J-4 Pastoral Care Activities

The five foundations of our Pastoral Care program are embedded into everything we do We use the terminology often and reinforce the meaning of the terms, getting along, persistence, resilience, organization and confidence We try to instill the Golden Rule caring about other people and treating them as we would like to be treated.

Town Hall Meetings

Overview Pastoral Care lessons will be integrated into our monthly Town Hall Meetings that occur approximately one morning per month. The meetings last about 20 minutes. All J-4 homeroom teachers and students are present at these meetings, as well as any specialist or administrator who would like to attend. During the year the meetings have different purposes and require some flexibility. Some months may require additional meetings. Pastoral Care Lesson Format: After the initial Town Hall meeting (a whole group mini-lesson about one of the five foundations) the children will be randomly divided into five groups. Each group will then go back to a classroom with a homeroom teacher, most likely not their own. We found that this provides a different group dynamic and is very interesting for the children to be with another teacher. One child is selected to be the scribe. Then follows an intense brainstorming session about the meaning of the foundation under discussion. All children are encouraged to participate. With the help of the teacher, the scribe writes down the comments on chart paper. At the end of the session all the sheets of chart paper are collected and given to Ms. Rao, who consolidates them into a succinct presentation that can be part of the J-4 bulletin board. Other Activities within J4 (not necessarily all classrooms) September: The Loveables The Kingdom of Self-Esteem (story / reenact as a play)

 The students learn about the Traits of an Explorer in our exploration unit. They enact, write, and create projects that illustrate what characteristics are needed to be an explorer, such as persistence, organization, resilience and getting along. Through their study of literature the students discuss and relate to issues such as bullying, moving to a new place and problems at home and in school. These discussions provide good opportunities to explore the notions of getting along, caring about others, standing up for what is right, persistence, resilience, etc.