Is your school using Core Virtues? We’d love to publicize your efforts and share your stories. If you would like us to feature your school and efforts, just contact us at [email protected].
Challenge Charter School - Glendale, AZ
Aristotle Preparatory Academy - Charlotte, NC
Vanguard Classical School - Aurora, CO
Vanguard Classical School’s commitment to the Core Virtues program is visible everywhere: with definitions posted in every class, a tree of virtue on each floor of the school, students recognized on the tree of virtue with leaves or “hawks,”(see below) as well as quarterly assemblies that recognize students who go above and beyond in the practice of virtues.They combine the Core Virtues literature approach with their school’s hawk mascot. For them, “HAWK” stands for Honor, Achievement, World citizenship, and Kindness. The tree of virtue on each floor is populated by leaves on one level and hawks on the second floor. Keria McCafferty, assistant principal, explained that all staff try to catch the children being good. When any staff member (from aid to teacher to janitor) sees a student showing behavior exemplifying a virtue that month, they are able to give the student (on one floor) a seed (construction paper seed). When the child collects three seeds, he/she may pin a leaf (with their name) on the tree of virtue. The upstairs uses the same system with eggs (3 eggs) turning into hawks. We saw a second grade, which for grouping purposes had “Team Courage,”“Team Mercy”“Team Perseverance”etc. The Core Knowledge Sequence is much in evidence. http://www.vanguardclassical.org/
St. Paul's Lutheran School - Merced, CA
St. Paul's Lutheran School is a 25 year old independent school K-6 school Core Knowledge) connected to a Lutheran parish, which has been using Core Virtues for 16 years. They employ a “Starbucks” system to acknowledge courteous/virtuous behavior in their students, (students awarded stars, and most stars gets pancake breakfast with the principal at the end of each month...) and teachers recommend a star pupil exemplar of virtue each month. You can feel lots of love, energy, and enthusiasm in the classrooms and see lots of good interactions on the playground. Amy Mello, the principal, stressed that what they valued most from the Core Virtues program was the language it gave them as a community. http://splsmerced.com/
