FARMINGTON – Working together, Cascade Brook School sixth-graders pooled their energies and ideas Tuesday to work on problem-solving challenges led by counselors from Camp Susan Curtis.

The goal is to help children focus on learning, said school counselor Martina Arnold. In the process, students are learning respect for themselves, each other and the community.

Respect has become a school-wide theme over the past few years, she said.

A partnership with Camp Susan Curtis, started in the 2005-2006 school year, brings counselors from the camp to the school Tuesday to involve the students in learning by doing and experiencing, she said.

“Children need to experience in order to understand a concept,” Arnold said.

She referred to an activity from last year where a student was brought to tears because everyone was yelling.

From that team members realized that they needed to be quiet and pick a leader as they worked together, brainstormed and solved problems, she said.

Part of the day is spent in goal setting for the class and individuals, she said.

Previous goals from all the sixth-grade classes this year reflected similar themes such as listening better, to stop goofing off and getting homework done on time, she added.

Arnold will work with students in gym and health classes to see how it is working. If the goals are not working for them, then they have to come up with the answer, she said.

“We’re all human and all have problems,” she said, “but we have to learn how to approach them and make choices. If they don’t work, then we need to reflect and figure out what to do.”

Some Camp Susan Curtis counselors continue their summer work by providing school programs into the fall, said counselor Lyndsey Smith of Woodstock.

Some of the 11 at Cascade Brook Tuesday were University of Maine at Farmington students who had worked at the camp over the summer and volunteered to help.

The counselors visit approximately 15 schools to provide similar activities with fifth- and sixth-graders, she said.

They also return to see what the classes learned and how their goal-setting progressed, Smith added. Students from Cascade Brook will spend a night at Camp Susan Curtis in June as a follow-up.

Funding from Franklin Savings Bank’s Community Development Foundation and bus costs furnished by a previous Wal-mart teacher of the year, Rick Hardy, will provide money for the June camp trip.

After reading a humorous story, “Enemy Pie,” to the school’s library classes in September, time was spent discussing the themes of conflict resolution, friendship and communication with the students. Out of that, an idea for a fundraiser developed, she said.

The school will undertake its first pie and bread sale to benefit enrichment programs from 2 to 6 p.m. Nov. 20 at the school’s cafetorium, she said.

Students now in the middle school who were part of this program at Cascade Brook are showing that they have grasped the concept “that it’s not cool to be mean,” Smith said.

The students are also learning that it is up to them to make a good life for themselves. The school promotes and models treating each other with respect and kindness, she said.

“New students soon realize that Cascade Brook is a nice school where they can feel safe,” she said.

The students also think more about their community, she added, as she recalled a day last June where students performed community service projects at the Pierce House, Hippach Field and at the school itself.