E. H. Sutherland Elementary School10015 S. Leavitt Avenue 773-535-2580
Catherine Gannon Maureen Elwood Barbara R. Dooley
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Sutherland PTA - Focus on VirtuesMay Virtue - Honesty To be honest is to be real, genuine, authentic, and bona fide. To be dishonest is to be partly feigned, forged, fake, or fictitious. Honesty expresses both self-respect and respect for others. Dishonesty fully respects neither oneself nor others. Honesty imbues lives with openness, reliability, and candor; it expresses a disposition to live in the light. Dishonesty seeks shade, cover, or concealment. It is a disposition to live partly in the dark. Why would anyone want to be dishonest? How is honesty best cultivated? Like most virtues, it is best developed and exercised in harmony with others. The more it is exercised, the more it becomes a settled disposition. But there is a quick answer that may be given in three words; take it seriously. Take recognition of the fact that honesty is a fundamental condition for human exchange, for friendship, for all genuine community. But be sure to take seriously for itself, not just as “the best policy.” “Honesty is better than all policy,” as the philosopher Immanuel Kant put it. There is all the moral difference in the world between taking the condition of one’s self seriously and taking pains not to get caught. Parents often say, “Don’t let me catch you doing that again!” and that is all right, but a good, honest life is more than that. Moral development is not a game of “Catch me if you can.” It is better to focus clearly on what really matters; the kind of person one is. It is surely no accident that the two most beloved American presidents, Washington and Lincoln, possessed a proverbial honesty. There are many stories that remind us that honesty in private life makes honesty in public office. More important, they show us that habits of a truthful heart begin early in life. Just a little something to think about as we all make our minds up about who will be running our country!!!!! Winston Churchill said “never give up never give up never give up we shall go on till the end”. That is the meaning of perseverance. Winston Churchill was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of Great Britain during World War II. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historical writer, and an artist. The actual definition of perseverance is “Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.” Can you imagine trying 5 times, maybe 10 times or even 20 times and failing. Would you give up? Thomas Edison looked at it this way, “I have not failed. I have found 10,000 ways that won’t work. He said, "I never quit until I get what I'm after. Negative results are just what I'm after. They are just as valuable to me as positive results." So think of the negative results as a step toward the positive results that you seek, until you achieve your goal. Do you have a goal? Unless you are lucky and your goal is easy to achieve, you will need perseverance to see you to the end. In other words, no matter how hard it gets, no matter what people say to discourage you, keep doing what you believe until you achieve your goal. Courage is bravery in the face of fear. Courage is doing the right thing even when it is hard or scary. When you are courageous, you don’t give up. You try new things. You admit mistakes. Courage is the strength in your heart. Sometimes you need to pause, take a deep breath, and gather all your courage. Sometimes it rushes through you automatically. There are many ways that you can show your courage. You can stand up to a bully who is picking on your friend. You can tell the truth when you’ve done something wrong. You can try out something new and different. There are many books you can read about kids with courage. This month, read a book about a courageous character and complete a brief book report. All students completing a book report will be entered in a drawing to win one of three Borders gift cards. If you already have a book report sheet from your teacher, you may use that. A sentence or two for the lower grades (K-2), a paragraph or two for the middle grades (3-5) and upper grades (6-8) will do. All book reports must include the title, author, your name, and room number. Please give book reports to your teacher by March 31st and they will be placed in an envelope in the office. You may choose any book about courage, but here’s a list of suggested books to get you started: Mirette on the Highwire, by Emily Arnold McCully (K-2) We never know how high we are “Without courage you cannot practice any of the other virtues” – Maya Angelou "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." – Sir Winston Churchill “All of our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." – Walt Disney Sutherland Students: “What are you going to be when you grow up?” is a question about work. What is your work in the world going to be? What will be your works? These are not questions about jobs and pay, but questions about life. Work is applied effort; it is whatever we put ourselves into, whatever we expand our energy on for the sake of accomplishing or achieving something. WORK IN THE FUNDAMENTAL SENSE IS NOT WHAT WE DO FOR A LIVING BUT WHAT WE DO WITH OUR LIVING!! The schoolwork, homework, and teamwork of children are all real work, though the payoff is not in dollars. A child’s household chores may be accompanied by an allowance, but they are not done for an allowance. They are done because they need to be done. All can be done cheerfully and with pride, or grudgingly and with distaste. And which way we do them is really up to us. It is matter of choice. Remember Sutherland Students, there are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes. And our attitudes are up to us. Those who have missed the joy of work, of a job well done, have missed something very important!! Mr. Meant-To These two fellows live together Sutherland Students nothing is asked of you this month except….. GET TO WORK!!! Why do we want to have friends? The obvious answer is that friends make us happy. They share our interests, our likes, and our dislikes. But real friendship is more than just hanging out and joking with each other. Real friends give each other loyalty, trust, honesty and help when we need it. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle said: “We may describe friendly feeling toward anyone as wishing Friends naturally try to make each other better people. They help us to make the right decision and to strive for worthy goals. Try to think more about being a friend than having friends. Friendships don’t just bring you happiness but they make you a better person. Read this poem about Friendship:
You are invited to enter a friendship poetry contest, sponsored by the PTA. Poems may be any length, but must either describe your best friend or what friendship is to you. Each contest winner (there will be 2 winners per age group) will receive a gift certificate to a local ice cream place so that he or she can treat his or her best friend to a “sweet treat.” Submit your poem, including your name, grade and home phone, to the PTA box in the school office by January 31st. Have you ever been lost, only to have someone show you the way home? Have you ever been injured, and experienced healing by the hands of another – whether it be by your mom or dad, your doctor, or someone else? How about that time you forgot your lunch, and another kid shared his or hers with you? If so, then what you have experienced is the compassion of another person. Compassion is feeling another’s pain or sorrow so much that you want to help ease that pain or sorrow. Sutherland students have already expressed compassion in so many ways this year. You’ve planted pink tulips in remembrance of those touched by sickness. You’ve raised money to support breast cancer research and also raised funds to help poor children through the UNICEF Trick or Treat campaign. You have even held a food drive to support poor people in our community. In all of these cases, Sutherland kids felt the pain of others, whether it be illness or poverty, and did something to help ease that pain. Did you notice how you felt after showing compassion? There’s something very special about helping someone in need. You feel great! You may feel a different type of great than you feel when your team won the big game or you finally received that awesome birthday present. This feeling is somehow more important, kind of like how the Grinch felt after returning presents to the Whos. His heart grew and grew and grew…. So, let’s continue to show compassion for others during this holiday season. The 6th Graders will be collecting funds to buy more “plumpy bars”. A plumpy bar is a pouch, like a juice pouch, but instead of containing juice, it contains enough nutritional food to feed a starving child for a day. If I can stop one heart from breaking, This month the Sutherland PTA is focusing on the virtue of “Responsibility”. The definition of responsibility found in Webster’s dictionary is: 1. The state, quality, or fact of being responsible. Responsibility is often thought of as a burden, but really it is an opportunity to take charge of your life and gain respect from your friends, family and community. Responsible people do what needs to be done, fulfill their obligations, are accountable for their actions, use good judgment, and don’t let people down. For example, as a student it is your duty to pay attention in class, take notes, work on assignments, write your homework in your planners and remember to bring everything you need to complete your homework home with you. In order to accomplish these tasks you must set goals for yourself. By achieving your goals you will regain the respect of your teachers as well as your friends and family. You must remember not to blame others when you forget to do some of these things. Being responsible can also mean helping out at home. For instance, you can help your parents and siblings in many ways. You can help with dinner, take out the garbage, clean your room, or maybe even do the dishes. By doing these things, you can help other members of your family free up some of their time so that they can focus on other things like reading a book to a small child, playing a game with you, or helping you with a school project. Are you a responsible person? Answer these simple statements below by circling true or false to see just how responsible you are. I do what needs to be done. True or False I am reliable and dependable True or False I am accountable for my actions; I don’t make excuses or blame others. True or False I fulfill my moral obligations. True or False I use good judgment and think through the consequences of my actions. True or False I exercise self-control. True or False I think I am/am not a responsible person because________________________________.
Being responsible puts you in charge of your life. Think of ways you can be more responsible at school, at home, or in your community and write them on the chart below. (I have put a few examples in to help you get started.) Then decide, along with your parents, which things you want to accomplish for the week and maybe even decide on a reward when those goals are accomplished. Make a chart for each week in the month of November and see just how responsible you can be.
Self-Discipline: A Virtue Worth Working Toward The virtue that Sutherland’s PTA is focusing on for October is “Self-Discipline.” Below is a list of some steps we can follow to be self-disciplined.
Working on self-discipline will help us in all areas of our lives, from completing school projects to keeping our rooms clean. It will help us be successful, responsible citizens both at home, in school or in our jobs. And it will make our school an even better place to be! Let’s all work on self-discipline in October, and then keep it going throughout our lives! Students, please complete the attached promise of one area of self-discipline you will work on during October and return it to your homeroom teacher. At the end of the month we will see just how successful we’ve been! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I, __________________________________________, promise to work on self-discipline this month. The area I will focus on is_________________________. The Sutherland PTA Focuses on Character Education The Sutherland Elementary School PTA is excited to welcome everyone back for the 2007-2008 school year. We have many great programs and fundraisers planned for this year and are looking forward to lots of student and parent involvement. The PTA this year will be focusing on character development through the virtues. A Virtue is a specific moral quality that is regarded as good. Since there are ten months of school, we will focus on ten virtues. September’s focus is “peace”. October will focus on “self-discipline”. November will focus on “responsibility”. The focus of December will be “compassion”. January will teach us about “friendship”. In February we will learn about “work”. March will focus on “courage”. The focus of April will be “perseverance”. May will focus on “honesty”. And in June we will focus on “loyalty”. Our goal for learning about the virtues is to make Sutherland a caring, friendly community where everyone is welcome, accepted and celebrated! Let’s be the best we can be in the 2007-2008 school year! Peace is our virtue for September. Peace is defined as: 1. freedom from war; 2. an agreement to end war; 3. law and order; 4. harmony; and 5. serenity or quiet. For the last six years our country has been lacking a peaceful component because of global problems and discontent. While we may not be able to have an effect on peace globally, we can certainly work toward peace in our homes, our school and our community. If every one of us make a commitment to bring peace to just one of our relationships, imagine what a difference we will make! We could work toward getting along better with a brother or sister. We could become friends with someone from a rival team. Or, we could reach out to somebody new in our school or community. If you don’t feel like you can make a difference, consider this story… A man was walking on a beach. Up ahead he saw the figure of a girl who appeared to be dancing. As he got closer he saw starfish covering the beach, obviously washed ashore in the now receding tide. The girl was bending to pick the starfish up, one at a time, then throwing them back into the ocean. The man asked the girl, ”What are you doing?” She replied mid-throw, “I’m saving the starfish.” He stared at her in disbelief and said, “There must be thousands of starfish here. How can you possibly make a difference?” The girl smiled at the man, bent down and picked up another starfish and lobbed it into the surf, then replied, “I made a difference for THAT one!” Peace! Penny Golden President, Sutherland Elementary School PTA Please note: This site is best viewed in a full browser window. |
- Emily Dickinson