Laurel Life Skills

  • Laurel School’s Character Education program includes a focus on the following ten Life Skills:  Perseverance, Compassion, Cooperation, Gratitude, Self-Awareness, Flexibility, Integrity, Problem-Solving, Personal Best, and Courage. 

     
     
    How will we learn about the different "Life Skills?"
     
    Each month, a Life Skill will be spotlighted and on display throughout the school campuses – in classrooms, the library, and front office. Teachers will read books representing the life skill for the month to their class. Each month, students will participate in classroom or school activities to help reinforce the life skill. Students will bring home a Life Skills Gram each month so parents have the opportunity to recognize their child for using the life skill of the month.  At the end of every month, teachers will choose students who did an outstanding job exemplifying that month’s "Life Skill."  The school counselors will visit each classroom to award Life Skill wristbands to the students who were chosen for that month.  By the end of the year all students will earn a wrist band...possibly two!

    Specialists and yard duty supervisors who see students displaying their life skills will recognize and reward students with a Life Skills sticker or a Life Skills ticket.  Tickets can be used to enter a weekly raffle where students have the opportunity to win various rewards, such as lunch with the prinicipal, a prize from the prize box, and more!

  • September: Perseverance


    A Frog Thing by Eric Drachman, Pearl's New Skates by Holly Keller, She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton, Little One Step by Simon James,Clorinda by Robert Kinerk,  Mailbox Magic by Nancy Poyder, Being Teddy Roosevelt by Claudia Mills, Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull, A Girl Named Helen Keller by Margo Lundell, Bien Hecho, Ajay by Stuart J. Murphy, Jackson's Plan by Linda Talley, Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success by John Wooden, Try, Try Again by P.K. Hallinan, She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton

     

    October: Compassion


    The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau, One by Kathryn Otoshi, Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, The Kindness Quilt by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler, Small Acts of Kindness by James Vollbracht, Heartprints by P.K. Halliman, The Ant and The Elephant by Bill Peet, Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli, The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, Watch Your Tongue, Cecily Beasely by Lane Fredrickson, A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Stead, and How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham

     

    November: Cooperation


    Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman, The Snail and The Whale by Julia Donaldson, Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes, First Come the Zebra by Lynne Barasch, The Biggest Snowman Ever by Steven Kroll, It's Mine!by Leo Lionni, Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell, Calling All Engines by Richard Courtney, The Enormous Potato by Aubrey Davis, Clean Up, Grumpy Bunny by Justine Fontes, and A Story About a Big Turnip by Tatiana Zunshine

     

    December: Gratitude


    Money, Money, Honey Bunny! by Marilyn Sadler, Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts, Mama Panya's Pancakes: A Village Tale from Kenya by Mary Chamberlin, The Mitten Tree by Candace Christiansen, One Gift Deserves Another by Joanne Oppenheim, A Bike Like Sergio’s by Maribeth Boelts, One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway, The Magic Gourd by Baba Wague Diakite
     


    January: Self-Awareness


    Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen by Howard Binkow, When Sophie gets Angry - Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang, It's Hard to be Five: Learning How to Work my Control Panel by Jamie Lee Curtis, Listen, Buddy by Helen Lester, Fancy Nancy and the Delectable Cupcakes by Jane O' Connor, Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto, Sometimes I'm Bombaloo by Rachel Vail
      

    February: Flexibility

    How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina Friedman, I Can Handle It by Laurie Wright, I Will Be Okay by Laurie Wright, Regina’s Big Mistake by Marissa Moss, Tallulah’s Tutu by Marilyn Singer, and Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg


    March: Integrity

    A Day's Work by Eve Bunting, I Tell the Truth (The Best Me I Can Be) by David Parker, The Empty Pot by Demi, The Honest-to-Goodness Truth by Patricia C. Mckissack, The Boy Who Cried Ninja by Alex Latimer, Franklin Fibs by Paulette Bourgeois, and The Truth Pops Out by Marc Brown

     

    April: Problem-Solving


    Buford the Little Bighorn by Bill Peet, The Quickest Kid in Clarksville by Pat Miller, Creepy Pair of Underwear by Aaron Reynolds, Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds, What Would You Do With a Problem by Kobi Yamada, The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires, and Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea by Tony Johnston

    May: Personal Best


    Not Yet by Lori Hockema and Lisa Cox, Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco, Be Kind by Pat Zeitlow Miller, The Bad Seed by Jory John, and Ricky, the Rock Who Couldn’t Roll by Jay Miletsky


    June: Courage


    Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall, The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do by Ashley Spires, After the Fall by Dan Santat, Have Courage! (Being the Best Me) by Cheri Meiners, Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy, and Brave Enough for Two by Jonathan Voss

     

    Note to Parents:

     

    Goals of the Life Skills Program are to provide the foundation for personal and social growth in all students, teach the Life Skills through multicultural literature and build a common language and camaraderie at our school and in our district.

     

    We encourage families to actively discuss the highlighted "Life Skill" together. Read some of the suggested books. Model the "Life Skills" at home and give praise when your child demonstrates good "Life Skill" actions.  Complete the monthly Life Skills Gram to recognize your child's use of the various Life Skills!

     

    If you have any questions about the Life Skills Program, please contact your school counselor (Lower Campus - Mrs. Guilliot at aguilliot@mpcsd.org; Upper Campus - Mrs. Wilson at lawilson@mpcsd.org).