Our Conneaut Valley Middle School SOAR Program Part

Our Conneaut Valley Middle School SOAR Program Part of the Pennsylvania School Wide Positive Behavior Support System Kris Barnes, Sue Moss and Todd Tompkins, Presenters

You don’t have to be perfect, but you do have to do something! � “Do or do not. There is no try. ” � Yoda (The Empire Strikes Back, 1981)

Success and Failure are part of Middle School life – EMBRACE IT! “In everything that you do, just show them that you care and are willing to try. ” My daughter Julia Barnes, 2011 (as an 8 th grader)

Our first year as a Middle School

Our Schools Brief History Conneaut Valley Middle School Created from Conneaut Valley High School in 2012 Grades 5 – 8 272 Students – Rural – Low Social Economic Area – Strong small community After consolidation and redistribution, Staff and students were taken from 5 different schools – Elementary and High School We had to be a team quickly and build the plane.

Goals for First Time Buy in 1. Lets take our team and go for it. (7 teachers jumped at the chance to try PBIS) – We thought we were signing up for a Discipline Committee. (LOL) 2. Attend everything we can. – Attended all IU 5 trainings including Hershey Convention. 3. Start out the year letting students know that our first year was different. (Kick off Assembly on the very first day of school!) – this was a crazy idea, but it worked!

Kick OFF Assembly the very first day of school – no classes missed – shortened periods by 5 minutes Goals 1)This year is different! 2)Meet with the entire student body on the first day. 3)Brief Introduction to SOAR. Intro Video Shown.

Universal Theming and Branding MATRIX – SOAR THEME (Our mascot is the Eagles) BANNERS – Matching colors with matching expectations. Signs in hallway directing students “Flight Path” VIDEO Lesson Plans – Flight Lessons, instead of lesson plans with music teacher acting as Flight Instructor, “Ace Cloudseeker” REWARDS – Eagles Nest Room, SOAR games, Lunch line privileges, Walk out Wednesdays, special out of school Field Trip eligibility ASSEMBLIES – SOAR games to celebrate our Success.

Slow Pace – Focused Roll out for the 1 st year � September/October – Hallway � October/November – Cafeteria � December – Assembly � January/February – Restroom/Review � March/April – PSSA/Recess � May/June - Review � We hoped the slow focused pace would encourage students to accept the program without being overwhelmed.

SOAR Matrix of Expectations

BANNERS

MORE BANNERS

Eagle’s Nest (Fun Zone)

SOAR TICKETS

SOAR TICKETS Collected in the office in a Box with Eagle Logo. Drawing each week – 3 students win lunch Eagles Nest. Each student can bring 3 – 4 friends. Teachers who gave the ticket Premium Parking/Lesson Plan Forgiveness

SOAR DRAWING WINNER BOARD

Principal Patrol Principal wore a badge to check on Classroom Preparation. Students all received a small piece of candy if 100% of the students were prepared.

SOARing Field Trips Q 1 – Hockey Game Q 2 – Basketball Game Q 3 – Movies Q 4 – Baseball Game No Majors or Minors in a 9 week term. Students pay fee – School provides busing and staff

Data Collection 3 pinks (minor) = Office Referral No pinks or office referrals in one term = SOAR wristband Wear your wristband= Special things(leave min early from class, treat, etc. )

SOAR GOALS – 2 nd Year � CVMS School Goals for our SOAR (SWPBIS) Program Goal #1 – Begin to address the Classroom in our SOAR Program. � Goal #2 – Make better use of the SWIS Program and comparisons of Data from our first year. � Goal #3 – More Consistent use of positive/negative referrals � Goal #4 – Using different incentives to reduce minor referrals � Goal #5 – Try to find ways to motivate our 8 th graders to stay committed to the program. � Goal #6 – Recruit more of our faculty to our team. � Goal #7 – Improve better academics as a byproduct of our SOAR program. (Create team challenges) � Goal #8 – Have fun together as a team through flash mob dance �

CONNECT TO ACADEMICS How do we make our SOAR program result in better grades and test scores? How can we motivate Middle School students to buy in to a better school culture and become better learners at the same time?

SOAR TEAMS Teams consist of students from each grade level. Students stay on the same team all 4 years. Teachers create Challenges for SOAR or Academics – Challenge Board Points are awarded each week. Winning teams earn special rewards.

SOAR Team Logos - Thunderbirds

Team Logos – Sea Dragons

Team Logos – Golden Falcons

Team Logos - Firehawks

SOAR Challenges

This just appeared on the board one day!!!! Looks like student buy in!!

SOAR TEAMS On their lockers!

Scores updated in Lunch room

SOAR TEAMS - Score updated Fridays 3 Seasons (2 nd, 3 rd, 4 th Nine Weeks) – Each season starts back to zero. End of the Week winner – Scores announced 1. First in the Lunch Line all week 2. Wednesday – Teacher preference – Leave 1 -2 minutes early. End of year Winner (Bragging rights) – Total accumulation of points for the year - CVMS CUP displayed in case in the hallway all year with picture and logo in case.

Cup of Distinction Citizenship Academics School Spirit

End of the year FUN RUN – Generates $2000 to $4000 – Local sponsors and registrations. (This is the only fundraiser that we do) FLASH MOB DANCE – All staff surprise students at the last SOAR games with our dance moves. Special goodbye to our 8 th graders.

Community Buy in

Challenges – Year 3 Moving to Tier 2 Fresh New Ideas 8 th Grade Better Academics and PSSA performance TIME