Character Education at Laurel Park Elementary “The Heartwood Curriculum”

Character Education in WCPSS 1993 – Wake County adopts the following eight character traits to promote the importance of character education in the classroom and to help create a positive learning environment: Courage Good Judgment Integrity Kindness Perseverance Respect Responsibility Self-Discipline April 5, 2005 – the Board of Education puts into policy what has been practice in the classroom for more than 10 years. The result: Character Education Policy 5130.

Character Education in Year-Round Schools Different schools have different approaches, i.e. adding additional character traits, spreading the 8 character traits to cover the year. At Laurel Park, we are going to spread the traits out over the course of the school year.

The Heartwood Curriculum “Teaching Life Lessons through Literature” A literature based approach to teaching character and ethics. Focuses on 7 attributes: Courage Loyalty Justice Respect Hope Honesty Love The stories have ethical themes that are positively presented. At the point of the story when the problem arises, the ethical theme is introduced and the problem resolved in a positive manner.

Aligning WCPSS Character Traits with Heartwood’s Curriculum Heartwood Attribute Respect Courage Kindness Love Self-Discipline Loyalty Integrity Honesty Perseverance Hope Good Judgment Justice Where’s Responsibility? It’s Everywhere! Responsibility is woven into all the books, as well as, a daily focus in all classrooms.

Delivery of the Heartwood Curriculum Seven blocks (see 2017-18 schedule) Parent volunteers 30 minute visit – Read story and discussion questions. Volunteer will directly contact teacher to schedule day/time of visit beginning with Block 1 - Respect.

Structure of Lesson Introduction of character trait – write trait on board – discuss with students the trait and its meaning Say, “Today I want to read a story to you. Afterwards, see if you can tell me why we talked about this word.” After the story, ask the discussion questions listed on card. Choose questions based on grade level of students. All questions do not need to be read, and can be re-worded so younger students understand. Thank students for their contributions, and accept all ideas except obvious errors that must be corrected for the sake of clarity.

Volunteer Instructions Parents must be a registered volunteer. You can access the online registration system in the Laurel Park Media Center between 8 and 4. Volunteers will receive a Master Schedule that lists all the Character Ed blocks and the associated dates. These are the dates that will guide you as to when you should schedule your class visits. If there are two parents assigned to a classroom, please work out with the other parent to determine how you are going to split the blocks Contact the classroom teacher that you have been assigned to… Introduce yourself as the character ed. volunteer(s) Discuss with the teacher about preferred times for you to visit the class for the lessons. (Let the teacher know if there are day/time restrictions on your end.) Note: Some teachers prefer to schedule ahead several months or even for the whole year and others prefer month to month.

Volunteer Instructions continued It is always recommended that you preview the book before visiting the class so you will be familiar with the story and concept. You may preview the book at Laurel Park by doing one of the following: Check the online calendar (instructions for using the online calendar are provided on a later slide) and see if anyone has it checked out. If not, you can reserve it for a brief preview. Allow yourself 10-15 minutes of preview time right before your class visit. There are 2 folders of Character Ed books for this program. You may choose the book from either folder. A list of questions is already provided in the file with the book. Feel free to either ask questions as you go through the book or wait until the end to elicit discussion from the questions. Questions can be modified to meet grade level/age of students.

Where do I find the books and materials for my class visits? ->Please sign in as a volunteer in the main office. ->All the Heartwood materials are located in the Laurel Park leveled book room which is in the media center behind the desk (room 1102C). You can find it by following these steps: After completing the sign in process in the main office, you will take a right, walk straight ahead and enter the Media Center. The leveled book room is directly behind the media specialist’s desk (the door on the right). Inside the door, there is a shelf on the right hand side that has the yellow Heartwood Curriculum boxes. There is a box for each grade level. The materials check-out sheet is on a clipboard by the boxes. Please sign in with your name, grade, teacher and time that you took and returned the materials After you complete the class lesson, please be mindful of returning all of the materials to their proper location.

Using the Online Scheduling Calendar When you have a date set, the next step is to access our online Character Ed calendar. This helps us to avoid “double booking” a grade level set of materials. Go to: https://teamup.com/ksa690eab938cbc0cf/ Enter in your first name and last initial. Enter the grade, teacher, and character trait for that particular lesson. Note 1: Please allow extra time for previewing and returning the materials. (i.e. you may want to give yourself 15 minutes before the class visit to preview and then 15 minutes after the forecasted end of the lesson. So, if the lesson is 30 minutes+15 for preview+15 for return. Total time listed on calendar is 1 hour.) Note 2: If someone else is already listed on the calendar for the same grade level materials during the time that you wanted to reserve, you can reschedule or you can contact the other parent to coordinate who will use which of the two book options for their visits.

If you have any questions, you may contact one of the following people: Character Education Parent Coordinator: Jenny Ross – jennyross9981@yahoo.com Laurel Park School Counselor: Caren MacEntee – cmacentee@wcpss.net