January 12, 2023
Something special is happening at one of our district’s elementary schools, and it is transforming student behavior and shaping their learning environment in incredibly positive ways.
Imagine hundreds of students filing into a school gymnasium, led by their teachers. Excitement ripples through the air. They group together and sit in rows, wearing white t-shirts that are covered in different, paint-splattered colors. Purple, blue, black, red, yellow, and green fill the room. Students wonder to themselves, “Will it be me? Will my name be called?” This is the scene on the first Monday of every month at Grant Elementary School when the entire staff and student body fill the gym with positive energy and school spirit for a Family Meeting. Each student’s family members are invited to attend these meetings to be a part of this tradition and the lessons their students are learning, because at Grant, the staff, students, and their families are all considered part of the GSF - the Grant School Family.
The monthly Grant School Family Meetings start with a rousing rendition of the school song:
“Here we are together again.
Glad to be with all of our friends.
Learning, growing, right ‘til the end.
U-S-G-R-A-N-T,
we are all a family.
Three cheers for US Grant!”
Their song leader, music teacher Patrick Kyle, shouts, “Hip hip,” and the students replied shouts of “HOORAY!” get increasingly louder and more excited each time. By their third and final shout, the students are eager to sing the next song about being part of the school family:
“Oh, we are the Grant School Family,
and all of us belong.
We’re happy to be together, we learn to get along.
We learn self-control, responsibility, respect and kindness and honesty.
Oh, we are the Grant School Family,
and all of us belong!”
Family Meetings are carefully and thoughtfully crafted by School Counselor Danielle Smith, who delivers a brilliant mixture of fun and learning for the students. Skits by students and staff regularly help drive home her messages and provide presentation structure for the Positive Behavior and Intervention Support (PBIS) program - an evidence-based program designed to increase positive and appropriate behavior at school, reduce ongoing patterns of problem behaviors, and increase the likelihood of improved academic performance for all students. Smith kicks off each monthly meeting with a specific theme that she will then teach at grade-appropriate levels to all of the students at Grant during weekly lessons. In short, the staff at Grant, led by Smith and the PBIS Program, create the opportunity and environment for all students to succeed.
Before any of the positive behavioral learning and reinforcement can start each school year, the art teacher at Grant is hard at work in September organizing Squirt Shirt Week - a fun-filled week where students create their own color-coded shirts in art class. Upon completion, students proudly wear their shirts to Family Meetings and sit with the other students in their grade level. They are grouped together to recite their grade pledge, which is an age-appropriate code of conduct that they are taught to follow in school and beyond. These pledges help students take ownership of the six pillars of character: kindness, honesty, self-control, respect, and responsibility.
The pledges start very simply at the kindergarten level by fostering inclusion in the school family and culminate in the fifth-grade pledge which states, “I am responsible. I am accountable for my words and actions. I think about my choices and make good decisions. School is my work and I take it seriously. I try my best at everything I do. I am part of the Grant School Family!”
Even the teachers, administrators, support staff, and parents in attendance join together to read a pledge each month: “I am an adult member of the Grant School Family. I understand that my actions, words, and attitudes have a powerful impact on the development of the children in my life. It is my job to set an example of kindness, self-control, honesty, respect, and responsibility. It is my job to teach the life skills that children need in order to be successful adults. I am part of the Grant School Family!”
After all, if positive student behavior choices are going to be modeled and reinforced, it starts with the adults in their lives.
Patrick Neils, Principal at Grant, shares that the entire school is "loving, caring, supportive, and helpful, with a true family feel. The staff, students, and families that make up the Grant School Family are amazing and make our school such a special place. The staff at Grant is constantly going above and beyond to support their students, families, and each other. It really is amazing, and you can feel it from the moment you walk in the door."
Prior to each monthly meeting, “Living Above the Line” slips are meticulously tallied. Staff hand out these reward slips throughout each month when they witness a student going above and beyond the positive behavior choices that are expected of them. Each teacher then tracks the number of slips handed out in their class, and the student with the greatest number of slips from each classroom wins. This student’s name is called in front of the entire school at the meeting and has the opportunity to pick a special prize.
Applause fills the room as the winning students hear their names called and approach the prize table, carefully eyeing their choices. After their prize is picked, they gleefully return to their spot on the gym floor and cheer on their fellow students. Genuine, behavior-specific reinforcement like this is a cornerstone of the PBIS Program.
All schools in the Sheboygan Area School District incorporate PBIS. Grant Elementary School was a leader in the implementation of this program and has taken PBIS to the next level. Their staff is dedicated to embracing students as members of their school family, and they create excitement surrounding positive behavior that spreads to each and every student within their walls. They are a school where kindness and respect flourish, and we are proud to have the students and staff of the Grant School Family in our district.
January 12, 2023
Something special is happening at one of our district’s elementary schools, and it is transforming student behavior and shaping their learning environment in incredibly positive ways.
Imagine hundreds of students filing into a school gymnasium, led by their teachers. Excitement ripples through the air. They group together and sit in rows, wearing white t-shirts that are covered in different, paint-splattered colors. Purple, blue, black, red, yellow, and green fill the room. Students wonder to themselves, “Will it be me? Will my name be called?” This is the scene on the first Monday of every month at Grant Elementary School when the entire staff and student body fill the gym with positive energy and school spirit for a Family Meeting. Each student’s family members are invited to attend these meetings to be a part of this tradition and the lessons their students are learning, because at Grant, the staff, students, and their families are all considered part of the GSF - the Grant School Family.
The monthly Grant School Family Meetings start with a rousing rendition of the school song:
“Here we are together again.
Glad to be with all of our friends.
Learning, growing, right ‘til the end.
U-S-G-R-A-N-T,
we are all a family.
Three cheers for US Grant!”
Their song leader, music teacher Patrick Kyle, shouts, “Hip hip,” and the students replied shouts of “HOORAY!” get increasingly louder and more excited each time. By their third and final shout, the students are eager to sing the next song about being part of the school family:
“Oh, we are the Grant School Family,
and all of us belong.
We’re happy to be together, we learn to get along.
We learn self-control, responsibility, respect and kindness and honesty.
Oh, we are the Grant School Family,
and all of us belong!”
Family Meetings are carefully and thoughtfully crafted by School Counselor Danielle Smith, who delivers a brilliant mixture of fun and learning for the students. Skits by students and staff regularly help drive home her messages and provide presentation structure for the Positive Behavior and Intervention Support (PBIS) program - an evidence-based program designed to increase positive and appropriate behavior at school, reduce ongoing patterns of problem behaviors, and increase the likelihood of improved academic performance for all students. Smith kicks off each monthly meeting with a specific theme that she will then teach at grade-appropriate levels to all of the students at Grant during weekly lessons. In short, the staff at Grant, led by Smith and the PBIS Program, create the opportunity and environment for all students to succeed.
Before any of the positive behavioral learning and reinforcement can start each school year, the art teacher at Grant is hard at work in September organizing Squirt Shirt Week - a fun-filled week where students create their own color-coded shirts in art class. Upon completion, students proudly wear their shirts to Family Meetings and sit with the other students in their grade level. They are grouped together to recite their grade pledge, which is an age-appropriate code of conduct that they are taught to follow in school and beyond. These pledges help students take ownership of the six pillars of character: kindness, honesty, self-control, respect, and responsibility.
The pledges start very simply at the kindergarten level by fostering inclusion in the school family and culminate in the fifth-grade pledge which states, “I am responsible. I am accountable for my words and actions. I think about my choices and make good decisions. School is my work and I take it seriously. I try my best at everything I do. I am part of the Grant School Family!”
Even the teachers, administrators, support staff, and parents in attendance join together to read a pledge each month: “I am an adult member of the Grant School Family. I understand that my actions, words, and attitudes have a powerful impact on the development of the children in my life. It is my job to set an example of kindness, self-control, honesty, respect, and responsibility. It is my job to teach the life skills that children need in order to be successful adults. I am part of the Grant School Family!”
After all, if positive student behavior choices are going to be modeled and reinforced, it starts with the adults in their lives.
Patrick Neils, Principal at Grant, shares that the entire school is "loving, caring, supportive, and helpful, with a true family feel. The staff, students, and families that make up the Grant School Family are amazing and make our school such a special place. The staff at Grant is constantly going above and beyond to support their students, families, and each other. It really is amazing, and you can feel it from the moment you walk in the door."
Prior to each monthly meeting, “Living Above the Line” slips are meticulously tallied. Staff hand out these reward slips throughout each month when they witness a student going above and beyond the positive behavior choices that are expected of them. Each teacher then tracks the number of slips handed out in their class, and the student with the greatest number of slips from each classroom wins. This student’s name is called in front of the entire school at the meeting and has the opportunity to pick a special prize.
Applause fills the room as the winning students hear their names called and approach the prize table, carefully eyeing their choices. After their prize is picked, they gleefully return to their spot on the gym floor and cheer on their fellow students. Genuine, behavior-specific reinforcement like this is a cornerstone of the PBIS Program.
All schools in the Sheboygan Area School District incorporate PBIS. Grant Elementary School was a leader in the implementation of this program and has taken PBIS to the next level. Their staff is dedicated to embracing students as members of their school family, and they create excitement surrounding positive behavior that spreads to each and every student within their walls. They are a school where kindness and respect flourish, and we are proud to have the students and staff of the Grant School Family in our district.
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