Community Culture
At City View, we work together to create a culture of respect, responsibility, and joy in learning. The school community is a place where all students and adults support each other and feel like they belong. City View school leaders and staff work to build community in the following ways:
Ensuring every child is known by their teachers and peers.
It is important for children of all ages to be part of a community. In our elementary classrooms, each day starts with a morning meeting where students greet one another, share and engage in community-building activities. At the middle school level, students are part of crews, or advisories of 10-12 students that meet daily with a crew leader and engage in a process for checking-in, sharing, and discussing critical issues. Other school structures like All School Crew, school-wide Community Meeting, and buddy program help to not only ensure students know their classmates but that students develop connections and friendships across grades.
Teaching habits of work and learning.
The EL Education Design Principles and our City View HoWLs (Habits of Work and Learning) guide our school culture and the way in which children and adults treat one another. We teach students to understand and respect their own strengths and needs as well as those of other children and adults in our school community. Our HoWLs of compassion, integrity, collaboration, perseverance, and integrity are modeled, taught, and reinforced to help students grow and interact with personal responsibility for their behavior and learning. Each HoWL is explicitly taught through books, lessons, and mock situations in the classroom and celebrated at school-wide, student-led assemblies called community meetings. Teachers regularly collect behavior data along with student self-reflections which is developmentally represented on report cards for all grades.
Teaching students important social skills.
We recognize that skills such as conflict resolution or working successfully in a group are critical for success in school and in life. We intentionally model and practice these social skills with particular focus during the first six weeks of school. We also engage students throughout the year in problem-solving, discussing, and role-playing challenging situations.
Providing opportunities for celebrations.
Celebrations and events are an important aspect of being part of a community. We have All-School Community Meetings to allow students to share with the larger community and to celebrate successes. We have developed community traditions such as EL Night, Stepping Up Ceremony, Science Fair, Passages, and that celebrate students’ high-quality work.
Supporting students in taking risks and trying new things.
The best learning happens when students are challenged and willing to move outside of their comfort zone. We provide a supportive environment for students to take risks and we build a culture where that is expected. We have an adventure program where students engage in activities such as rock climbing, hiking, camping, and rafting.
Encouraging all students to be leaders.
We believe in the leadership potential of all students and work to foster leadership at all grade levels. Whether taking responsibility for a job in a Kindergarten classroom, planning a Community Meeting, or starting and leading a service-learning project, student leadership is encouraged, supported, and celebrated.
Supporting personal and social skill growth.
Our counseling program is aligned directly with the American School Counseling Association (ASCA) and Oregon School Counseling Association (OSCA) standards and practices. We offer all K-8 students support around personal/social, college/career, and academic skills that they will need to be successful in their goals. The counseling program ensures that students are seen and checked in with regularly.
