I saw this photo on Pinterest and immediately thought it would make a great statement around the restroom mirrors in the 5th and 6th grade restrooms. I make a big deal of reminding those students they are the oldest children in our school and like it or not, the other students are watching them and want to be like them.
I have been busy updating our data banks for the online programs we use and also uploading student and class information into a new progress monitoring program. These tasks I volunteered to complete after our system suffered the tragic and untimely death of our technology specialist. She is sorely missed....
Pinterest also led me to the "First Grade with Miss Snowden" blog where I found this beginning-school-year gift for teachers and staff:
1st Grade with Miss Snowden
I plan to use the Crystal Light and water idea along with the card, "You LIGHT up our school!" I also bought highlighters and made cards that state, "You're a HIGHLIGHT of our school!" I signed the cards from all 3 of us administrators because we make a great team!
This week I plan to visit our school bus contractor and give her materials to help the bus drivers reward students who follow directions and rules as they ride to and from school. Last year as I managed bus transportation for the first time the drivers and I worked together and we saw the number of incidents of misbehavior drop from the year before. However, looking at year-end totals of all the office discipline referrals we still had more bus referrals than anything else. At first thought I wondered why the students could behave 7 hours in school but couldn't handle a 20 minute ride to or from school. But then the difference hit me: there is more direct supervision in school. The bus driver has to do double duty--managing children and driving the bus--and his/her first responsibility is to TRANSPORT the children safely. So I knew I had to think of another way...or more ways...to support them and motivate the children to choose to behave safely. I am going to give the drivers SOAR cards like we use in school. They will hand them out to children when they see them acting responsibly and the children will turn them in at school for recognition and rewards. I'll try to post a photo of the SOAR card early next week.
