Our 5th graders did a writing exercise on values. Below are a few of the values they deem most important.
COMMITMENT
Commitment is a strong word. For example, my mom gets up at the crack of dawn, she gets dressed and goes to work. She shows commitment by being there on time and working hard. Everyone in this room has commitment. Think about it. You get up in the morning, get dressed, eat breakfast, and go to school. Being committed doesn’t mean you have to be perfect. If you try your best and work hard, you have commitment. Working hard and being committed really pays off.
POLITE
Being polite is always a good thing. Being polite means that you are kind and generous. You have more than one trait, but it all fits in one. An example is when I finish my food at lunch and go up to get more, but a teacher hasn’t gotten any food at all. They will probably say, “You can go first.” If this happens, say, “No you can.” For sure that will make someone’s entire day.
MISTAKES
Everyone needs mistakes. Without mistakes, no one could be a better person. A simple example is when you forget to tie your shoe and you trip and fall. It makes you a better person in a way and you won’t forget to tie your shoe. A bigger one is if someone is a bully. You can go talk to someone about it. Then who knows? You could be an upstander. This is the biggest example. You could be a criminal and you get caught and you are put in jail. After your time in jail (I know this cannot happen) you could become a police officer and fight criminals too. This is why you need mistakes.
INTEGRITY
My parents always tell me, “Integrity is part of your everyday life.” For example, if my mom tells me to turn out the lights, I should turn out the lights and go to sleep instead of reading under my covers. The definition of integrity is “total honesty and sincerity”.
HONESTY
I think the most important value to live by is honesty. I remember when I was little and lied to my parents about something. Eventually, they found out and I was scared that they were going to punish me. But it turns out that I was wrong. They gave me a speech about how important honesty is and when I am older I could go to jail. This is why I think that honesty is the most important value to stand by.
LOYALTY
Loyalty. What a word. What a great value. Being loyal is one of the most important character traits. Loyalty means the state of being true and constant in support of someone or something. Loyalty is important because you will have time in your life when you aren’t a leader and your leader needs support. Loyalty is a great trait to have because everyone will know you can support them when they have an idea. There are a lot of things that loyalty can do to improve your life. Who knows? It might take you around the world and back or loyalty will take you to the sky.
GRATITUDE
I think gratitude is a very important value to have. My parents told me that if we don’t have gratitude, we would be very greedy. The act of gratitude is satisfaction or being happy with what you have. For example, one day I went to Michael’s with my mom and sister. We went inside and I asked for some slime materials, but my mom said I already had slime. But I said I need more. I know now I should not be greedy because there are some people out there with nothing that is why I think gratitude I a very important value.
FRIENDSHIP
I think friendship is an important trait. When I go to camp there is a lot of friendship because at camp you do a lot of activities that involve getting to know each other. One time I was at camp and I didn’t know anyone then a group of girls came up to me like I was famous. I told them my name and I wanted to hang out with them. They invited me to play and I felt warm inside.
FRIENDSHIP
What is friendship? Some people might say friendship is being friends with people and other people might say friendship is a warm feeling inside when you know someone is there for you. Someone could use it in a sentence. For example, my friend and I had a good friendship or like this, I had a good feeling. I think it was friendship. One of the times I felt friendship was when I was in Pre-K. I was kind of scared to ask someone to be my friends, but that isn’t the main idea. The main idea is that me and that someone ended up being best friends for about six to seven years. Some little things can go a long way like friendship.
