‘Peace Keepers’ Program Brings School’s Totem Story to Life

At Denali (Alaska) Elementary School, carvings on the playground’s totem pole tell a story that is familiar to all the school's students. The pole's bottom image is that of a panther, the school mascot. A raven, a common Alaskan species, is carved into the top of the pole. The story of the totem pole -- passed along by its carver -- describes how the panther has told the raven to spread the word about Love, Kindness, and Respect throughout the school, then the state and the world.

That totem pole message is evidenced throughout the school in many ways, most prominently by 32 bright-orange vested fifth and sixth graders who are part of its Peace Keepers program. The program has been part of the school’s culture since counselor Max Wortman introduced it some years ago.

“The program started as the Conflict Managers Program designed by the San Francisco-based Community Boards,” Wortman told Education World. “We changed the name to Peace Keepers to be more positive and to tie into our totem pole themes of Love, Kindness, and Respect.”

The Peace Keepers program is open to all fifth- and sixth-grade students. Students accepted into the program must demonstrate responsibility and dependability. The emphasis is on a student’s ability to keep up with classroom work and exhibit strong behavior and effort. Each year, Wortman purposely selects two or three students who might not have the grades but could benefit from the opportunity to build confidence and develop leadership skills.

“Peace Keepers receive special training,” says Wortman, “including lots of role playing and problem-solving practice, instruction in the art of active listening and where and when to call for adult help, and training in how to fill out conflict report forms.”

Each day, Wortman and the Peace Keepers meet during a special 30-minute lunch period before the students head out to their duties. That meeting provides an opportunity for students to discuss special problems encountered on the playground and for Wortman to reinforce the program's themes.

Teachers are very supportive of the Peace Keepers program, Wortman reports. “They allow for the scheduling of duty times and special meetings or field trips,” he said. “They love the help the Peace Keepers provide on the playground. The Peace Keepers take their jobs seriously, and younger students get the attention and support they need when dealing with common childhood disagreements and hurt feelings.”

“The program is a win-win for students, teachers, and parents,” added Wortman.

Read More About the Program at Denali Elementary

Denali Elementary Program Brings Peace to the Playground

BLOG BITS:Video Motivates Science Fair Interest,Student Perfectionists,Fund for Teachers

A new music video is spurring interest in science fair participation in one Florida community and beyond. The “At the Science Fair” video [above] was created by Kevin Temmer, a senior International Baccalaureate high school student from Land O' Lakes, Florida. Temmer wrote and performed the song and created the video animation, too.

The “At the Science Fair” song is part of a longer video that provides detailed information to help students create a science fair project worthy of recognition. [see the full video]

Learn More
 Guide to a Successful Science Fair from SteveSpanglerScience.com

Perfectionism’s Potential Problems

Pint-sized perfectionists don’t perform significantly better than their laid-back peers, says a recent study out of York University in Toronto, Canada.

The study, which is the first to examine the relationship between perfectionism and achievement in elementary students, found that perfectionism offers no academic advantage for most pupils. Gifted students who are perfectionists do excel slightly in math, but at a price: they’re more likely to feel unhappy than other children surveyed.

“It turns out that perfectionism in children is actually not just unhealthy -- it’s also totally unnecessary where academics are concerned,” says study co-author Gordon Flett, Professor of Psychology in York’s Faculty of Health. “The old adage of ‘no pain, no gain’ is really more like ‘more pain, no gain.’”

Learn More
 Perfectionism Pointless, Potentially Harmful for Most Elementary Students
 Perfectionism in Children

‘Fund for Teachers’ Supports Dream Projects

What did you do on your last summer vacation from school?

 Teacher Nilam Trividi of Atlanta worked on an organic farm where the kitchen ran on methane gas gathered from two pigs.
 Bob Dunn of Newport, Vermont, made a guitar from scratch under the guidance of master guitar builders.
 Brooklyn teacher Beth Mowry enrolled in a course at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center and went back to her school with 150-million-year-old dinosaur bones.
 Chicago educator Javier Vilazquez biked 2,700 miles from Oregon to Missouri to create mathematical and scientific equations for elementary students.

Those educators’ special summer experiences were all made possible by the Fund for Teachers. Since 2001, 4,000 teachers have been awarded $14.2 million in Fund for Teachers grants -- up to $5,000 for individuals, or $10,000 for teams. Fund for Teachers fellowships have taken place in 113 countries on every continent, empowering teachers to explore countless ideas, terrains, and cultures.

Check the Fund for Teachers map to see if teachers in your school might be eligible for Fund for Teachers fellowships. The application deadline for this year’s grants is January 28.

‘Food for Thought: Eating Well on a Budget’

Leave it to Elmo!

The gang at Sesame Street introduced some new characters last week. In the December 8 episode, the Super Foods Super Heroes team helped convince Elmo and Grover to try their first bite of a kiwi with this rousing lyric:

        There’s so many tasty foods, it’s true,
        But trying something new can be so hard to do.
        You may not love it at first sight,
        But to know for sure, you’ve got to take a bite.
        (Listen to the entire song…)

Last week’s Super Foods episode was the official kickoff of a new program from the nonprofit Sesame Workshop. Food for Thought: Eating Well on a Budget is the organization’s response to the fact that 17 million U.S. children -- nearly one in four -- are food insecure, which means they don’t receive food that meets basic nutritional needs due to financial instability. The bilingual (English-Spanish) program provides families with video and other resources, including a caregiver’s guide, recipe cards, and a printable shopping list for children and caregivers.

TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS, TOO

The Food for Thought program also includes resources for schools and other providers who work directly with families. The program's Provider’s Guide presents tips for leading discussions about good foods as well as all the tools needed to offer parent workshops on topics such as “Trying New Foods,” “Spending Time Together [at Mealtime],” and “Anytime Snacks.” The kit also includes handouts, student coloring pages, and more.

SPONSORED BY…

Sesame Workshop laid the foundation for this project beginning in 2004 with Healthy Habits for Life, a multi-year initiative that aims to teach parents and children that health and well-being is just as crucial to child development as learning how to read and write.

“Our sole mission is to help children reach their highest potential,” said Gary E. Knell, president and chief executive officer of Sesame Workshop. “Food for Thought is essential in helping children learn the importance of developing a healthy lifestyle by eating nutritional food despite a low or reduced income and helping them succeed in school…and in life.”

Partners in the Food for Thought effort include UnitedHealthcare® and The Merck Company Foundation.

Teachers Create OnlineClassroom Wish Lists

According to a 2010 national survey, teachers spend an average of $623 a year out of their own pockets to provide needed supplies, rewards, and other staples for students. Pencils and pens (78%), prizes and incentives (72%), and arts and crafts supplies (72%) top the list of purchases teachers make using their own cash, according to the survey, which was conducted last April by OfficeMax®. [Read the survey.]

Can you think of another profession where “employees” regularly reach into their pockets to provide the necessities needed to do their jobs? Do accountants dip into their wallets for clients? Do engineers purchase supplies required to do their jobs? Educators are among the only professionals who dig deep to into their personal savings for the must-haves of their professions.

And as school districts tighten their budgets, the situation is only going to get worse.

CLASSROOM WISH LISTS
ON THE NATIONAL TEACHER REGISTRY

The National Teacher Registry is a new, free, first-of-its-kind service for school teachers. The Registry enables teachers to create an online wish list of items they need and want for their classrooms. Parents and others can access the registry by teacher or school name, purchase items from the list, and have their selections delivered to the classroom.

The Registry operates similar to online wedding or baby shower registries, but the products are all education related. Teachers can create wish lists of office or art supplies, books, educational games, teaching tools, and much more from retailers that include Borders Books, the Teaching Supply Store, and Dick Blick Art Materials.

The Registry was created by MarCole Interactive Systems, which has built bridal and gift registries for large retailers such as Neiman-Marcus, Office Depot, and Target. The site is entirely free to educators. Teachers and parents pay no fees; the site is supported by fees the retailers pay to be part of the Registry.

’TIS THE SEASON

What better time than right now -- with the holidays fast approaching -- for teachers to create a classroom wish list that parents and others can access?

Or you might create a wish list for your school on the Registry. You can provide a link to it from your school’s Web page so that community supporters might provide needed items.

The Registry even provides checklists, flyers, and letters to parents that you and your staff can use to broadcast news of this practical resource to your wider school community.

READ MORE

Be sure to check out additional ways to raise money for school supplies and activities in Education World’s Fundraising Article Archive.

Fun 'Challenges' Engage Kids, Families in Reading

A couple weeks ago, kids lined the sidewalk in front of a Buckhannon (West Virginia) Academy Elementary School as their teachers raced by in teams of two. Since it was just before Halloween, teachers dressed in football uniforms, pink rubber boots, and toilet paper might not have seemed such an odd sight -- except for the fact the costume-clad educators were pushing each other on office chairs!

The office chair race was actually a reward for students. They earned the goofy high-speed event by reading more than 9,000 books this past summer.

“This was a great activity for the kids,” said Principal Randall Roy, who emceed the race. “They had a great time.” [read more]

Meanwhile, halfway across the country reading specialist Sandy Lambert and Principal Kim Lasanby-Barber dressed as pirates and “walked the plank” as students cheered them on. The pirate-themed celebration was the culminating activity of the fall reading challenge at Lincoln School in Spring Valley, Illinois. Students earned the reward by exceeding the goal of reading for 80,000 minutes. The school’s 200 students read for a total of 196,310 minutes. [read more]

READING CHALLNGES FROM COAST TO COAST

Principals and teachers across the country will do all sorts of crazy things to encourage students to pick up books. Here are just a handful of examples of schools that are in the middle of “reading challenges” as I type.

This week, students at William E. Young School in Homer Glen, Illinois, are involved in a 100,000-minute reading challenge. “If 95 percent of Young Elementary students read 30 minutes a night, that means our school will have read 100,000 minutes total in just one week,” said Principal Michael Szopinski. If students achieve the goal, Szopinski will help get kids in the holiday spirit by donning reindeer antlers and a blinking red reindeer nose during the week of November 29. [read more]

If all goes according to plan, students at Stafford (Texas) Primary School will see their principal, Kim Yen Vu, perched atop a dunking booth next spring. The year-long “Principal’s Reading Challenge” has been going on at Stafford for a few years. Back in 2008, Vu kissed a pig when students reached their goal. This past year, she sat atop a wall -- the school’s marquee -- dressed as Humpty Vu-mpty. This year, teachers and students “aim” to see Principal Vu soaked. [read more]

Students at Bonneville Elementary School in Orem, Utah -- where the school mascot is a bronco -- are enjoying a year-long “Top Bronco” reading challenge. Parents log students’ at-home reading minutes on monthly calendars. The goal is for K-2 students to read 50 hours during the school year and grade 3-6 readers to read 75 hours, explained Principal Shawn Brooks. To keep students motivated, a “half-way-there” banana split party will be held in January to recognize students who have achieved at least half their goal. A special “Double Club” movie party will be held in May for students who read double their goal. [read more]

At West Rocks Middle School in Norwalk, Connecticut, students are taking on the “Read Around the World Reading Challenge.” Students earn “miles” for each book they read on their way to 29,000 miles. To be precise, a trip around Earth is 24,901 miles, but students will be stopping off in -- and learning about -- a variety of the world’s major cities as they travel toward their goal. “As students participate in the Read Around the World Reading Challenge they will receive raffle tickets and become eligible to win prizes,” added Dr. Lynne C. Moore, the school principal. [read more]

At Burr Intermediate School in Commack, New York, the “Burr Reading Challenge” encourages students to make reading a daily habit, and special events help motivate them to read more. For example, during October students wrote book reviews on paper bags supplied by local supermarkets. The “paper bag book reviews” are on display throughout the school this week (American Education Week), and after the week is done they will be donated back to the supermarkets so the bags can be shared with the community. Reading becomes a community event in other ways at Burr. From October 25 to December 3, students are involved in their annual Ronald McDonald House Read-a-Thon. Last year, the read-a-thon raised more than $2000 for the Ronald McDonald House. Students also collected books to donate to a Suffolk County homeless shelter. [read more]

We would love to hear your story of what your school is doing to motivate student reading. Just POST A COMMENT to share your story so that others might benefit from one more idea.

MORE FROM EDUCATION WORLD

Find more ideas for motivating student reading in these Education World articles:

Principals’ Feats Fuel Fabulous Reading
What would students do to see their principal throw cow chips, spend a night on the roof, or get slimed? It turns out that they will do a great deal -- of reading! Included: From becoming ice cream sundaes to singing songs and kissing pigs, see what principals have done to encourage their students to read.

Principals Make Reading a School-Wide Goal
Students pledge to read thousands of pages… First- and fifth-graders buddy up for reading… Those events and others are part of school-wide reading programs at two Minnesota schools. Included: Additional activities to help make reading a school-wide goal.

Reading Fun
Are you looking for a special project that will excite your students about reading? You have come to the right place! We have gathered together dozens of Education World articles that will turn every week into Book Week at your school.

Backpacks Help Feed Hungry Kids All Weekend Long

A few years ago, we posted an article about a program that provided some school kids with backpacks of healthful foods to take home on the weekend. The backpacks filled a gap for those students and families by ensuring that kids would show up Monday morning hungry for learning, not for food. [Read the article, For Hungry Kids, Backpacks Lighten the Load].

Back in 2007, backpack programs like the ones described in that article dotted the landscape of U.S. schools. Since that article first appeared, though, the number of programs has grown by truckloads. Witness this handful of headlines I’ve spotted in local newspapers in just the past few weeks:

• Food Bank’s Backpacks Help Feed Hungry Students
  The San Diego Food Bank has expanded their Food 4 Kids Backpack Program to 800 students in 22 schools.


• Program Would Send Food Home With Students
  The Brush, Colorado, Board of Education authorized the implementation of the “Blessings in a Backpack Program” to meet the needs of students who don’t always have enough to eat at home.


• Two County Schools Start Backpack Programs
  Two North Carolina schools are joining others in their county that provide families with easy-to-prepare foods for the weekends and holidays when students cannot eat breakfast and lunch at school.


• Help Sought to Expand BackPack Program
  The Connecticut FoodBank is seeking community support to expand the local reach of the Kids' BackPack Program, which launched last spring at two schools with sponsorship from General Electric.


• Tanner Foundation Helps Keep Kids From Going Hungry
  A foundation’s $10,000 grant will help one South Carolina primary school give students what they need through their Backpack Program.

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that 16 million U.S. children live in “food insecure” households [source]. Knowing what we know about our country’s economy, a growing unemployment rate has likely increased that need -- which explains why we’re seeing more and more about backpack programs in local news headlines.

“A backpack program is a natural solution to a need,” says Karrie Denniston, director of programs for Feeding America, a charity dedicated to feeding hungry Americans through a network of more than 200 food banks. “A backpack program is one of those programs that gets to the heart of a need and fills it.”

Whether backpack programs are organized by PTOs, churches, food banks or other groups, they are filling a deep need and helping to improve students health and achievement.

MORE INFORMATION
For more information about Feeding America’s backpack efforts, view the video at the bottom of this blog entry. For more information about backpack programs, click the links below.

Backpack Programs
Learn more about Feeding America’s BackPack Program, which is designed to meet the needs of hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations.

For Hungry Kids, Backpacks Lighten the Load
Students who are disruptive, can't concentrate, or lack motivation may not need a firm hand; they might need a helping hand! With the help of communities, the simple remedy is a backpack -- a school standby -- that is filled with food supplies to help kids get the fuel they need to flourish. Included: Advice from successful backpack programs.

Perks for Parent Involvement Can’t Be a Bad Thing

A new program in Detroit has been making news headlines. The "I'm In" program rewards parents with points for attending workshops and participating in other activities at the District’s eight Parent Resource Centers. The points parents accumulate on their "I'm In" cards can be traded for discounts at local businesses. Read more…

But are bribes really needed to get parents involved in their child’s education? some detractors ask. That involvement is part of being a parent and raising a child, they say. Knowing you are actively involved should be enough of a reward.

Besides, they add, everyone knows that incentives don’t work.

Those detractors make good points, but anyone who has taught in or led a school with a large population of poor, immigrant, or minority families would not be so quick to judge. Educators in those schools know the hurdles that poor families face, and they bend over backwards to include those families in school activities and to support them in other ways.

They know what the research says, too: When parents are involved in their children’s education, those kids have higher grades and standardized test scores, improved behavior, and better social skills.

Plus, any program that is able to actively engage local businesses with area schools is a win-win for the entire community.

     > > > > Scroll down the page for links to
                   dozens of parent involvement ideas

So why wouldn’t schools want to offer incentives to get hard-to-reach parents involved? Offering incentives can make a difference by showing those parents that schools care enough to go the extra mile. There’s nothing wrong with giving a little incentive to get parents to show up. Doing that can go a long way toward increasing parents' comfort levels and eliminating negative feelings they might have toward schools in general or their own abilities to help their children achieve.

And who knows? A few of those parents might even decide to stay involved. Then schools can urge those parents to bring others along.

ENGAGING THE WHOLE COMMUNITY

Let's give Detroit credit for trying to turnaround their schools and trying a few experiments to get parents and others involved in that effort. The video below, produced by the district, is one more piece of its "I'm In" campaign, which is intent on highlighting the district's schools and promoting community engagement.




PARENT INVOLVEMENT IDEAS

Seventy-Five Ideas to Build Parent Involvement and Support [might require free registration]

68 Parent Involvement Ideas That Really Work [pdf]

More Ideas for Parent Involvement

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Parent Involvement in Schools
Parent involvement in schools is much more than parent conferences and PTOs. These articles from Education World’s archive share practical ways in which schools are involving parents. These strategies are working for others -- and they could work for you.

Got Three Hours? A School Needs You
This Education World article shares news of Three for Me, a parent involvement program that can help get parents more involved in your school. Included: Tips for getting dads involved.

Parent Involvement Checklist
Does your school do a good job of reaching out to parents? If you can do some more work in this area, these resources from Project Appleseed -- including the Parent Involvement Pledge -- are sure to help.

Parent Involvement Activities in School Improvement Plans
This study of Title I schools in the Northwest Region (U.S.) identifies effective and potentially effective parent involvement activities. [pdf]

Parent Involvement Activities for Transition
These 20 activities can help involve parents at all levels, but particularly those parents who want to support students as they make the transition to middle or high school. [pdf]