School No. 4 Students Earn Seat at Holiday ‘Etiquette Table’

Three classes of students at earned the right to have their lunch at the school’s “etiquette table” Thursday, a special table decorated for the holidays and set up on the stage in the lunchroom by PTA volunteers, who also serve the students their lunch.

Part of the school’s manners and etiquette program, students in Mrs. Schwartz’s first grade class, Mrs. Simchick’s third grade class and Ms. Pena’s fifth grade class earned the right for the month of December by demonstrating outstanding manners and respect.

“All the children were taught in their classrooms about the importance of manners and etiquette and respect,” said director of school counseling and character education program coordinator Nancy Sanders, who started the program. “And it carries over into the lunchroom. There are rules we follow here. We see a pattern of children in certain classrooms that develop a sense of community with each other, and that follows over into the lunchroom.”

A chart on the cafeteria wall shows each class’s progress toward earning the right to sit at the etiquette table— once a month, three classes earn that right—“so kids see it on a daily basis,” Sanders said.

“The children are well aware of how they’re doing,” she said.

They know by how many penguins they have in their class’s column on the chart; the School No. 4 lunchroom is known as the “Café Penguin,” after students voted on the name last year using actual voting machines the school brought in for the special vote.

Principal Peter Emr said the school has always had a “strong character ed. focus,” with morning announcements for the past several years including “some positive character statement.”

But he also said the audio announcement wasn’t quite enough; something was missing.

“I wanted to do something a little more concrete that they could not only see, but participate in—something that focused on good etiquette and good manners, which is a big part of good character,” Emr said. “So Mrs. Sanders identified a program that we could use at recess time that would take our character ed. program a step further. I loved it because that added that missing component, that added the hands-on, the practical aspects of good character and what good character looks like and rewarding them for it.”