CHARACTER ROCKS

Character Rocks at Sycamore

Sycamore dedicated a space on the Early Childhood playground for the EC Character Rocks during a ceremony attended by all the EC students and teachers. Uniquely painted rocks were brought outside to create a “rock garden” in the southwest corner around the playground tree. According to Jennifer Williams, Sycamore’s Head of Early Childhood, the rock garden idea came from a book called Thrivers by Michele Borba. Borba writes about a school in San Antonio that created a rock garden using rocks that identified their students’ character strengths. In her book, Borba examines reasons why some children thrive and others struggle. She says it comes down to character. Confidence, empathy, self-control, integrity, curiosity, perseverance, and optimism are more important than grades and test scores. “Each school year we create an identity display featuring our Early Childhood students,” says Williams. “The book gave us the idea to replicate the rock garden here at Sycamore for our Early Childhood students. We began by asking parents to talk to their child about one or two character strengths they identified in them, wrote them down, and sent them to us.” After the rocks were painted, teachers added descriptors to the rocks before students placed them outside on our EC playground. Sycamore art teacher, Chrissy

Students painted rocks, with words representing character traits then written by teachers, before the students created an outdoor rock garden.

We care not only about what they are learning in language arts, math, science, etc. but how they are developing as humans.

Sweigart, spent several of her art classes at the beginning of the year helping the children decorate and paint their rocks. Pre-Kindergarten teacher Catherine Kirkendall says the rocks have given life to an area of the playground that was never used, and the students look forward to interacting with the character rocks. “Students like finding their own rocks as well as the rocks of their classmates,” she says. “One day on the playground, a few students from both classes found all of the rocks from each Pre-K class. Then they placed the rocks into two lines and compared the quantity from each class.” The rocks have also introduced new vocabulary words to students, according to Kirkendall. “Students are frequently coming up to the teachers asking us to read the word on the rock and then asking for the meaning, especially words like zest and perseverance,” she says. “The students also enjoy hiding the rocks in the tall grass and then hunting for them. They love the rocks.” Williams says that the traits that are written on the rocks can be taught and fostered by both parents and educators. “We want our kids to know that we value all parts of them and their identities. We care not only about what they are learning in language arts, math, science, etc. but how they are developing as humans. These character traits are what will truly help them thrive and not just survive,” she says. Williams mentions there are rules surrounding these rocks while students are at recess. Teachers agreed that students may touch, move, stack, and interact with the rocks as long as they stay in the corner mulch area. The rocks are not to be moved to other areas of the playground, nor should they be buried under the mulch. Williams reminds the students that they should treat the rocks carefully. Each of the students was photographed with their rocks, and the pictures are on display in the EC hallway. “I hear them talk about their rocks when they are looking at the photo display outside of my office— especially the kids who are being picked up from Quest in the afternoons,” Williams says. “They like to stop by with their parents to show them their photo and the photos of their friends and talk about their special rock that is out on the playground.”

“I’m so glad EC did this project,” Kirkendall says. “It has been fun to see the different ways that kids interact with that space.” Education students from Butler were at Sycamore on the day the rocks were placed around the tree on the playground. Williams says the group from Butler was so inspired that after they returned to campus, the class created a special rock to donate to the Sycamore collection. They wrote positive traits that they observed in the teachers and students at Sycamore during their visit. That rock is now part of the collection in the Early Childhood garden. •