Lifeskills in Action - Responsibility

With the 2024-2025 school year in full swing, I wanted to take the opportunity this month to highlight our Lifeskills Program and the awesome changes that we made this year. Lifeskills has been a pillar of Oakhill since its opening… we pride ourselves in teaching our students to embody life skills on a daily basis. Afterall, these are what make Oakhill students stand out from so many others. In years past, we have recognized our students at our Panther Parties and held a delicious ice cream bar in celebration. However, this year, we wanted to make some adjustments so that our students feel recognized every day for the good that they bring to their classrooms, to the halls, and to everyone around them! We are always encouraging our students to embrace ALL lifeskills, but this year we are honing in on four big ones. Responsibility, Kindness, Honesty, and Respect. These four lifeskills are the foundation and the overarching “lifeskills umbrella”. Many of the lifeskills that we have celebrated in the past fall under one of these “big four”. If we can teach our students what it looks like to be responsible, honest, kind, and respectful, they will already be rockstars when it comes to integrity, resilience, service to others, etc. Just in the 1st Quarter, we have had over 90 lifeskills recognized across the entire school… that is AWESOME! And I know that isn’t all of them. 

So this month, I wanted to highlight the lifeskill of Responsibility. By definition, Responsibility means the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone; being accountable or to blame for something, etc. To adults this looks like making sure that our ducks are in a row. Ensuring that the house is running smoothly, the kids are taken care of and loved, bills are paid, food on the table, maintaining work-life balance, etc. To our kids, responsibility looks different everywhere they go…and on top of that, once they learn what the different facets of responsibility look like, we add more or change them. Our kids have responsibilities at home - chores, taking care of their things (and their siblings' things), homework, sports, clubs, etc. And then they have responsibilities at school - paying attention in class, getting work done, walking in line down the hallway, participating in various specials, following lunch protocols, classroom protocols, hallway protocols, the list goes on! I am often reminded that we don’t stop to remember just how much responsibility our kids take on during any given day. Yes, our responsibilities as adults carry far more weight, but to our kids, their responsibilities feel just as heavy. Each new year is like starting a different role at work…some responsibilities remain the same, yet the expectations are different and higher. Each year, our kids learn A TON of new responsibilities, they adapt and pivot, and they don’t get enough credit for it! 

This year, we are hoping to change that with Lifeskills. We are catching our kids being good ALL THE TIME. Whether they receive a token from one of our “non-teachers” (like Mrs. McCanles, Mrs. Newhouse, Mr. Clevenger, Mrs. Beckham, etc.) or they are getting a sticker from a classroom teacher, we want to make sure our students know that we see them, we appreciate them, and we will let them know! This new approach is still celebrating every Lifeskill (no matter which one it is), but the recognition is more immediate and hopefully more meaningful. While I am sure that our kids will miss the ice cream bar, each classroom has chosen their own Lifeskills goal... and an ice cream bar could be part of that (the possibilities are endless!) 

I am hopeful that you are beginning to see some of those Lifeskills stickers coming home. I get so excited to see our students in the hallway with their stickers on (even our super cool Middle Schoolers!!) 1. Because we love celebrating each student, but 2. It gives all of the other adults the chance to recognize your student the rest of the day, and continuing that recognition beyond the initial act.

So at home, have conversations about the four Lifeskills we are focusing on. How are your kids exhibiting each one? How do they see their friends exhibiting each of the lifeskills? And how do they see people outside of Oakhill exhibiting the Lifeskills? There is potential for great dinner table conversations! 

Mrs. P