At Graham and Parks, we believe in educating the whole child.
For this reason, the social curriculum is as much of a priority as
academic content and skills. Our school is committed to explicitly
modeling, teaching, and nurturing students to embrace our core values,
represented by the acronym C.A.R.E.S.
The acronym “CARES”
embodies the culture of caring that is at the heart of what our school
is about… we care about each other, we care about learning, and we care
about the world.
The Graham and Parks community CARES…
C: Be Curious (ask questions, think outside the box, try new things)
A: Aim high (do your best, work hard, set goals, take risks)
R: Respect everyone (be a good listener, be inclusive, embrace differences)
E: Be an Engaged learner (think deeply, be reflective, don’t give up)
S: Show Kindness (speak nicely to everyone, be friendly, help each other, be aware of others’ feelings, reach out)
Everyone is different; everyone belongs. Everyone succeeds.
At
our school we implement the Responsive Classroom approach to building
community, social skills, and emotional well being. We begin each day
with a Morning Meeting where we greet each other and prepare for a new
day of learning. Sometimes we sing; sometimes we play cooperative games
that challenge us to work together as a team. We are proactive about
developing rules within our classroom community during the first week of
school, and devoting the first several weeks of the year to practicing
the rules and routines that make our classrooms safe, welcoming, and
productive learning environments. We regularly reflect on the health of
our classroom communities, and when problems arise we work
collaboratively to address them. We believe that children have
tremendous problem-solving skills when they are entrusted and supported
to use them.