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Walker Guidance Team
Walker Guidance Team:
Minda Barnett, School Counselor: 245-2906Vee Parrish, Registrar/Guidance Secretary: 245-2899
Charlotte Geddy, School Counselor: 245-2917
Character Education
All elementary schools in Virginia are required to offer Character Education to students. At Walker, Character Education is explored through the "Walker Way". The "Walker Way" is a school-wide program that focuses on four main character traits and incorporates those traits into all aspects of the school experience. The four traits are: Active Listening, No Put-Downs/Respect, Personal Best, and Trustworthiness/Truthfulness. Students, teachers, administrators, and staff are expected to use the "language" of the "Walker Way" in everyday activities. In addition, throughout the year our school community participates in school-wide activities. Throughout the year students will be selected, by teachers, administrators, and staff, from each Triad as "Citizen of the Week". These students are chosen based solely on demonstrating good citizenship through upholding the four character traits. Other components of the Character Education program at Walker include our Peer Mediation program and the Olweus Bully Prevention Program.
Through the school’s CAMPUS (Creating A More Positive and Unified School) program, students meet regularly with a small group of students and one adult “CAMPUS advisor” to discuss each character trait of the Walker Way, as well as other school-wide issues. This not only helps students become familiar with Walker’s school culture, but also helps them become more comfortable with each other.
Peer Mediation
Students are encouraged to resolve conflicts with peers in a peaceful manner-through mediation. Mediations take place during the students' lunch periods. Students who have been trained as mediators in their elementary schools serve as peer mediators at Walker. An adult is always present during mediations to supervise the children and to offer assistance to the mediators as needed.
Services
The school counselors offer counseling services to students on an individual or small group basis with written permission from the parent(s). A parent, teacher, or other educator may refer a child for counseling or the student may refer him/herself for counseling. The counselors assist children in resolving social or emotional conflicts which may be interfering with their performance in school. The school counselors are also available to consult with parents, teachers, or outside therapists as to the student's social and emotional needs and possible strategies that may be implemented to help the child experience more satisfaction from school.
Coordination of Services
The school counselors work closely with agencies and services outside of the school district to help meet the various needs of Walker students. Volunteer services through UVA's Madison House offer one-to-one tutoring, assistance to classroom teachers, or adult mentoring. The Abundant Life Tutoring program offers afterschool tutoring to students enrolled in their neighborhood programs. School counselors assist families seeking child or family therapy by serving as a liaison between the school and the outside therapist/agency. In addition to coordinating the services of these outside agencies, the school counselors also serve as test coordinators for standardized testing.
Records and Registration
The school's registrar maintains Walker School records. Information contained in students' files is held in the highest confidence. Any inquiries (made by persons outside of the Charlottesville City Schools) into a student's file by, individuals with parent permission, state agencies, or private agencies with parent permission are handled by the registrar. If parents need information contained in their student's file, such as immunization records, they need to schedule an appointment to receive that information in-person or send a signed note containing a detailed description of their request. The registrar handles registration of all new students. Parents/Guardian registering new students may come by and pick-up a registration packet to be completed and returned in-person or they may schedule an appointment to complete registration at the time of their initial visit. If the latter is chosen, at their appointment parents/guardian need to present the following: Proof of Residency (current utility bill, lease/mortgage documents, if living with relatives a notarized letter plus lease/utility bill must be provided by the host family, *none of these requirements apply to persons living in a bona fide shelter, **driver's licenses are not acceptable), Certified Birth Certificate, Social Security Card, and Immunization Records (in addition, 5th graders must have a documented physical performed no earlier than 12 months prior to entering elementary school and 6th graders must have proof of 2nd MMR and at least the 1st of the Hep B series completed). The registrar also handles the Withdrawal of all students. Parents/guardians must notify the registrar prior to a student's withdrawal. This allows the student to complete the withdrawal process, which includes collecting grade information from teachers, returning library books and instruments, and settling all financial obligations. It also provides the registrar with time to prepare a transition packet that includes documents and information that should make the students entry into their new school seamless.
Teens GIVE and Walker School Service-Learning Partnership
Building Character Through Community Service
Students, teachers, and parents will have the opportunity to transport classroom knowledge to the real world while helping others and building character. Walker has partnered with Teens GIVE, a community program that specializes in service-learning and character education programming for youth. The following is an overview of the program.
What is Teens GIVE?
Teens GIVE is a service-learning, character education and life skills program that places students ages 9-18 in relationship-based service-learning projects at community agencies and in non-site based community projects. Supervised community service experiences are supplemented with services that include mentoring, tutoring, character education, case management, reflection activities and counseling. Through structured service-learning, students are given support and guidance that fosters the development of healthy values and life skills. Teens GIVE participants provide over 8,000 hours of service to our community annually. Specific service sites and projects are selected based upon a community need and are organized into five vocational categories: service to children, service to animals, service to the elderly, service to people with special needs and service to the environment. Each project has the following program components: Training, Service, Reflection, and Recognition.
Teens GIVE Program Goals :
- To provide students with academic, social and career skills
- To integrate service-learning activities into graded level curriculum thus enhancing the Standards of Learning and encouraging relevant classroom instruction.
- To provide opportunities for students to learn valuable interpersonal social and work readiness skills.
- To demonstrate that students can make a positive difference in their community.
For the past ten years, Teens GIVE has operated a variety of classroom half day and after school service-learning programs for the City and County Schools. These innovative programs have been highly successful at meeting community needs and they enable students to learn valuable interpersonal and social skills through high interest service-learning activities.
What is Service Learning?
Service Learning is a method by which young people learn and develop through volunteering in well-organized service experiences. Each service learning experience is designed to: meet actual community needs; provide students with opportunities to use newly acquired academic skills and knowledge in real life situations in their own community; help foster the development of a sense of caring for others, altruism, and awareness that individual goals can only be met within the context of a society/community; and provide structured time for reflection on the service activity. Each project will be tailored to the particular triad's needs and interests.
How will it work at Walker?
Each triad will select a community need/problem, population, or group they would like to serve. Once the triad has its focus, the Teens GIVE Lead Counselor for Walker will develop a project and select an appropriate site for students to visit. Projects will integrate curriculum and be an enhancement of what student's are learning in the classroom. They will also incorporate leadership principles and the Lifelong Guidelines (active listening, no put-downs & respect, personal best, and trustworthiness & truthfulness).
The triad will travel in groups of 1/3 over three consecutive Thursdays. On the day of the project the Teens GIVE counselor will arrive for orientation at 8:30-6th/10:00-5th); students will then journey to their project site with the Teens GIVE counselor, a triad teacher, and any interested parents, administrators, or specialist; students will return around 10:30-6th/12:00-5th. The Teens GIVE counselor will then facilitate a closing reflection activity. After each triad has completed all the community-based experiences the students will be asked to share, with the entire school, how they applied classroom knowledge and Lifelong Guidelines to their project and what they learned from the experience. Sharing can be done through a variety of mediums including, announcements, displays, posters, presentations, and plays.
Questions?
If you want to learn more about the Service Learning partnership between Walker Upper Elementary School and Teens GIVE contact:
Charlotte Geddy, Walker School Counselor at 245-2917
Heather Kellams, Teens GIVE Program Coordinator at 970-3334