Grades PreK-3 • Fair Haven, New Jersey

The Viola L. Sickles School's Character Café incorporates character education and social skills into activity-based learning. The program's purpose is to enhance students' abilities to cope with real-life situations. Each one-hour Café session consists of approximately 10 to 20 students and meets twice a week during lunch and recess. Students participate in hands-on activities that promote socialization and integrate Fair Haven District character virtues. The session includes time for reflection on the content of the activity and how the activity utilized one or more character virtues. To maintain the home-school connection and to further inform members of the community about the Café, a partnership between Character Café and the Fair Haven Parent Teacher Association (PTA) was developed. Staff, students, and parents assess the program's success in meeting its goal and objectives by survey. Students, teachers, and parents agreed that the Character Café was a positive experience, with one parent sharing, “This is not just a club, it is more educational. It is definitely character education.”

Program Founders and Coordinators