Be respectful and be nice.
Be responsible that’s the advice.
Be safe all day long.
Don’t make choices that are wrong.
At Central Elementary in Valparaiso, we end each assembly by singing our school song. We, along with all Valparaiso Community Schools, are a PBIS school. PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports) strives to promote positive behaviors. We are teaching students how to be successful at school, and teaching life skills that will last throughout the rest of their educational career and beyond. We follow four expectations: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe and Be Supportive. How do we practice these and how can you practice at home?
We are respectful in all areas of the school and discuss the importance of being respectful of adults as well as their peers. Role playing situations that occur at school are a great way to show the right and wrong way to react.
We practice responsibility each day at school at many different times. We strive for students to understand that they need to be responsible for themselves and their belongings.
Safety is our top priority. Our school has systems in place so all students understand and practice proper procedures in different areas of the building. One important way we practice this is through establishing routines and conducting drills.
The more we practice those, the more confident they are. We support each other, help each other and care for each other throughout the entire building. We help our students know how to make friends and how to be a friend. Staff members model supportive behavior often such as by sharing ideas, offering encouragement and asking about staff members’ and students’ hobbies/interests.
You can practice these skills at home, too. One great way to do this is by giving your child jobs at home. Being responsible at home could be making the bed, taking out the garbage, doing dishes, completing homework and helping siblings.
A great way to be respectful is by reinforcing being kind to others and saying please and thank you. Also, be supportive of your child. Give them praise to show you care.
Sometimes children hear too much negative feedback for their actions, so try to balance this by giving three positive comments for one negative.
Finally, being safe is all about making sure you talk with your child about the importance of not talking to strangers, having a fire escape route in your home and knowing where to go during a tornado.
These are just a few examples of activities and conversations that can be held in the home. This year we are sending home a monthly newsletter to parents with our theme of the month and suggestions of how to practice this at home.
We are so proud of all of our students learning our four schoolwide expectations and are excited to watch them grow in the actions of being respectful, responsible, safe and supportive each day at Central Elementary and throughout their lives.