Willow Springs Elementary School

Student Item Pick-Up

Our curbside student item pick up will be held on June 15th and 16th from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Families with children in grades K-5 will sign up here for a time in which they can pick up their items. All items from students' desks and classrooms have been bagged and labeled, and will be distributed during this time. Please note that 6th graders and their siblings will receive their items during the Fox Farewell Drive "Bye" on Friday, June 12th.

After signing up, participants will receive an email confirming their sign up and a reminder email the day before their pick-up is scheduled. Families will be asked to give an email, phone number, and their child's name for easy reference when distributing the supplies.

Fairness means that you believe that all people have value. You approach situations with an unbiased mindset and treat everyone with respect. Fairness is complex. That’s because it is the product of moral judgment – the process by which people determine what is morally right and what is morally wrong. Moral reasoning has been explored and analyzed in two main traditions: the justice reasoning approach and the care reasoning approach.

Justice reasoning emphasizes the use of reason and logic. In justice reasoning, fairness is determined by objectively weighing what is right or wrong, as determined by a group, society, or universal ethical principles. Care reasoning, by contrast, emphasizes care and compassion. This approach uses concepts like empathy – and understanding and accounting for the needs, interests, and well-being of another person – when making moral decisions.

Although the two approaches are different, most people use a blend of justice and care reasoning when making choices related to fairness.

So, why does fairness matter?

For individuals, cultivating the character strength of fairness is correlated with highly desirable developmental outcomes. It helps people to become trustworthy friends, responsible citizens, and generally moral people.

Fairness is also essential for the good of the group. As individuals develop the capacity for moral reason they often find a strengthening of: the aptitude for self-reflection; self-awareness and self-confidence; and perspective taking (i.e. the ability to “put themselves in another’s shoes”). When taken together, these skills significantly enhance a person’s ability to solve interpersonal and group relationship problems.

We encourage our students in grades 3rd - 6th to fill out this end of year survey created by the Positivity Project.

This year, students at Willow Springs have focused on learning more about being an ethical and global citizen. Our weekly positivity project lesson and digital citizenship lessons throughout the year help students understand what it means to be an ethical and global citizen. Skills of this attribute include:

• Understanding there are different cultures and perspectives in the world
• Helping the community
• Understanding your rights, privileges, and responsibilities as a member of a community
• Treating others with respect and kindness
• Showing you are a friend by making good choices
• Learning other languages

Ethical & Global Citizen Focused Family Conversation

Try asking your child some of the following questions to spark conversation and help them notice when they are using ethical and global citizen skills:

• How were you an ethical and global citizen today?
• How were you a good friend to ___ when ___?
• How did you try to understand how ___ was feeling?
• How were you kind to others?
• What good choices did you make?

WSES Students are Ethical and Global Citizens!

One of our WSES teachers shared, "Our 5th graders hosted a Middle Ages marketplace to simulate our bartering activity from Medieval Day. They were global thinkers as they reflected on how economics took place during this time period."