GALLERY: Fall festival reward students for character building
A Washington Elementary School student knocks out eighth grader's cans during carnival games on Tuesday. Press photos by Kate Hayden
Eighth grade student Sincere Collins high-fives a Washington Elementary student while reading a Thanksgiving story at the elementary school.
Charles City eighth graders help students track their scores during Bingo at the Washington art room.
From left: Sandy Thompson, Talan Eckhoff, Addison Ellis and Jaeda Molstead watch another cookie walk participant dance on Tuesday morning.
Students take a hayride around the school on Tuesday, led by Swartzrock Implement Company.
Washington Elementary staff give students a chance to make a mess with corn kernels in the school hallway.
Students take a hayride around the school on Tuesday, led by Swartzrock Implement Company.
By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com
Teachers usually remind young students to sit nicely during class time, but those students aren’t typically on a hay bale.
Washington Elementary students had incentives to listen well on Tuesday: the hayride around the school, Bingo, and a few Pumpkin Palooza games organized by older Charles City students.
For the last month and a half, Charles City elementary students have been working on developing positive character traits, district TLC Success Coach Marie Conklin said.
“We work toward having something fun and engaging for the kids,” Conklin said.
The all-school incentive events are held every other month, with the first field day held in September. On Tuesday, the staff put together a fall wonderland for students, including carnival games, a cookie walk, Bingo, a coloring contest, a Thanksgiving-themed story time and a hayride around the school. Four more events are planned for the year.
The events are school incentives for students to learn positive social skills and conflict management, Conklin said.
“If a student has an office referral, each week they have an opportunity to go process through their office referral and talk about what would have been a better choice, role play it out — try to teach the social skills that maybe they’re not quite sure what to do,” Conklin said. “They meet with a teacher, talk through their mistake. We talk about what would have been a better choice, and we practice it the right way.”
The referrals take five to ten minutes of recess for students before they join the rest of the class. If a student doesn’t complete that time with a teacher, then they miss the school incentive days and do an extended character program with staff, Conklin said.
“We partnered with the eighth graders, so they’re pretty much running the stations,” Conklin said.
Forty eight eighth-graders and a few middle school teachers spent the morning at Washington Elementary. After noon, another 48 students and their teachers went to Lincoln Elementary to bring the same activities to those students.
“We’re trying to find things that not every kid would have access to, like the hayride. Not a lot of kids might get that experience,” Conklin said. “We’re trying to find things that they might not do in their everyday life, to give them some unique experiences throughout the year.”
Facebook
Social Share