Grant Serves Up Character Education
Westcliffe Elementary School has won a grant from the Ronald McDonald House to teach character education. The grant entitled “A Friendship Adventure” will purchase books and supplies for every classroom.
The first book in the series is Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson. “We are starting with kindness then we have respect, responsibility, compassion, fairness and trustworthiness,” said Guidance Counselor JoBeth Manly.
At the beginning of each month Manly will visit classrooms and introduce the character trait focus of the month and then share a book that represents that trait. She will then present the class with a hardback copy of the book and teacher follow up lessons. “They can identify with characters in the story a lot more than me just telling them to be kind,” she said.
At the end of every month, each teacher will choose one student who best represents that character trait to appear on the morning news show for recognition and receive a McDonald's Happy Meal during their lunch period.