This week begins a new year for the values program entitled Virtues in Practice. This program is in place at St. Peter’s Elementary School to promote character development in our students. The program was written in 1995 by four members of the St. Peter’s School staff. First implemented during the 1995-1996 school year, it has undergone a number of additions and refinements, including expansion of the original one-year program to a two-year program. St. Peter’s has copyrighted the material.
The Virtues in Practice (VIP) program is comprised of 18 virtues which are presented to students in a monthly fashion during a two-year cycle. Each month’s virtue includes weekly tips or suggestions for students to follow at school and at home as a concrete way to “practice” the virtue being emphasized. Students are reminded of the virtue and weekly tip during morning announcements and teachers emphasize the virtues when possible during classroom discussions and activities.
“Student of the Month” awards at St. Peter’s Elementary School are given based on teacher selection of the student who best displays the month’s virtue.
This year’s virtues are cooperation, empathy, citizenship, generosity, idealism, charity, mercy, humility and perseverance.
For September, the virtue is “cooperation” and this first week’s tip is Work together to solve problems. Many heads are better than one.
We will continue to update the website each week with the week’s tip for the current month’s virtue.