CES holds first PBIS assembly for youngest Hambos

Chester Elementary School students in pre-K and Kindergarten headed to the CES Makerspace last Friday for the annual PBIS Kickoff assembly. The students met with CES principal Mary Kate Boesch, physical education teacher Kaitlin Moran, the PBIS Committee and, of course, the Chester mascot himself… Hambo! 

Ms. Moran led a half-hour presentation that touched on key aspects of Chester’s PBIS program, including its four core tenets, to always strive to be:

• Respectful,
• Responsible,
• Ready, and…
• Safe

PBIS stands for “Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports.” It is an evidence-based, tiered framework designed to support students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health. PBIS clearly defines for students the behavioral expectations of them while on school grounds, and provides them with strategies they can put into practice to meet those expectations.

PBIS is a proactive approach that aims to preempt behavioral problems rather than rely on a punitive model. Chester’s PBIS model engages students, families, and community members to co-create safe and predictable learning environments.

"Here at Chester Elementary, we feel that PBIS is essential in helping all of our students, pre-K to 5th grade, to understand expectations, build positive relationships and develop social-emotional skills,” Said Ms. Boesch. “Our program lays out consistent expectations and routines, and reinforces good behavior to create a foundation for academic success.”

Ms. Moran walked the students through some of the behavioral expectations on them in certain settings, such as the classroom, the hallways, recess, the bus and even bathrooms. Some of the PBIS behaviors she encouraged the students to practice this year included:

• Using appropriate voice levels (from 1-5) in appropriate situations.
• Being courteous and cleaning up in the cafeteria.
• Listening to the guidance of bus and recess monitors.
• Having polite hallway manners to keep from disturbing other’s learning.
• Washing hands with soap and water and throwing paper towels in the trash.

“And my favorite one, no Crocs in my class,” said Ms. Moran about wearing appropriate, safe footwear for physical activity. “I like Crocs, but just not in gym class!”

Ms. Moran also outlined the reward system that is in place to recognize great Chester PBIS behaviors. Color coded chips are given to students who exhibit PBIS qualities. When a student’s positive behavior is recognized and reported by staff and faculty – including bus monitors – the student receives a chip. The chips are collected by their classroom teacher and when a student accrues 10 chips in one of the categories – Respectful, Responsible, Ready, Safe – their name gets put into a bucket and they have a chance of being called up to spin the prize wheel during the monthly school-wide assemblies. 

Besides individual prizes, chips and rewards can also be earned at the classroom and grade levels!

“This is where students get even more excited about PBIS, because there's additional weekly prizes for their chip earning efforts,” said Ms. Boesch. “With the clear direction that PBIS provides, we see students practicing respectfulness, responsibility, readiness and safety all the time, but nothing reinforces those good behaviors more than the possibility of earning you and your classmates an ice pop party!”   

Finally, Ms. Moran and Ms. Boesch introduced the seven PBIS Golden Awards that are given out each year. They are cumulative awards given out for collective good behavior in specific areas. A few examples of these include:

• The Golden Lunch Tray Award (cafeteria)
• The Golden Plunger Award (bathroom)
• The Golden Swing Award (recess)
• The Golden Bus Award (transportation)

“Even as excited as the students were to be together and see Hambo, they behaved in awesome PBIS ways, being polite and listening to our message,” said Ms. Moran. “What I find particularly cool every year, is that given the choice to choose a prize, these students almost always pick a prize for their entire class instead of themselves alone. Talk about admirable PBIS behavior!” 

In fact, the students were so well behaved in Fridays assembly, that many of them earned chips on the spot; their pride was evident. The first PBIS assembly of the year was a tremendous success, and the energy that filled the room reflected our youngest Hambos commitment to doing what it takes to build the respectful, responsible and caring school community for which Chester Elementary is known.

The rest of the school, Grades 1-5 will have their kickoff assembly Friday, September 19th. Stay tuned to see what classes win this year’s coveted Golden Awards!