End of School Approaching

The 2004-2005 school year is quickly coming to an end! How did that happen? It has been a great year. Peaceable Schools has seen many moments of success throughout the year in various schools. Progress is being made. Thanks to all of you for your hard work and dedication. You are making good things happen everyday.

Grizzly Pride Patrol

The students at Grandview Elementary are taking advantage of the power of praise. Grandview Elementary has devised its own “pride patrol,” made up of students. The “pride patrol” is a group of 6th grade students who supervise the 1st and 2nd grade playground. They interact with the students and give out praise notes. Sometimes they even play games and start games for the younger students to participate in. These students have been a wonderful resource for giving out praise notes as they have given out 74 praise notes since the beginning of March. Below are some pictures of the “pride patrol” in action. They wear red vests to set them apart from the other students.

A Peaceable Play At Payson Middle School

"Peaceable Schools is about how we treat each other," said Natalie Phillips, a teacher at Payson Middle School. Student Tony Leon read a poem he authored saying, "It was written for people who give peace." These insights were shared as part of the introduction activities for a school assembly featuring a play titled "Secret of the Peaceable Warrior." The theatrical presentation captured the essence of a children's book by the same title and authored by Dan Millman.

Payson Middle School teachers have been teaching social skills such as Responding to Teasing and Dealing with Peer Pressure all year. The presentation of “Secret of the Peaceable Warrior” was another way to teach students appropriate behavior. The play depicted how "Danny" learned to deal with a bully, eventually making him a friend. The transformation was accelerated by the wise instruction of an elderly man appropriately named "Socrates." Before the play was presented, students were asked to "look for the social skills" and to "think about how they would act in the situation."

Members of the school's student Peace Committee performed the play, with each character being portrayed by several students. The purpose was explained to the student body: to teach that all students can decide whether they will get along or demean their peers.

The actors depicted the Peaceful Warrior's secret as not resisting the force of others. "If they push you pull, if they pull, you push," explained the narrator.

Speaking about Peaceable Schools, principal Barbara Quackenbush said, “It’s probably the best thing that has happened to this school. Peaceable Schools is helping us change the culture of the school."

Adapted from an Article by Roxanna Johnson

Social Skill Bulletin Board

Santaquin Elementary has come up with a great idea for helping students to get excited about the social skills they learn each month. They have created a social skill bulletin board. Every month there is a new bulletin board display for that month’s social skill. And, the great thing about it is that the bulletin board is made by the students themselves! The students on the student council are the ones in charge of the monthly bulletin board. Below are some pictures of the bulletin board display for the social skill “Accepting Responsibility for Actions.” There were two sides to this bulletin board: the “do’s” and the “don’ts” to accepting responsibility. Below are also some pictures of the students on the student council used to create this bulletin board. Great idea Santaquin! Keep up the good work!

Celebration Meeting Highlights

On May 6th 2005, Peaceable Schools held a celebration meeting at Brigham Young University. This meeting took place to highlight the many successes of the different schools who are currently implementing Peaceable Schools. Administrators and teachers were invited to represent each school, as well as employees from the district office and BYU project staff members. Each school was highlighted for specific ways in which they are putting into practice the Peaceable Schools’ objectives and implementation guidelines. Below is a glance at what each school was highlighted for and the objective they used.

Objective 1- School level: “Build and employ proactive leadership teams that plan, implement, assess, and refine.”

Santaquin Elementary

Santaquin was highlighted for their committed and effective oversight of their Peaceable Schools committee. Any successful program needs “keepers of the vision” and Santaquin’s committee has been committed to investing time and effort regularly throughout the year to trouble shoot and continue planning the program. The committee consists of 12 people including the principal, two parents, a skill builder, the staff developer, school psychologist, and five teachers representing all grade levels.

Park View Elementary

Park View designated their School/Community Council as their Peaceable Schools Committee. This was an existing committee consisting of administrators, teachers and parents. They chose this committee because it had already proven to be highly successful with consistent collaboration and involvement. The PTA president and other PTA members have been anxious to implement Peaceable Schools components and help other parents become more aware of how they can help their children build character. Park View is also making a sub-committee from these members that will focus specifically on encouraging parent involvement.

Objective 2- School level: “Build a positive school climate of trust, respect, and courtesy between and among the students and adults.”

Mount Loafer Elementary

Mount Loafer, along with writing praise notes at their school, makes great efforts to offer additional recognition and reinforcement. This helps provide powerful relationship building that is a foundation necessary for the success of Peaceable Schools.

Sage Creek Elementary

Sage Creek Elementary has been a great example of a school that understands that to make programs effective the adults implementing them need support and must be ever learning themselves. Sage Creek knew the needs of their people and immediately designed the schedule of their professional development in such a way that sessions were short yet efficient and spread over time so they would be less overwhelming. They were consistent following their training plan, were conscientious about completing the required coursework, and have reaped the benefits of all but two faculty members completing the training.

Objective 3- School level: “Create a safe and secure learning environment that nurtures and supports all students.”

Rees Elementary

Every school has some type of hall monitoring during lunch recess, but Rees has taken this to a new level. As part of embedding Peaceable Schools into the culture of their school they made their hall monitors into the “Peaceable Patrol”. Each monitor wears a jersey donated by a local business that has REES-pect printed on the front as well as each of the social skills they are learning this year. The monitors serve as a visual reminder of appropriate behavior and award students “Eagle Feathers” when they see a student behaving appropriately. Eagle feathers are placed in a drawing box in the office from which student names are drawn weekly for prizes. This is one of many powerful ways students at Rees are recognized for showing responsible behavior.

Park Elementary

Park has done an incredible job of creating a safe and nurturing environment for the students at their school. They have focused on developing positive relationships between the students and the staff. Teachers make an effort to know the students who are not even members of their classes. The faculty show the importance they place on developing their students’ character by teaching and reinforcing the social skills in their classrooms, announcements and assemblies. When students are given a praise note, they are encouraged to take it directly to the principal who has an additional opportunity to offer verbal praise and strengthen relationships with the students. Another component that helps Park create a nurturing environment is the effort that the whole staff makes to collaborate closely with parents on a weekly basis. Also, students who need additional help with social and behavioral skills spend time with the skill builder who spends extra time re-teaching social skills, setting goals and tracking the students’ improvement and growth.

Goshen Elementary

In an effort to communicate with parents and extend a nurturing teaching environment to homes, Goshen School implemented a school to home coupon system. After teaching the social skills for a couple of months, a letter was sent home to parents explaining the Peaceable Schools program and the “coupons” that students would be bringing home. Each student then took home coupons with the skill of the month on them for parents to award their child each time they saw their child using the social skill at home. Students then returned the coupons to a drawing box at school. Names were then regularly drawn from the box and treats awarded to the students whose coupons were drawn from the box.

Objective 4- School level: “Teach students critical life skills necessary for personal accomplishment, meaningful relationships, and responsible citizenship.”

Spanish Oaks Elementary

Spanish Oaks is being highlighted as a school that has been successful at teaching students critical life skills necessary for personal accomplishment, meaningful relationships and responsible citizenship. One of their unique accomplishments involved teachers, the counselor the facilitator, and the librarian setting up a section of their library for books that teach applicable social skills. This literature is then used to help teach the social skill each month. Some grade levels also use character traits and the social skills as topics for writing assignments. These activities offer the students many opportunities to think critically and internalize ways of building character.

Westside Elementary

One of Westside’s agenda items for their March committee meeting was the problem of the majority of office referrals coming from lunch recess. Many of the children being referred were from the 1st and 2nd grades. And one of the problems could be contributed to students not knowing how to join an existing group or being insensitive to those left out. Two second grade teachers on the committee proposed a pilot program of teaching social skills during an organized P.E. session. For 30 minutes every Tuesday, the entire 2nd grade would teach skills that they felt would effectively teach and reinforce good behavior. Besides teaching the regular social skill being taught by teachers and staff, they would include the skill of “How to Join In.”

Every Tuesday afternoon, the entire 2nd grade would participate in a P.E. activity for 30 minutes out on the playground. Each of the five 2nd grade teachers would review or teach new games to a group. The sixth teacher’s group would consist of all the office referral students who would remain in the 2nd grade vestibule. Their time would be spent learning and role playing the social skill they failed to keep, and also learning the social skill of “How to Join In.” Their instruction time would be simultaneous with the others’ game time. They could observe first hand how much fun it is to use good behavior. The next Tuesday, they could participate with the other 2nd graders if they did not have an office referral during the following seven days.

Every week the students are encouraged to play a different game. This way all the 2nd graders are taught uniform rule. This was felt to be beneficial to have all students taught the same rules to their standard games. When the games were being played, the teachers reinforced the understanding of the rules of each game, appropriate social skill and practiced the social skill of “How to Join In.” All students got a chance to practice.

Data from 2nd grade teachers:

Week   # of students referred

1st                     7

2nd                   5

3rd                    5

4th                    1

5th                    0

6th                0               

Objective 5- School level: “Establish a school-wide discipline plan to prevent inappropriate behavior and to correct inappropriate behavior.”

Springville Jr. High School

Springville Jr. High was highlighted for including strategies for identifying, assessing, and serving students who are presently identified as needing additional services. Springville Junior High School supports a school-wide screening procedure conducted on an annual basis to identify students who may be at risk for emotional and behavioral problems, and potentially, school failure - or who may need significant mental health services. Following the school-wide screening, identified students are placed in an Achievement Plus class. The yearlong elective class features emotional resiliency curriculum, relationship building, social skills training, self-management instruction and academic skills instruction. Approximately 36 to 45 students will participate in the class this coming year. Springville Junior High is pleased with the benefits at-risk students receive by attending the Achievement Plus Class.

Payson Middle School

Payson Middle School was highlighted for providing services for identified students via methods such as administrative intervention. Payson Middle School is reducing disciplinary referrals and creating additional learning opportunities for students through the implementation of Administrative Intervention. Administrative Intervention is an approach that involves teaching students social skills such as “How to Follow Instructions” and “How to Make an Apology.” These social skills help students focus and reintegrate into the classroom. The process encourages problem solving and goal setting and helps students change problem behaviors in a positive way. Administrative Intervention strengthens relationships between teachers and students and between administrators and students. It involves corrective teaching rather than punishment. The school views it as a way to turn disciplinary action into a teaching opportunity.

Upcoming Newsletter

The next “Peaceable Possibilities” will be sent out in September. So, eagerly await what our next issue will be about! Until then, have a great end of the school year and a fabulous summer. Over and out!