In case you missed the word we have moved.  Our new address is:

Peaceable Schools Office
236 South 700 East

Provo, UT 84604

(801) 377-0560

January Peaceable

Possibilities

     January has arrived, and with it, new opportunities to change and grow. Now is a time to reflect on the past year and look forward to a new one. Robert J. McKain said, “There is no achievement without goals” how true and how lucky we all are to be able to spend this month planning for the future, setting new goals and preparing ways to achieve those goals. We are thankful to have you helping to shape these students’ futures. Thank you, and good luck!

     We are excited for the experiences you will have this year, and we would love to share them with you. Please contact Camille Bastian via email, Camille.bastian@gmail.com, or by phone, 377-0560, for anything you would like to share in the newsletter.

Why are these Hobble Creek students smiling?

The caption at the bottom of the picture says: "These Hobble Creek Elementary students practiced the golden rule this week and were with the High Flyer Award.  Pictured are Jake Richins, Lawrence Pendleton and Kylee Simson."

Certainly not because they just received a sparkly red pencil. Or, that their names and good deeds are posted outside the principal’s office. It wouldn’t have anything to do with getting their picture posted in the Springville Herald… or would it? You see, all of this is part of receiving a High Flyer Award. The High Flyer Award (which was in place long before Hobble Creek partnered with Peaceable Schools) is used to recognize the most outstanding behavior. For lesser degrees of good citizenship they have the Happy Hawk Howler (a postcard praise note) and the Glad Note (an easy to use praise note). They have even taken praise to another level altogether with the Faculty Compliment Note, a note for faculty by faculty. Good job on keeping it positive Hobble Creek.

Mike Adams

Peaceable Schools Project Coordinator

Students in the Senate

One component of the partnership between Nebo School District and Brigham Young University being implemented at Springville Junior High is the creation of a Student Peace Committee under the Student Senate. Student Senators are elected from each home room. This governing body consists of about 60 representatives.

     Part of integrating the student body into Peaceable Schools is communicating the objective of Peaceable Schools. The Senators have viewed two presentations, one on the background of Peaceable Schools at Springville Junior High and one on Bullying and how Peaceable Schools can help address this problem. Senators brainstormed the following ideas as suggestions to incorporate within the school-wide intervention. These suggestions include a Peaceable Schools assembly, logo contest, social skills video contest, Peaceable Schools Dance, and hall monitors awarding tickets for “getting caught promoting peace”. These are students’ ideas, some of which, based on a majority consensus, will be implemented with their peers.

     At Springville Junior High, teachers teach social skills once a week. The social skills are the same in every classroom providing congruency and multiple teaching opportunities to promote positive social interaction. In addition students are issued praise notes when teachers, administration, and support staff notice application of social skills and additional pro-social behavior. Springville Junior High is creating a Peaceable Community where all players, students and faculty strive to contribute to a desirable environment.

Karen Gochnour

Birthday Surprise

Westside Student Council spearheaded an appreciation day for our custodian, Mr. Swenson. On Monday December 19th, his birthday, we planned to have the school honor him with a birthday surprise. All students eating in the lunchroom would show their appreciation by making a special effort to clean-up their area and then sign a huge butcher paper birthday card, decorated with stars and balloons. This event indeed brought a smile to our well-thought-of custodian. One girl remarked, “I’ve never seen Mr. Swenson smile so much!” The next morning over the PA, Mr. Swenson gave a heart-felt thanks to all for making his birthday so special.

Janet Young
Peaceable Schools Site Coordinator

Got Ideas, Questions, Lesson Plans or Comments for Peaceable Schools Participants?

Announcing: Peaceable Schools Discussion Board! 

In the spirit of Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM), Peaceable Schools has created an on-line discussion board for all of our participating schools. It provides a great opportunity to network with other school sites and exchange ideas for social skills lessons, incentive programs, in and out of classroom reinforcers and great experiences. It is also a place to question or comment on Peaceable Schools programs or ideas.

We have seen many fabulous implementations at our participating schools. Although the semi-annual Celebration Luncheon is one format to share, and our newsletter highlights other great ideas, this discussion board pulls them all together in one location. It also has the two-way feature of being able to comment, piggy-back onto or ask for clarification about an idea and sustain a threaded discussion.

We at Peaceable Schools are in the process of asking people to post ideas we know about, but don’t wait to be asked! You KNOW you have ideas to share!

The URL is http://peaceableschools.forumsplace.com

Initially, you need to register and receive an email back confirming your registration, which may take a day. After that, you just log in to post or comment, but there is no need to log in to just browse.

Here is an example of what the discussion board will look like:

Tutorials for Peaceable Schools Forum

Two tutorials are available from the Peaceable Schools web page to help you use the Forum. The first, How to Register, will take you through the process of setting up an account which allows you to post ideas and comments. The second, Posting and Replying, shows you how to post your ideas and comments and how to reply to other people. Be a little patient with the loading time. They seem to be longer than the recommended 10 seconds!

If you are a person who likes to work along with the tutorial, it’s pretty easy to do. From the Peaceable Schools web site, click on the tutorial you would like to access. While you are waiting for it to load, go to the top of your window and click on ‘file’, and then, ‘new’ and ‘window’.

It should look like this:

A second PS web site window will come up. It should look like this:

You can resize the PS window that you are going to work in by clicking the middle button at the top right (between the minimize – and the maximize x) and switch between the tutorial and the working window.

Sue Womack
Project Specialist

Getting To Know…Gregory Cox

As the new “Secondary Project Coordinator”, Gregory Cox makes an experienced addition to Peaceable Schools. Joining the team in September of 2005, Gregory comes from Idaho where he was a superintendent for 17 years. During that time he was able to work as an administrator of a small school district in Bliss, Idaho. Greg’s mission to Argentina inspired him to enter the teaching field, “[My mission] provided me with a love for people and cultures and a great appreciation for things that are different from what I grew up with.” Greg works to assist and help facilitate the implementation of Peaceable Schools on the secondary level and create a curriculum for secondary intervention. Welcome, Greg!