Cooper Big 3 winners
Schools have always taught character education, Counselor Amy Collins said at Cooper Elementary last week. This year Cooper is adding a new aspect of the Core Essential Values program that has been in use for three years — awards.
In the past, Cooper partnered with the local Kiwanis Club on the Terrific Kids program. The new awards will replace Terrific Kids and that means that more students will be recognized, she explained, and the Kiwanis Club will concentrate on another program, K-Kids.
Any staff member can nominate a student for a character award if they see the student doing what’s right, Collins said. She hopes to have a minimum of three kids from each classroom each month. The award comes with a certificate, a photo in the newspaper and a customized Chik-fil-A meal ticket that not only can be turned in for a free meal, it also lets the Chik-fil-A worker know what the student did so they can congratulate them.
The Chik-Fil-A cow will attend each monthly Round Up assembly to hand out the meal tickets, Collins said, so the student is awarded in front of the whole school.
A central theme in the character education program is the word of the month, Collins explained. For example, this month’s word is “responsibility.” Each class room has a poster with the word and definition each month and when counselors go into the classroom to teach, they discuss the word of the month.
Coming up later this year will be courage, honor, and joy.
The counselors will talk about how the “Big 3” essential values interact with the word of the month. The core values are: Treat others right; make smart decisions; and maximize your potential.
Make smart decisions means do what's right, even when no one is watching, Collins said.
Schools teach character education because it’s part of getting children ready for the real world, Collins said. The school is working as a partner with the parents, she said.