LAPS NEWS RELEASE
It’s all about connections at Mountain Elementary School. More specifically, it’s
about 6th grade students building relationships with each other and supporting each other through a pilot program called Making Caring Common.
“Making Caring Common is a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education,”
explained Mountain Elementary 6th grader teacher MaryAlice Hawkins, who was instrumental in implementing the program at the school this year. It focuses on building peer to peer relationships and cultivating connections.”
Mrs. Hawkins cites data in supporting the need for the program, noting that 20% of boys reported that they had less than three people to talk to, while 30% of girls stated that they had two or fewer people at school that they could talk to. “They are not referring to teachers, but to other students to talk and to connect to,” Mrs. Hawkins said. No one should feel alone. We are trying to build empathy asa way to create connections. We meet four times a week to doTeam do Time, which is like a morning meeting with various topics that we discuss with our homerooms on the carpet, to build relationships and a supportive environment for our
students,” she added.
Additionally, a group of 16 students work with Mrs. Hawkins as Peer Relationship Builders. They meet at least once amonth to come up with ideas to increase sixth gradeconnections with one another. These team challenges are intended to make students feel safe while having a fun time in each of the classrooms where activities are set up. Forexample, one month students rotated from building towerswith blocks to balancing a hula hoop toholding discussions centered on common threads among the group.
Kristine Coblentz, the school district’s prevention support specialist, and the Los Alamos High School Student Risk Prevention Team were invited to collaborate with the Mountain School students to take a look at their data and brainstorm possible activities to build more connections between students.
“LAHS prevention team members thoroughly enjoyed working with the PeerRelationship Builders and coming to Mountain School to lead team buildingactivities,” said Mrs. Coblentz. “We were impressed by the way in which the earning and mentorship went both ways between the two student groups.”
“The more connected you are, the more people you can rely on when times are tough, it’s like a safety net,” noted Mrs. Hawkins. “The goal is to build these relationships where students are supportive of each other from elementary school through to graduation. Preventing students from feeling alone by creating strong relationships will help them be healthy, both physically and mentally. This is the whole point of this program,” Mrs. Hawkins said.