More Hallway Behavior!

After working really hard for a week on walking the CATS way down the hallway, the teachers at our school discovered a problem with our hallway behavior - although we were doing a great job of WALKING down the hallway the CATS way, we were not doing the best job of WAITING in the hallway the CATS way! Waiting in the hallway is a much more difficult skill than walking in the hallway we have found.

So . . . we came back to the hallway for another lesson!! First the teachers demonstrated for us both the CATS way to wait in the hallway, and what it looks like when we do not wait the CATS way. We talked about why it is important to have good CATS behavior in the hallway - so everyone can do their jobs of learning and teaching, and so everyone can stay safe at school!

Then it was the student's turn to practice waiting in the hallway the CATS way. When our students wait in the hallway the CATS way, they wait facing forward, with hands at their sides, respecting the space of those around them, and use a quiet whisper voice. Each class practiced waiting in the hallway the CATS way!! We even used some hula hoops to get a better idea of how much personal space we need to give others when we are waiting in line.

Throughout the rest of the week, we will be doing mini-lessons as refreshers on this lesson on how to wait in the hallway the CATS way! As each class practiced waiting in the hallway the CATS way, the students gave each other feedback by giving a thumbs up if they thought the class used CATS behavior, or a thumbs down if they thought the class needed to try it again. The teachers will continue to give feedback to their students throughout the week by giving the class a small football each time they wait in the hallway the CATS way. If our school earns enough small footballs to fill our big football by the office, we will get to have a tailgate party. Can't wait to see if we can fill up that big football!!

Hallway Behavior Lesson

Today we had an assembly in the hallway at Mease to learn about appropriate hallway behavior!! The preschool, prep, and kindergarten classes all came out into the hallway, and we began the assembly by teaching the expected behaviors for students in the hallway. Then I had some "actors" model the "naughty" way to walk down the hallway. They pretended they were coming in from recess, and threw balls, yelled, banged on lockers, etc. Then my hallway actors modeled the approrpiate way to walk down the hallway - walking feet, hands at sides, facing foward, on the right, with a quiet whisper voice.

After our actors showed us how to walk down the hallway, each class practiced walking up and down the hallway. We gave them silent feedback with a thumbs up or thumbs down to show them if they were walking down the hallway the Cats way or not. We then reviewed the CATS poster, and talked about how weare being good CATS when we walk down the hallway the appropriate way.

This month at our school we are trying really hard to work on having good hallway behavior. After each trip to the hallway, the classroom teachers give their students feedback on how they behaved in the hallway. If they walked down the hallway the CATS way, their class will earn a small football. Once a class earns 6 footballs, they turn it in for a helmet that is added to the large football outside of the office. Whent the large football is filled with helmets, we will celebrate by having a tailgate party!! All of the classrooms at our school are cheering each other on and reminding each other to do their best so that we can have our tailgate party, hopefully by the end of the month :)

CATS Assembly

Today we had an assembly at the Early Childhood Center to kick off our PBIS behavior expectations. We introduced the CATS posters, and did a cheer to help remember the letters of CATS. The 1-4 graders at the elementary school had this assembly about a month ago, but at the elementary school we wanted to take things even slower.

At the assembly we talked about the Purple Hands Pledge, and how students can be good CATS by following the Purple Hands Pledge. We kept the assembly short and sweet so they could digest that information first before moving forward!! We will continue working on being good CATS at school and everywhere we go.

Our PBIS behavior expectations spell out the word CATS - Care about self and others, Act responsibly, Try your best, and Stay positive. All month we are going to work on being CATS so we can earn another celebration by the end of the month! To end the assembly we did a cheer spelling CATS with our arms - it was so much fun!!