CBA has three Expected Student Outcomes (ESO’s). We desire our students to become men and women of character who are 1) creative thinkers, 2) confident communicators, and 3) courageous leaders. As we develop programs, activities, and curriculum, we are constantly asking ourselves, “Will ‘this’ help us reach our ESOs?” If the answer is “Yes!”, we want to go after it with gusto! If the answer is, “Not really”, then we want to say “No”, or “Not right now” to leave room for the ‘yeses’.
In an effort to see our students become ‘courageous leaders’, we build intentional opportunities to allow them to lead. One such leadership opportunity is on the Crew Teams. Elementary Crew Teams are intergrade teams that work together to accomplish goals throughout the year. Our 4th grade students are the leaders of CBA Elementary Crew. Each Crew has one day a week on which they clean the playground after lunch. The Crew lunch leader is responsible to make sure his/her team is all present, assigns them an area of the playground to check for trash or toys left behind, and leads by joining with them to serve.
Each Crew also meets each Tuesday during Morning Assembly to briefly discuss a ‘Think-Talk Topic’. For example, this past Tuesday all students took 1 minute to think about when it is hard to give thanks. Then Crew met to talk about having an attitude of gratitude even when we don’t get our way. It is exciting to see our 4th grade students learning to lead the younger students. Join me in encouraging our 4th grade Crew leaders!