The Manning Way Assemblies - August 2022
OUR STAFF IS THE BEST! You will hear that a lot from me in these posts or when you speak with me because I truly believe it. And this post is no exception when you hear about the work they have done to prepare for this school year.
One of our first reflections in planning for this school year was to in more fun. Don't get me wrong, we work hard every single day. But there is always a balance that needs to be had.
My immediate response - YES!
But not so fast. With that fun, we also reflected on the structures, processes, and systems that we needed to fine-tune so that our fun could be managed respectfully, responsibly, and safely. With this in mind, our school improvement teacher planning team (SIP) worked to revamp our systems and help our staff to feel reassured that we would be ready for a school year that would be organized and FUN!
Here is a short list of what we have on worked building for our school:
- Expectations with a common language
- "Meteor Showers" - rotations where students explicitly review the expectations of the school with different activities
- Universal Calendar for 2nd Step (sociasocial-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum)
- 2nd step common language to use throughout the building during each week
- Monthly assemblies that review expectations, lessons learned in 2nd STEP, and celebrate being a Manning meteor
- Manning Moolah - a positive reinforcement economy system for students that we will introduce in September
In reflecting on the "short list," I have realized it isn't short at all! Our staff has done so much work and has dedicated so much time to making sure that they are setting our students up for success.
Our first assembly was a great success! Students and staff reflected on how we felt we were doing as a school community when it came to following the Manning Way. Grade levels had a friendly competition where they competed in a game of Jeopardy to review the expectations at school. And most importantly, we had some fun!
PS. 2nd graders beat the 3rd graders and 4th graders beat the 5th graders. There were no prizes, and no losers; but rather, some simple reminders that we can be good sports when playing games.