LTEF Grant Fosters Character Education

The sudents in Miss Cook's class at Slackwood Elementary demonstrated the Caring Pillars of Character by making life-sized portraits of themselves, and then they wrote how another student in class showed caring.

"Chappy shows he is a caring person when he picked something for his sister out of the treasure chest." "Kiara shows she is a caring person when she plays with other kids on the playground." "John shows he is a caring person when he plays on the playground. He plays nice." "Alexis shows she is a caring person when she helps other kids when they get hurt." "Matthew shows he is a caring person when he helps to keep our classroom clean. Thank you, Matthew." "Champayne shows she is a caring person when she helps Miss Cook get ready for the chart."

Recently Slackwood students gathered for an assembly that kicked off Golden Heart Week, part of a Lawrence Township Education Foundation grant that will help children at Lawrence Township's four elementary schools learn the six pillars of character and how to apply them. The six pillars, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship, will be fostered through a variety of activities taking place at the schools throughout the year.

During the Slackwood assembly, Melanie Seaman, Slackwood's guidance counselor, announced that the staff will be looking for students who exhibit extra kind and considerate behavior. Students and staff then sang "A Heart of Gold" written by Evelyn Dye, a Slackwood Kindergarten teacher and students shared posters they made depicting what it means to have a golden heart. The assembly ended with the joining of hands and singing Peace Starts with Me.

In assemblies that took place at all four elementary schools this fall, the students were introduced to the six pillars of character through an assembly, Choices Count. The assemblies are presented by six college students that comprise Primary Focus, a traveling acting and dance troupe that focuses on character education. Primary Focus engages the students through songs, dance and role-playing. As noted by Melanie Seaman, Slackwood's guidance counselor, "the children were mesmerized. It's the perfect kick-off to our character education program."

Throughout the year, classroom teachers throughout the district will be reinforcing the six character traits daily. In addition, students will identify one character trait each month and describe the trait in class, as well demonstrate these traits through role-play situations. Students will be recognized for exemplary behavior in a variety of ways, such as certificates awarded at monthly assemblies, golden hearts to be given out to students and announcements describing positive student behavior.

This project is one of over 200 programs funded by the Lawrence Township Education Foundation since 1992. The Lawrence Township Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization that fosters educational excellence, creativity and achievement in the Lawrence Township Public Schools. To learn more about the LTEF please call Diane Senerth, Executive Director, at 219-0340.