A single podium with a microphone sits at the front of the Park Terrace Elementary library. Students and families are gathering for the fourth grade poetry slam. Each student poet is getting ready for their moment to share their lived experiences in poetic form. As the first student makes their way to the mic, classmates give high fives, smiles and nods of encouragement. The room grows quiet. This is CARES in action.

For some elementary families, the CARES acronym has become familiar. For others, especially those new to Spring Lake Park Schools, it’s a new acronym. CARES stands for Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self-Control. Together, these shared values, aligned to career and life competencies, form the foundation of how elementary students and staff treat one another at school.

Throughout all of our elementary school hallways, in classrooms and in shared spaces, large posters spell out CARES words with examples of what it looks like. The visuals serve as reminders of how these values are practiced each day - it’s language shared by everyone in the building.

What CARES looks like

Anne Jenkauski is the student services specialist at Park Terrace. Her role centers on supporting students’ social, emotional, and behavioral growth and development. She believes CARES is the base layer for the support services she provides to families.

“It is how we define our school culture,” she explains. “Showing CARES is how we create a positive environment that makes learning possible for ourselves and for others.”

Anne sees examples of CARES every day. She shares the story of a fourth grader who walks two kindergarteners to their bus every single day. An ordinary moment that may seem small but is powerful to those students who look forward to the routine each day. It’s one small example of CARES in action. So, what does CARES mean and look like in our elementary schools?

• Cooperation shows in working together. It looks like students taking turns, listening to each other’s ideas and supporting one another when learning feels hard. It might be a student patiently waiting while a classmate finishes speaking or sharing materials without being asked.
• Assertion is students learning to ask for what they need in order to be successful in their learning. Kids who raise their hand to ask for help, or speaks up to solve a problem, is showing CARES. Students learn that their voices matters and that it’s okay to ask for support.
• Responsibility is woven into everyday routines. It looks like working hard, following directions, telling the truth and keeping the school safe. It’s finishing schoolwork, lining up calmly and doing your job even when no one is watching. Responsibility helps students understand that their actions matter to themselves and to their community.
• Empathy is the ability to understand and care about others’ feelings. It is often a work in progress for the young elementary student. As students get to know their classmates, they learn that empathy doesn’t always look the same for each person. Some need quiet space when they are upset, while others need a hug or words of encouragement. As students grow from preschool through fourth grade, their understanding of empathy deepens. They learn about inclusion, cultural differences and individual needs, and they begin to show respect based on what each person needs in any given moment.
• Self-control ties everything together. It means using kind words and having a safe body. It looks like keeping hands to yourself, raising your hand to share, and listening when others speak. Self-control means learning healthy ways to handle all the big emotions of being human.

Altogether, CARES at the elementary grades leads to appropriate development of career and life skills students need as they progress through school.

Recognition for positive actions

CARES is taught intentionally through practices and routines. Teachers talk about it during morning meetings, through lessons that happen several times a year and in small moments each day. Because CARES can look different depending on the situation, it’s common to hear adults in school say, “Let’s talk about how we could show CARES right now.”

Across the district, CARES comes to life in unique and joyful ways.

At Northpoint Elementary, lunchtime has become a celebration of CARES through the new Very Important Panthers (VIP) program. With the help of Learning Ventures child care staff, students earn points for their school “houses” by showing CARES actions in the cafeteria. Each week, the house with the most points earns VIP rewards on Fridays.

For the week’s VIPs, lunch feels extra special on Friday. They sit in a decorated section with table coverings, special utensils, colored party lights and music. Students are proud to be recognized for kindness, teamwork and respect.

Once a month, the house with the most CARES points gets an even bigger celebration: a special morning meeting with Principal Nelson (They think he’s pretty cool!) Students gather, play games like dodgeball or basketball and enjoy time together. This makes it something students look forward to, not just something they’re reminded to do.

At Centerview Elementary, CARES is celebrated through Panther Praise. Staff members nominate students, writing short stories about what they observed. During morning announcements, Principal Callahan reads these shout-outs aloud for the whole school to hear.

Students beam when they hear their names. Their photos are taken and displayed in the Learning Commons Café. Administrative Assistant Mary Schultz shares emails with families including the specific praise and a photo of their student.

“Parents feel proud, and students feel seen,” says Mary.

Each Panther Praise tells a story…of including someone who felt left out, helping a classmate understand an assignment, using self-control during a tough moment, or showing responsibility by working hard. These stories remind everyone that CARES is not about being perfect; it’s about trying, growing and choosing kindness.

Bringing CARES home and into the community

It becomes an expectation at school that students show CARES to themselves and to others. Staff members model how to show CARES to students and to one another. Then, it becomes even more special when these values are brought home to families and into the community. In this way, it becomes a shared commitment that extends outside the school building and school day.

By the end of the school day, students gather their belongings in backpacks. Parents line up in cars for pick-up, buses pull away and students make their way home and to after school activities. The CARES posters remain on the walls but CARES actions ripple out. After practicing all day – in walks to the bus, cafeteria behaviors and in the everyday choices made at school – CARES makes its way out into the world.

CARES becomes more than a program or cute acronym. It’s how a school community learns, grows, and takes care of one another together.