Teachers and staff at Friendsville Elementary School believe that people learn and function best in an environment that is supportive of the individual and free of threat. To this end, we have adopted the Lifelong Guidelines and Lifeskills developed by Susan Kovalik and Associates for maintaining an optimum-learning environment.

There are five Lifelong Guidelines: Trustworthiness, Active Listening, Truthfulness, No Put-Downs, and Personal Best.

The Life Skills include Effort, Caring, Initiative, Organization, Problem Solving, Patience, Curiosity, Flexibility, Friendship, Cooperation, Integrity, Perseverance, Responsibility, Common Sense, and Sense of Humor.

A commitment to these qualities forms a basis for agreement between teacher and student, among students and among staff for behavior and expectations-both social and academic-and fosters the development of skills needed for success, regardless of the individual's age or situation. We encourage parents to talk to your child and his/her teacher about this program and to reinforce these skills at home.