teacher) throughout their time at Leonard. Every spring, we salute our fifth graders as they head off to middle school and every fall we welcome new kindergartners to our bunch. This year, we are excited to be bringing back the multi-age/grade groups that were hibernating during the pandemic. Seeing the kids float through the hallways on Family Circle days to travel to their Family Circle classrooms is a beautiful thing!
Character Day
On June 7, 2023, The Leonard Community had a day full of reflecting and celebrating our character journey this year. The day included students receiving letters from home, where families celebrated each student for demonstrating their core values. Troy firefighters visited the school with their truck and spoke about fire safety and the importance of our core values. Students also demonstrated their core values with various activities throughout the day that included team "yard games", an obstacle course, an art project, and more!
On June 8th, 2022, Leonard celebrated our first annual Character Day! Our staff planned activities that were designed to have kids practice using their core values all day long. There was an obstacle course in the gym, games in the media center, and fun in their classrooms! Thank you to all the families who wrote their children letters. These special keepsakes were an important part of the day. Watch this video to see how much our students enjoyed Character Day!
Family Circle Lessons:
Leopard League!
Leopard League is a new initiative that Mrs. Murray (ASD teacher) and Mrs. Gollin (Social Worker) have started with Leonard 5th graders. Once a month each 5th grade class participates in a special lesson centered around a life skill emphasizing inclusion of all. Each session includes a mini lesson discussing the targeted life skill and a fun, hands-on activity where every student is an active participant through embeddedj ob roles. The vision for Leopard League is for this inaugural class to leave a legacy for future Leopard League learners to continue.
May 2023
For the final Leopard League the 5th graders completed a legacy project to leave for future Leopard League members. The students worked on scrapbook pages to explain what lessons they learned throughout the year, and how the put these skills into practice!
Previous Leopard League Lessons
APRIL 2023
April’s Leopard League required all 5th grade students to put their learned skills to the test! We reviewed the lessons we’d worked on throughout the year of teamwork, communication, being a good sport, kindness, problem solving and growth mindset and were able to practice these skills by playing yard games as a class! The students did a great job showing off all of their skills and how to use them in the future!
March 2023
March Leopard League focused on including previous skills learned to display good sportsmanship working in groups or teams. The teams discussed how to show good sportsmanship by using positive communication, supporting one another and showing kindness and respect. We then put this into practice while playing games focusing on teamwork.
February 2023
February 2023
During February’s Leopard League the 5th graders worked on being intentionally kind to one another. Each student wrote one kind thing about another student on a piece of paper. At the end of the lesson, each student was able to read what their classmates wrote about them. Students expressed feeling excited, happy, and warm inside after reading all of the kind things their classmates wrote about them!
January 2023
December 2022
During this month's Leopard League, our fifth graders focused on developing a growth mindset. By combining previous months' lessons on teamwork and communication, students worked together to create their own gingerbread houses. When things became challenging, they supported each other and practiced positive self-talk. The life lessons our kids are learning will impact them far into the future!
November 2022
In November Leopard League students reflected on what they are thankful for and connected over conversations with others. Students shared with others what they are thankful for, and found differences or similarities within their groups. Then the groups shared conversations with each other while enjoying some cider and doughnuts!
October 2022
Service Learning
In taking our learning public, we toured our school to look for ways we could support our learning and our community. In doing so, we generated action items that would make a positive impact. As a grade level, we came up with 1) Picking up the recess equipment at the end of each day, 2) Gathering litter from around the school, and 3) Ensuring our lost and found and recycling area is cleaned up. Their service-learning efforts have been transformed into student-created tutorial videos and will be shared while inviting younger and older peers to join in their community service. We ARE Leonard!
Resources
Character Education Padlet
Here are resources students can refer to as they reflect on demonstrating core values everyday.
iMessages
Students learn that iMessages are a productive way to make their voices heard. It provides a structure for solving conflicts.
Words and Actions
Leonard Leopards work to solve conflicts with our actions and our words. Students brainstorm what they can say and do to resolve a conflict.
T.E.A.M. Time
Together Everyone Achieves More!
Classrooms spend time reflecting as a team. Together, classes celebrate successes and reflect on struggles, then brainstorm solutions.
Watch this video to see T.E.A.M. Time in action.
One Book, One School
In June 2022, we launched our Summer Reading Adventure with the book, Tomatoes for Neela. As you revisit the book throughout the year, look back at our suggested activities to continue to build experiences around a shared text as a family.
