Rachel’s Challenge
For more information on the Rachel's Challenge program, please visit their official website at www.rachelschallenge.org
Please note that SME is using this program for the Character Education
curriculum and we are being very cautious as to the sensitive nature of
this topic, especially with our youngest students.
Our School Theme:
· Sally Mauro Students Lend a Helping Hand to Each Other
Goals:
· To create a positive and progressive school wide community by showing kindness and compassion toward others
· To recognize students who are showing kindness and compassion
Measured Progress:
Paper chains will be created from links that represent acts of kindness and compassion. Each link in the chain will say “I, _________________, gave a helping hand by ____________________.”
Students earn links by showing kindness and compassion to others. As students earn links, they are linked together and displayed in classrooms. Eventually, the chains are hung throughout the school: halls, gym, auditorium, library, cafeteria, etc. Each month, the chains are put on a different color of paper so that the students can compare amounts.
Community
support is encouraged by having students invite their families to
participate and by approaching local businesses to participate. The classroom
and community chains are joined together once a month. Our goal by
the end of the year is to have a chain that is a mile long.
Monthly Character Education Themes:
Student government is responsible for the character ed. lessons each month. They go to each grade level and give a short, 10-15 minute presentation about the theme. During the month, teachers and students look for acts of kindness and compassion and hand out links accordingly. There is no limit to the number of links that can be earned.
Teachers are also given an activity that they can do with their
students each month to practice the skills they have learned.
Principal’s Pride Awards
Goals:
· To honor those students who are making academic gains
· Honor students who are continually above grade level requirements in academics
· To spotlight students with perfect attendance
Measured Progress:
Tracking student progress is something all teachers do on a regular basis. For The Principal’s Pride Award, each grade level determines benchmarks for core subjects based on end of the year goals. Students earn recognition for meeting or exceeding those benchmarks. Academic progress is based on pre and post tests, DIBELs, math facts drills, etc.
Each grade level determines their benchmarks for core subjects. On the last Friday of each month, the principal announces students who have reached the benchmark goals. Those students report to the office to receive a Principal’s Pride certificate. That
same week, the students from each class that have earned the
Principal’s Pride Award go to each lunch with Mr. Maughan to
celebrate their accomplishment.
Fifth-grade students at Wasatch Elementary put on the
school’s annual Wax Museum, an event that encourages students to
research the life and accomplishments of a certain individual that
contributed to greater and common good for mankind. Each student read a
book about the person they wished to highlight or found other credible
resources to gain information from. The students dressed up as their
historical figure and even brought props to help illustrate more of whom
they were representing. They posed as still as they could, like a wax
figure, unless someone came, pushed a "button" on their display, and the
student then recited facts about their figure’s history and
accomplishments.