Cooking Up Good Character
Each October, the staff and students at Yardville School plan and implement a school-wide character education kick-off program, entitled "Cooking up Good Character." The purpose of this kick-off is to reintroduce the six pillars of character, to discuss bullying, and to remind students of the importance of exhibiting good character in school, at home, and in the community. Students and their families participated in the program. The overall goal is that students will collaborate with their families to create a recipe for good character. To prepare for this program, a letter was sent to parents that described the activity and provided examples of recipes (ie: 2 cans love, 1 TBSP patience, 2 tsp. manners, ½ c. helping). Each teacher then discussed the program with their class and created a sample class recipe. Families are also encouraged to work together to identify positive character traits that should be exhibited at home and in the community. Families then created "Good Character Recipes" and wrote them on recipe cards. All of the cards were hung on a bulletin board outside of the school's auditorium, and some recipes were selected to be read over the PA system during morning announcements.