WELCOME TO WILKINS STADIUM!
BY DINA VELTRE MILLER; PAUL WHITE; REGINA MILARSKI; KAREN CERRA; BETH WAGNER; MIKE BOTHWELL; CLIFF MONCREIF; KEN TRUSKY; CHRIS SEITZINGER; LYNN BELL; ROCHELLE OKON; KELLEY TOMKO
Wilkins Primary School has introduced a new behavior incentive program in the cafeteria. The teachers that work in the cafeteria got together with some members of the PBIS committee to come up with a way to help improve the behavior in the cafeteria. We incorporated visual and tangible parts of the program to really get the students attention. The program has taken the whole team working together to put into place, from developing the ideas, creating the visuals, printing and cutting out materials, ordering low cost rewards, preparing no cost rewards( special PAWS), and pulling it all together. This is a product of many people taking on a part to get it completed, as we all wanted to see improvement with the behavior in the cafeteria.
The cafeteria has temporarily become Wilkins Stadium! One wall has been turned into three separate baseball diamonds, which include a home plate, first base, second base and third base. There are 5 baseballs between each base. Each table is a team, and the classroom teacher is the coach of that team. Each team has a baseball player. The players are color coded depending on which lunch period they eat lunch.
The students have the opportunity to have the team player moved around the bases on the field at Wilkins Stadium by showing the 5P behaviors: Prompt, Prepared, Productive, Polite, and Proud. Each class has the opportunity to have their team player move once each day. The class( team) earns a GAME BALL to be displayed outside of the team’ s classroom each time their team player moves. Then when the class reaches a base, the whole class will receive a prize. The prizes get larger as they move around the field. When the students hit a home run and are on home base again, they will receive a special reward given in the cafeteria! The classes are given reminders throughout the lunch period, receiving a strike if they are struggling to work as a team. They can receive three strikes before they are out. If
they strike out that day, the player does not move and they do not receive a game ball.
The program was introduced during one of our“ Pause for Paws” programs that we hold monthly. During this program, we review the rules and expectations with the students. We practice the 5 P behaviors, and practice the cafeteria expectations. During this particular“ Pause for Paws”, we focused on what it means to be a team player. We taught the students what a team player looks like in school, and how it can look in the cafeteria. We reviewed the ways that they could earn that game ball each day. We also explained in detail what would earn the class a strike, and how they can fix it and still get a game ball even if they have had two strikes that day. We also had a“ kick off” event that included permitting the students to wear baseball hats for the day, and they each received a bag of fresh popped popcorn in the cafeteria with his or her lunch, just as if they were at a stadium for a baseball game! The program has started off great, and the students are really responding to the game!
The administration has been supportive in allowing the changes and helping to finance the parts of the program that require funding. The classroom teachers have been encouraging teamwork and earning the game balls, and also setting up classroom rewards for reaching the goal of earning game balls. Wilkins Primary is working together as classroom teams to make it a Great Day for a baseball game at Wilkins Stadium!
WOODLAND HILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS
oodland Hills
Junior Achievement Day
BY MEGAN MATHIEU AND TRACY MITCHELL
On April 13, 2018 Woodland Hills Intermediate grades 4, 5, and 6 participated in Junior Achievement Day. Junior Achievement is a program dedicated to“ inspiring youth to succeed in a global economy”. The business partners that visited Woodland Hills Intermediate for the day were Common Wealth Bank and UPMC. The professionals were assigned to a homeroom class and they taught the students many career readiness skills. Students were trained in entrepreneurial skills, global trade, job training, salary and savings, education options, and world trade as well as consumers and producers.
All Junior Achievement activities were hands on and implemented project based learning. Junior Achievement professionals were very impressed with our students and the amount of knowledge our scholars already demonstrated. Plans are already in the works for
Junior Achievement to continue the program next school year in the fall. Overall, Junior Achievement was a meaningful and valuable experience that connected our students to real world applications of learning thus preparing them for career readiness and their future. It was a huge success!
WOODLAND HILLS ❘ SUMMER 2018 37