Funded Nov 9, 2021Thank you so much for funding our project. We have created an atmosphere in our classroom that impacts students' way of thinking and the way they interact not only within the classroom but also outside the classroom as well.
Through the creation of well thought out bulletin boards our classroom has taken on a positive and welcoming atmosphere based on teaching better behaviors rather than reprimanding a long list of undesired behaviors. This works right into our school's focus on teaching leadership skills and using positive behavior enforcement as a first line approach to changing student behavior from negative to positive.
Many items were also purchased for our class store where students could earn points through positive behaviors and spend those points on items from our class store. Perhaps more than anything, the very act of creating this atmosphere helped to align my own thinking to focus more on the positive and try to interact with students on that basis more than "putting out fires" from negative behaviors in the classroom.
I overheard a student the other day talking to an incoming group of parents about our classroom and her words were, "...in this classroom we don't just learn science but we learn life skills like how to talk to others in the most respectful way possible". She went on to describe our class policy for how to respectfully disagree with someone as well as how to state your own thoughts without negating the thoughts of others. Needless to say, I truly wanted to just hug that child and only hope she continues to grow in that experience and practice.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shelton