Being a good citizen means always being helpful to yourself and others.

Hudson, Fifth Grade Student

Being an empathetic citizen is being respectful, listening, and being kind.

Luke, Sixth Grade Student

Citizenship means respecting your teachers and your classmates.

Sarah, Fifth Grade Student

Confidence is the power to do something difficult. It means having inner strength, and doing something even when you're scared. Being a confident learner means raising your hand in class, even when you're unsure, or might be wrong. You feel confident when you do your best and can show your work.

Benjamin, Ollie, Henry, and Ryder (Upper Elementary Students)

Confident learners keep trying even when failure is an option, as they are comfortable with making mistakes, knowing that the path to true knowledge is not a quick trip, but a memorable and exciting journey.

Ainsley Mallows, Early Childhood Teacher

Empathy means looking at the world through another person's eyes and feeling their emotions as if they are your own.

Krissy, Sixth Grade Student

I have explored my new school environment by joining the robotics club, which is something I have little knowledge about. I want to explore all the new possibilities that are available to me! When I think about resilient explorers at Kingsley, I think that there is one in every student. Everyone has been faced with a problem in their life, and to handle the problem with kindness and resilience is the Kingsley way

Ryan Chang-Wu, Alumni ‘21

I have the privilege of observing young children being resilient explores each day in the Preschool Program. Children try new and challenging things over and over again until the day they proudly accomplish something independently. The most wonderful part of being a preschool teacher is being witness to a three year old zipping their coat for the first time or watching an older student teach a lesson to a younger friend. I see these students enter the Preschool Program as a three year old and leave the classroom as a Kindergarten student who is an internally motivated, confident leader. Most importantly, these children develop a deep love for learning!

Sarah Crowley, Preschool Teacher

I see resilience when students are learning about a new topic or working really hard to do their best work, and they persevere through tough moments to overcome a difficult task. Sometimes it's jumping for those monkey bars at recess and trying to make it across for the first time. Other times it's bouncing back from a misunderstanding with a peer and going on to do some work together.

Robbie Walton, Lower Elementary Teacher

Kingsley students embody confident learners because they have agency over their own learning. Being in a Montessori environment allows them to grow as independent and self-assured students. It is truly remarkable to be on the frontlines of watching their confidence develop in the classroom.

Claire Harris, Assistant Director of Elementary

My favorite example of empathetic citizenship recently was helping an Early Childhood class get ready for recess on a cold and snowy morning. One Kindergartner had two extra pairs of gloves and offered them to P3 and P4 friends, even helping put them on. One of the sets of gloves had two left hands, and she was so great about explaining to the friend, “They weren’t meant to go together, but now you have a snowflake on the front and one on the back!

Courtney Tomaselli, Chief Advancement Officer

Resilience, to me, means 'Try, Try, Again.' Exploration means to go on an imagination adventure, or an outdoor adventure in nature, or when you learn and finish a new work!

Coco Sweet, Third Grade Student

To me, a resilient explorer is one who is able to take the concept of "failing" and turn it around to use it as a concept for self-betterment. We don't always know what we will run into when we "explore," whether it be in our academic lives or our lives outside of school but a willingness to try any and everything and have the inner strength to persevere through it all defines a resilient explorer, to me. It is sometimes hard to say where the roads of our lives will take us, but having the courage to travel them and having the strength to deal with any obstacles along the path opens our lives to all the possibilities the world presents.

Brian Race, Early Childhood Music Teacher

To me, being a resilient explorer is about being a lifelong learner. It is about having a never-ending curiosity to know more, to do more, and to be more throughout your entire life. It is about having the courage and desire to not just exist in the world, but to engage with it, even when it's not always exactly as you may expect or want.

Tara Hofherr, Director of Elementary

UE students were resilient explorers throughout our personal narrative unit—which we just concluded with an author's chair celebration this week! They were resilient because the writing process always presents challenges to overcome, no matter the genre. And they were explorers as they immersed themselves in the genre, discovering what personal narratives look like and trying those craft moves in their own notebooks.

Devan Fitzpatrick, Literacy Specialist