
DATE: Tuesday, March 18, 1997               TAG: 9703180286

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  100 lines

BEYOND THE 3 R'S AT ARROWHEAD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, LESSONS EXTEND PAST ACADEMICS INTO THE REALM OF CHARACTER BUILDING.

You won't find the favorite songs of Arrowhead Elementary School students blaring from radios or artistically interpreted in rock videos.

But you'll hear them on young voices filling the high-ceilinged gymnasium during assemblies, hummed in the hallways or on the playground.

If I tell you something, you can know it's true.

Bet your life upon it, I wouldn't lie to you.

For truth binds us together, and lies tear us apart.

So you can trust my promise,

Honest, cross my heart.

The songs, written by music teacher Susan Hall, are part of Character Approach to Problem Solving or C.A.P.S, a character education program developed and started at the school last fall. Each month, Arrowhead takes on a trait such as respect, kindness or cooperation, which is then reinforced in every class.

Principal Carolyn Garrett said many on her staff felt strongly about the need for character education. When it emerged as a component of the district's long-range plans last fall, the time seemed right, she said.

A committee of parents and staff developed the program emphasizing positive character traits that will serve students well throughout their lives. From custodians and bus drivers, to parents to the school's business partners, many in the Arrowhead community are playing a role in the program.

``We're all saying the same thing at the same time,'' Garrett said. ``That's the only way to make something become a habit.''

And the kids seem to appreciate the importance of what they're learning.

``I think the C.A.P.S. program is really important,'' said 10-year-old Megan Ouellette, ``Because it teaches not just little kids, but everybody, some really importatnt things that you should use all your life and everywhere you go.''

What the folks at Arrowhead in Kempsville are doing is in line with a national trend to have classroom lessons extend beyond the traditional three R's to encompass respect and responsibility. Locally, Norfolk and Portsmouth have integrated character education across the curriculum and at every grade level.

At Arrowhead, C.A.P.S is as much a part of the student's day as recess and reading, but it's taught in a variety of ways. There are periodic student radio skits that try to get all the kids thinking about that month's trait. Hall writes a song, which the students learn, for each characteristic and staff members and parents perform short plays focusing on that month's theme. Students who do an exemplary job of exhibiting a trait are recognized on a bulletin board in the front foyer.

C.A.P.S. is reinforced in more subtle ways, as well. Rather than stopping class for thirty minutes for a lecture on cooperation, for instance, teachers choose stories that carry that message or shape writing exercises around the theme.

For Jean McCoy's second-grade class, which is hatching a brood of chicks, that meant working together on a mural about the project. Students decided what would be drawn and completed the art work as a team. Cooperation became a part of an art and science lesson.

``We don't want it to be an add-on to the curriculum. It's got to be internalized in their daily lives,'' Garrett said. ``We look for teachable moments.''

Those lessons are paying off at school and at home.

Garrett reports fewer discipline referrals and said that she and her staff are seeing positive changes in behavior. She hopes both observations are attributable to the program.

Sandra Bickham, a member of the school's planning council and the C.A.P.S. committee, said her first-grade daughter loves what she's learning.

``I see my daughter with a very positive attitude when they did respect, when they did friendship,'' Bickham said. ``It enforces what parents are trying to teach at home.''

PTA president and C.A.P.S. committee member Tammy Hooten believes it makes sense to have kids learn about character in the environment where they spend so much of their time. When the focus was on sharing, Hooten noticed less bickering over clothes between her third- and fifth-grade daughters. Instead of arguing over what was whose, they were zipping each other up.

``It's just a fantastic program that I hope to see implemented throughout the school system,'' she said.

Hall, the music teacher, said the program has evolved thanks to commitment from the staff, parents and community.

``What really tells me we're getting it across is when I walk down the halls . . . and you hear the kids reminding each other. That's such an encouragement to us,'' Hall said.

And the students, like 10-year-old Tiana Holmes, understand that these lessons don't stay in the classroom when the school bell rings.

``It teaches you how to respect people and be honest,'' she said. ``Of course, you have to do it at home, too.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

From left, third-graders Tempest Holmes, Rebecca Starling, T.J.

Henderson and Samantha Hoyt put ``cooperation raindrops'' on a

bulletin board at Arrowhead Elementary School in Virginia Beach.

Photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

Kathryn Bateman holds a microphone while students Tiana Holmes,

right, Justin Cockerham, second from right, and Matt Draeger read a

skit about cooperation over the intercom at Arrowhead Elementary

School. KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS CAPS CHARACTER APPROACH

TO PROBLEM SOLVING