CORE VIRTUES
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  • Home
  • Our Approach
    • Program Overview
    • Why Stories?
    • Implementation
    • The Morning Gathering
    • Suggested Book Lists >
      • Year One Suggested Book Lists
      • Year Two Suggested Book Lists
      • Year Three Suggested Booklists
      • PDF Book Lists
    • Digging Deeper
    • Telling our Stories >
      • Blog Archives >
        • 2018 Blog Archives
        • 2019 Blog Archives
        • 2020 Blog Archives
        • 2021 Blog Archives
        • 2022 Blog Archives
        • 2023 Blog Archives
  • About Us
    • A Little History
    • Mission
    • Board and Staff >
      • Mary Beth Klee
    • Core Virtues Schools
    • Our First Champion >
      • The Portsmouth Declaration
    • Newsletters
    • Contact Us
  • Virtue of the Month
    • Virtue Cycle Definitions
    • September
    • October
    • November
    • December
    • January
    • February
    • March
    • April
    • May
    • June
  • Cycle of Virtues
    • Year 1
    • Year 2
    • Year 3
  • Heroes-Lives to Learn From
    • September Heroes
    • October Heroes
    • November Heroes
    • December Heroes
    • January Heroes
    • February Heroes
    • March Heroes
    • April Heroes
    • May Heroes
    • June Heroes
  • Holidays
    • Labor Day
    • Veteran's / Memorial Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Hanukkah
    • Christmas
    • Martin Luther King Jr
    • President's Day
    • Black History Month
    • Saint Patrick's Day
    • Women's History Month
    • Passover
    • Easter
    • Ramadan
    • Immigrant Heritage Month
  • Poetry
  • Core Knowledge Connections
    • Kindergarten
    • First Grade
    • Second Grade
    • Third Grade
    • Fourth Grade
    • Fifth Grade
    • Sixth Grade
  • Links
  • Anthologies
  • Chapter Books
  • Parent Teacher Bibliography
  • Schools of Faith
    • Saint of the Month >
      • January Saints
      • February Saints
      • March Saints
    • Jewish Schools
    • Christian Schools
    • Islamic Schools
    • Eastern Faith Traditions
  • Grade Level Goals
    • Kindergarten Goals
    • First Grade Goals
    • Second Grade Goals
    • Third Grade Goals
    • Fourth Grade Goals
    • Fifth Grade Goals
    • Sixth Grade Goals
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Core Virtues Schools

The following is a partial list of schools using the Core Virtues program.  Contact us if you would like your school added to this list.  *Indicates this is also a Core Knowledge School.

ARIZONA
Benjamin Franklin Charter School/ Gilbert Campus
1475 S. Val Vista Dr
Gilbert, AZ 85296
480-632-0722

Benjamin Franklin Charter School: Crimson Campus
22120 E Queen Creek Rd
Queen Creek, AZ 85142
(480) 987-0722

Benjamin Franklin Charter School/ Power Campus
22951 South Power Road
Queen Creek, AZ 85142
480-677-8400

Canyon Springs STEM Academy
42901 N. 45th Ave.
Anthem, AZ 85087
623-376-5300

Challenge Charter School*
5801 W. Greenbriar Dr.
Glendale, AZ 85308
602-938-5411

CALIFORNIA
Bryant School of Arts & Innovation*
4324 Third St.
Riverside, CA 92501
951-788-7453

Parnassus Prep Academy
28649 Crestridge Rd
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
​https://www.parnassusprepacademy.com
310-567-6251

The Principled Academy
2305 Washington Ave,
San Leandro, CA 94577
510-351-6400 
​
Old Town Academy Charter School*
2120 San Diego Ave.
San Diego, CA 92110
619-574-6225

Saint John Lutheran School*
4500 Buena Vista Rd
Bakersfield, CA 93311
661-664-8090

Saint Paul Lutheran School*
2916 N. McKee Rd.
Merced, CA 95340
209-383-3302

Village Charter Academy *
7357 Jordan Ave.
Canoga Park, CA 91303
818-716-2887

COLORADO
Academy Charter School*
1551 Prairie Hawk Dr.
Castle Rock, CO 80109
303-660-4881

Apex Community School
3565 Celestial Ave
Castle Rock, CO 80109
855-582-1200

Ben Franklin Academy *
2270 Plaza Dr.
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
720-383-4519

Caprock Academy*
714 241/2 Road
Grand Junction CO 81505
970-243-1771

Colorado Springs Charter Academy
2577 N. Chelton Rd
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
719-636-2722

Flagstaff Academy *
2040 Miller Drive,
Longmont, CO 80501
303-651-7900

Frontier Academy
2560 W. 29th St
Greeley, CO 80631
970-396-3617

Heritage Heights Academy*
20050 E Smoky Hill Rd
Centennial, CO 80015
720-870-9541

Grand Peak Academy*
7036 Cowpoke Rd
Colorado Springs, CO 80908
719-424-8519

Littleton Academy Charter School*
1200 W. Mineral Avenue
Littleton, CO 80120
303-798-5252

Monument Academy
1150 Village Ridge Pt.
Monument, CO  80132
719-481-1950

Prospect Ridge Academy*
2555 Preble Creek Pkwy
Broomfield, CO 80023
720-399-0300

Rocky Mt. Academy of Evergreen *
2959 Royale Elk Way
Evergreen, CO 80439
303-670-1070

Vanguard Classical School
801 Yosemite Street
Denver, Colorado 80230
303-691-2384

Vanguard Classical School *
17101 E. Ohio Dr.
Aurora, CO 80017
303 338-4110

FLORIDA
Tallahassee Classical School*

4141 Artemis Way
Tallahassee, FL 32311
805-391-3830

True North Classical Academy 9393 SW 72nd ST Miami, FL, 33173
 305-749-5725

True North Classical Academy Gateway
6500 SW 97th AVE Miami, FL, 33173
 786-788-5600

True North Classical Academy
7900 SW 86th St
Miami, FL 33143
305-487-8884

MASSACHUSETTS
Saint Benedict Classical Academy
2 Pleasant St.
South Natick, MA 01760
508-650-1900

Morse School
40 Granite St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-349-6575

MICHIGAN
Will Carleton Academy*

2001 W Hallett Rd
Hillsdale, MI 49242
517-437-2000

MINNESOTA
Cologne Academy
1221 S. Village Parkway
Cologne, MN 55322
952-466-2276

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Crossroads Academy*

95 Dartmouth College Hwy
Lyme, NH 03768
603-795-3111

NEW JERSEY
New Hope School*
780 Clifton Ave.
Clifton, NJ 7013
973-473-4144

The Willow School
1150 Pottersville Road
Gladstone, NJ 07934
908-470-9500

NEW YORK
Charter School of Educational Excellence
260 Warburton Avenue
Yonkers, New York 10701
914-476-5070

NORTH CAROLINA
Aristotle Preparatory Academy*
81001 Fallsdale Dr,
Charlotte, NC 28214
980-237-0371

Bonnie Cone Classical Academy
10700 Asbury Chapel Rd
Huntersville, NC 28078
704-727-6833

Community Public Charter Schools
400 Ralph Handsel Blvd,
Stanley, N.C 28164
704-931-4418

Southside Ashpole Elementary School*
607 N MLK JR Blvd
Rowland, NC 28383
910-422-3791

Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy*
1110 South Broadway
Forest City, NC 28043
828 245-9526

OHIO
Cardinal Pacelli School
927 Ellison Ave
Cincinnati, OH 45226
513-321-1048

OKLAHOMA
Terra Verde Discovery School
1000 36th Avenue SE,
Norman, OK 73026

OREGON
Sweet Home Charter School*
28721 Liberty Rd.
Sweet Home, OR 97386
541-367-1833

SOUTH CAROLINA
Belton Preparatory Academy*
5901 Belton Hwy,
Belton, SC 29627
864-392-1173

Cherokee Charter Academy*
3206 Cherokee Ave,
Gaffney, SC 29340


TEXAS
Saint Paul's Episcopal Montessori School

1018 E Grayson St
San Antonio, TX 78208
210-271-2861

VERMONT
Saint Michael Catholic School
48 Walnut Street
Brattleboro VT, 05301
​
VIRGINIA
Providence Classical School

6000 Easter Circle
Williamsburg, Virginia 23188
(757) 565-2900

WISCONSIN
Lake Country Academy*
4101 Technology Parkway
Sheboygan, WI 53083
Phone: 920-208-3020

WYOMING
Fort Caspar Academy *
4100 W. 38th St.
Casper, WY 82604
307-253-3400

KENYA
Our Lady of Grace School

Kisumu, Kenya

PUERTO RICO
TASIS Dorado*
11 Carr. 693,
Urb. Sabanera, Dorado, PR 00646
787-796-0440

Old Town Academy Charter School -
San Diego, CA

Old Town Academy (OTA), a K-8 charter school for 270 students, has been using the Core Virtues program for nine years.  Principal Bob Hamm (who employed the Core Virtues program for nearly two decades at his former school) says: "This is our anti-bullying program.  We have almost zero bullying here. Core Virtues take care of that.  It works."  The school focus this month was loyalty, and since our visit was at the beginning of the month, teachers led the children in energetic discussions of what it meant to be loyal: to stand up for your friends or your beliefs, for example. And how did we see loyalty at work in Charlotte's Web, which the class had read. Which characters were loyal and how?  Teachers had lots of quality picture books lined up to read at Morning Gathering for the weeks ahead.

Old Town Academy is a Core Knowledge school, and CVF President Mary Beth Klee was mightily impressed by the big worlds of the children.  When asked by their teacher (Miss Klum) where they would go, if these San Diego second graders could travel anywhere in the world, answers were: Paris, Athens, Sparta, Australia, Montana, San Francisco Museum, and Lego-land....These are well educated children with high aspirations!

Challenge Charter School - Glendale, AZ

​We loved our February visit to the Challenge Charter School in Glendale, Arizona. Principal Wendy Miller and her team have employed the Core Virtues program as their character education springboard since the school's inception in 1996, and it shows.  A kinder, livelier, more joyful, or more respectful student body is hard to come across. Challenge Charter is a Blue Ribbon school, recipient of the nation's highest award for schools.

We attended a whole school assembly, focused on "Love of Country," in which the second graders recited a poem about Martin Luther King, Jr. and fourth graders (in costume) spotlighted courageous Americans - among them Alexander Hamilton, Sacajawea, Robert Fulton, Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks. Individual students described how each of those figures embodied courage in their time, and what their accomplishments had been.  
All presentations were polished, moving and touching. Most impressive were the high spirits, but self-control in this assembly.  All the children (475 of them!) were sitting “criss-cross applesauce” on a gymnasium floor, but with no pushing, shoving, “he hit me!” or falling into each other’s laps.  They were attentive, curious, intrigued.  

We visited the Kindergarten, where February focus was on "honesty," and teachers were reading Ruthie and the (Not So) Teeny Tiny Lie by Laura Rankin.  As story-book Ruthie went through her own self-recrimination about having lied to her teacher, Mrs. Grubb asked “how does it feel when you lie?” Lots of student feedback: “It’s like a dark feeling deep in your stomach!”  After the story, the children did “Pair and Share” on “Ways I know to be honest” (don’t tell a lie, tell the story right the first time, you need courage to tell the truth; sometimes it’s hard and takes courage; tell your teacher the truth).  We also sat in on a fifth-grade class with Mrs. Bobrowitz focusing on citizenship:  doing your part for our democracy, taking care of our country, understanding the constitution as our basic law. 

​This is a mature and integrated program, featuring "Eagle Buck" recognition for virtues put in practice (classmates and teachers catch them being good), service projects, weekly newsletters indicating content and virtue focus, and a homework "menu," that in January included "discuss the virtue of courage with your parents."  When did they have to show courage in their lives? 

My favorite question came from the children in a fourth grade we visited at day's end:  "Which writers inspired you in your work?"  Ya gotta love it....
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/​

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