Club Zero Begins!
Club Zero is a school-wide program that we started last year. In talking with staff, we decided to re-start this popular program for marking periods 3, 4, 5 and 6. All students have the chance to be in Club Zero - and it has nothing to do with grades. For a marking period, students who have Zero tardies, Zero behavior referrals, and Zero late / missing assignments automatically are a part of Club Zero. For Marking Period 3, we had 116 students make the Zero list. These students are receiving a coupon for one free homework assignment (has to be arranged ahead of time with teacher), and one free treat (will be handed out at lunch on Tuesday, Jan. 27). Way to go students!
7th Grade Lunch Stuff
This has been a very interesting year for our 7th graders. We have had many issues between 7th grade students that I would describe as "mean", or even bullying. A majority of these issues have occurred during class passing times, or at lunch time. For all these issues, we have noticed a trend - they occur in groups - and they are very difficult to pin down a specific student for conduct.
In order to help this problem, the 7th grade teachers and I created a "behavior plan" to help guide the student's behavior. Basically, this behavior plan used the stop light philosophy...
Green Light Day: No restrictions, lunch as normal.
Yellow Light Day: Assigned Seats, must wait to be released from table by adult
Red Light Day: Assigned Seats, must stay in assigned seats until the end of the lunch period
We have had a few Yellow Light days, and one Red Light day so far (since December 10th) - and our student's behavior, on a whole, has gotten much better.
As a side note, I would like to say that I do not like to do "whole group" discipline, as some students get punished for the actions of others. With this issue, we had a problem that was very wide-spread, and was very difficult to pin down - and we needed to do something. So far, it is working - and we will always try to work at getting specific in our discipline. Hopefully, we have Green Light days for the rest of the year!
Friday is Open Gym Night
On Friday, the Orchestra (high school and middle schools), is sponsoring an Open Gym night at Creekside from 7 - 9 PM. Kids can purchase tickets to this event for $5 (Tues-Fri during lunch). Students should be reminded that once they enter the building, they are expected to stay for the duration of the evening. Events will include DDR, Guitar Hero, basketball, volleyball, board games, and more...!
Upcoming Dates of Interest:
January 26 - Dress up day - Green and Gold Day
January 26-29 - 6th Grade IOWA Testing
January 30 - Popcorn Friday
January 30 - Open Gym Night from 7-9 PM, sponsored by the Orchestra
February 2 - 8th Grade Orientation (for High School) at DeWitt Auditorium
February 12 - 6th Grade Party from 2:45 - 6 PM
February 16 - Teacher Professional Development day - no school!
