If you come to Beechwood at lunch time, you will see a 4th grade student standing next to each recycling area in the eating area. Their job is to make sure that trash is properly placed in either the recycling, garbage or compost. These students are proud to be taking care of their environment and keeping Beechwood looking good. What they are doing is part of a larger movement that is taking place at Beechwood, a movement we are calling “A Culture of Care”.
When I walk around this campus every day am constantly struck by what a beautiful space has been created for the Beechwood Community. The new buildings, the landscaping and the open spaces make our school a truly enjoyable place to work. The idea behind “A Culture of Care” is that all of us have a responsibility to keep Beechwood looking beautiful. We will be working closely with our students so that they can be thinking about how they can contribute to this culture. We hope that you, as parents, can help to reinforce these ideas whenever possible.
Here are a few of the behaviors that we will be encouraging our young people to display as a part of “A Culture of Care”
- When we make a mess, we clean it up. Sometimes this might require a little sweeping, mopping or scrubbing. We do whatever is necessary to leave things looking tidy.
- If we break something or cause damage to the school, we report it to an adult and make a plan to repair it. No one is “in trouble” because something is broken. We just need to fix it.
- When we are done eating, we properly dispose of all of our waste. We pick up trash even if it does not belong to us.
- Our belongings (books, clothing, backpacks, lunch boxes, etc.) are put away in their proper place, rather than left on the ground. We have hooks to hang things on and soon will have lockers for the middle school.
- At the end of each day, we work with our classmates to make sure that our desks are clear, the floors of our classroom are free of debris and our chairs are up. Mr. Lopez has more work to do with our bigger campus. We need to do what we can to help him.
- We respect the plants and the crops. We wait until fruit is ripe and then we ask permission to harvest. We explore the landscaping but we do no intentional damage to the trees, shrubs or grasses.
- We put away playground equipment at the end of recess and lunch. We are careful not to play in a way that will cause damage to the equipment or cause it to be lost.
- If we write with chalk on the pavement, we wash it off. If we draw with markers on the white board, we erase when we are done.
At Fright Night, parents modeled for the entire community what “A Culture of Care” looks like, by doing a great job cleaning up the Social Center and the Barn. We had a great time and everything was put back the way it was found. I look forward to working with all of you to care for this beautiful place called Beechwood School.
-Mr. Laurance