K-2 Wing Newsletter
May 4-8, 2015
Student Behavior
This week, student behavior has increased on our wing. There are only 3 weeks left of school. I know you are tired and ready for a break and so are the scholars. To end the year on a high note, and decrease student misbehavior, be sure you have the following in place.
1- Keep your scholars engaged. It is more important than ever to keep our scholars engaged. The more they are engaged in meaningful and enjoyable tasks, the less time scholars have to misbehave. Over plan for your lessons to include multiple activities for scholars to do if they complete a task faster than you expect. It's better to have too much planned to do than not enough. I have observed an increase of down time in the classroom in recent weeks. Please tighten this up.
2- Actively monitor your class at all times. This cannot be stressed enough. There were too many instances this week in which student misbehavior occurred and scholars were injured because the teacher was not monitoring the class. This is unacceptable. Scholars are not to be left unattended at any point in the day. This includes going to your teammate's classroom to ask a question, delivering a student for time out to a colleague's classroom and placing scholars in the hallway for a timeout. You need to have eyes and ears on your class at all times- no exceptions.
3- A little empathy goes a long way. You have many scholars excited about summer break, don't forget that you may have some scholars who do not want summer to come. You may be their stability and safety. Their inappropriate behaviors may increase as the summer break gets closer and closer. With school in session, they know they will get at least 2 meals a day and have the safety of school to come to every day. During summer break, these may not be in place in some of our scholars' lives. Be empathetic and understanding as their behavior increases. Talk to them- not yell and chastise them. Understand their needs and fears. This is not to say you need to accept their inappropriate behavior. Just the opposite. Continue to be clear and consistent with your consequences, but understand where the behavior is coming from. Your understanding of the situation can help deceased the behaviors.
4- Keep a consistent, structured schedule. It is important to keep as close to your daily schedule as possible until the end of the year. I know as the year winds down, there will be special events occurring. A lot of changes can result in an increase in misbehavior. The more consistent you can keep your schedule and daily routines for the scholars, the better.
5- Use your resources and trainings to address student behavior- This year you were assigned to complete the class on On Course entitled, Understanding Why Kids Misbehave. This course was not assigned to give you one more thing to do. It was assigned to provide you with additional tools to effectively address and correct student behavior in your classroom. Use the strategies. I have also provided you with the behavior resource, www.pbisworld.com that has very specific strategies for many kinds of behavior. Use your resources to help you.
Summative Evaluations and Conferences
End of Year Grade Level Events
If your team is planning any end of year celebrations or activities, please email me your projected dates no later than Friday, May 8th. It needs to be placed on the school calendar and it is filling up quickly.
Important Dates to Remember
Awards Day Celebrations will be the week of May 11 & 14th. I will add your grade level's date on your calendars.
May 11th : K-1 Switch Day (12:30-2:30)
May 15: 2nd-3rd grade Switch Day (12:30-2:30)
May 26th: K-2 Field Day
Atlanta Heights Charter School
Email: 84.dblair@nhaschools.com
Website: www.nhaschools.com
Location: 3712 Martin Luther King Junior Drive Northwest, Atlanta, GA, United States
Phone: (404) 472-3003