In a cafeteria bustling with elementary school students, Kayleighana Thaxton and her second grade classmates sat quietly at their round table chomping on tortilla chips dipped in melted cheese.
The students beamed with pride when the whole table was rewarded for their good behavior with Character Cash, a new concept at Queensbury Elementary School that promotes positive behavior in the cafeteria and on the school bus.
Kayleighana says the best way to earn Character Cash is to “behave and be quiet.”
“And walk quietly in the hall,” added her friend Piper Hyatt, who was sitting next to her.
Character Cash is meant to promote and celebrate positive behavior, said Assistant Principal Jennifer O’Leary.
“We were finding that we had pretty significant behaviors on the bus and in the cafeteria,” O’Leary said. “Since the data proved that student behaviors were occurring in unstructured environments, we knew a plan needed to be made in order to support better, more positive behavior choices.”
QES holds monthly Character Assemblies to make sure students understand the behavior expectations. On the bus, students are expected to display safe sitting, safe volume, safe stuff and remember that manners matter. In the cafeteria, students are expected to display safe sitting, safe volume, safe food and remember that manners matter.
Yellow cash is given out on the buses. Blue cash is served up at the cafeteria. When the students are handed Character Cash, staff members tell the students what they did to earn it — connecting the incentive with the behavior.
Students then write their name and teacher’s name on the ticket and place it into the Character Cash buckets that represent specific prizes.
“We didn’t want the prizes to be tangible,” O’Leary said. “We wanted students to put their character back into the building, as opposed to receiving a physical award.”
Students can pick from several experiences like lunch with the assistant principal, extra art sessions with art teacher Jen Spath, being on the morning announcements, or having your caricatures drawn by the art teacher David Snyder.
Once a month, they pull five names from each bucket.
“Character Cash has really made a difference,” said O’Leary, who hears that from lunch monitors and staff. She also sees students bounding off the buses in the morning with yellow tickets in their hands and smiles on their faces.
Based on initial success, administrators plan to carry the idea into the specials like art, music and physical education classes.
“The kids are always excited,” she said. “It’s gone really well. We look forward to the future success of Character Cash and are expanding the tickets into our special area classes next month.”
|
|
