PPS PBIS

On this beautiful sunny morning we found that children have worked very hard to show

they are Being Safe, Being Respectful and Ready to Learn.  There were many warm fuzzies emptied into

all the containers.  Some classes even filled their whole bear!

Mr. Moses introduced Anthony Granai, a former Porters Point student, who is here as a substitute teacher today.  He

asked Mr. Granai to empty the warm fuzzies into the containers for us.

Miss Purinton’s class lead us in a “High Five” greeting and then shared their rap song of Bucket Friend.  They ended with asking all students to fill someone’s bucket today!  Each class in our school uses the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today

Below are the words to the RAP.

                                              Bucket Friend Rap

 (If I was your boyfriend tune: Adapted from Mindy Newell)

 TEACHER OR LEAD:

 If I was your bucket friend

 I’d never let you down

 I’d fill your heart

 Like you never have before

 So friend, take a chance

 Or you’ll never ever know,

 I’ve got kindness in my hands that I’d really like to show.

 Love

 Patience

 Smile for you

 I am running on the playground changing the mood

 I like me and I like you

 So hello bucket friend

 3, 2

 CHORUS (Kids):

 I like to be everything you need

 Hey friend, I respect you

 If I was your bucket friend,

 I’d never let you down,

 I’d compliment and guide you

 It’s simple and profound,

 I can be your companion

 Anything you need.

 If I was your bucket friend.

 I’d never let you down.

  TEACHER OR LEAD:

 Tell me what you like ya,

 Tell me what you don’t

 Actions, actions, are better than words,

 I don’t ever want to fight… ya

 You must know,

 Gonna make you smile and spread and grow,

 Yo bucket friend, bucket friend, you can be my bucket friend, you can be my bucket friend until the world ends.

  A dipper is gonna bring me down.

 CHORUS (Kid):

 TEACHER OR LEAD:

 So trust in me,

 Cause you’re all I need, friend.

 At 3:15

 I will call you my bucket friend.

 If I was your fan,

 I would never dip in your bucket.

  CHORUS (Kid):

 If I was your bucket friend,

 I’d never let you down,

 I’d compliment and guide you

 It’s simple and profound,

 I can be your companion

 Anything you need.

 If I was your bucket friend,

 I’d never let you down.

 Never let you down

 Nana – If I was your bucket friend (Repeat 4x).

After Morning Meeting this week we had a special treat. Ms. Mutz invited members of the Vermont Symphony Orchestera to visit us. We had a trio called Fiddlesticks play for us. They introduced students to string instruments and played a variety of pieces. They interacted with students having them count different parts of the songs and included students in their pieces.
Please enjoy the photo slideshow below.

Today during Morning Meeting Mr. Moses created a new challenge.  We are working on all three expectations so he emptied the large containers and designated one container for each grade.  He put kinder “warm fuzzies” in the first container, first grade in the next and second grade in the third.  He said we would see which grade earns the most in the next month.

The second grade teachers, dressed in “Gooney Bird Green” outfits, added the “ warm fuzzies” to the containers this morning.

Mrs. Bissonnette’s student teacher Miss Sanders,gave a presentation with the students.  They taught and shared a flower greeting and then all the students practiced it.

The students then read the words on their HAIKU DECK (ipad app) slide-show.  This was a presentation of plants they learned about which included pictures, the regions where the plants are found and what the plants are used for.  The students spoke clearly and their pictures were very colorful.

Mrs. Fitzgerald, from the PTO,  also spoke this morning to tell the students about our upcoming Walk a Thon.  She explained that as students do laps around the playground and accumulate miles our Porters Point Panda will be taking a walk around the lake and hope to  end up at a beach in Colchester.  If we make it to the beach we will have a beach party in the cafeteria!

Today we didn’t have a morning meeting because we had “Walk to School” morning.  Students were dropped off the bus at the end of Greenwood drive and walked from Greenwood Drive to Mallard Drive by the river.  It was a beautiful morning and we were joined by many parents on our walk to school.

Today we are having a celebration for filling our Be Respectful container just before our vacation.  Students are wearing items of clothing to reflect a favorite sport or sports team or some form of the arts that they participate in.

At lunch students were surprised by a special guest.  CHAMP from the Vermont Lake Monsters joined us along with student athletes from the high school.  It made for a very fun lunch!

 A slideshow of Champ’s visit will follow!

Today was an exciting day as students watched their earned “Warm Fuzzies” emptied into the Large

 BE RESPECTFUL container and flow over the top.

Michael Garland, a visiting author/illustrator added the last group of “Warm Fuzzies ” as the students cheered on in excitement!  We will have a celebration on May 2nd with a surprise visitor to be announced.

Mr. McCotter, who is the student teacher in Mrs. Belaski’s class, led his students in a Russian Greeting for hello which is”privet”.  This greeting was taught to the students by a classmate who has been to Russia.  The greeting was followed by a presentation slide-show of the Five Senses.  Each of the students shared some of the facts they learned about the five senses.

We have enjoyed some of our new organized games this past week with the marked off game area on the playground.  Hopefully with nice weather after vacation we will play more new organized games.  These games help to improve behavior on the playground and we find fewer problems with inappropriate behavior.

This week we reviewed our PBIS survey.  We feel good about our progress this year and look forward to reviewing and planning for moving further with PBIS.  We have noticed very good growth in the areas of discipline that had been challenges to us early on in the year.  Most especially we are pleased with the behavior students have shown on buses. There are very few bus safety or behavior issues with the students.

 This is a copy of our Student Support Form.  The back side is very important as it is the processing piece with the student.

 Student Support Form A      Student Support Form B

As the weather is getting nicer we will again mark the playground areas for outdoor play and organzied games.  We feel this will help our students keep their behavior positive while they are outside.  Some of the organized games for outdoor recess are:  

• This morning Mr. McCotter emptied our warm fuzzies for us.  We are getting very close to a full container and a celebration.  Maybe we can fill the container next Friday!!   
•    

Ms. Silverberg’s class led by their students teacher, Ms.  Austin  shared a morning greeting.  They used the Chinese  words:      Ni Hao, (hello) and did the soldier greeting.  This was followed by slides of China in which the students read us facts about the geography and culture of China.

If you would like to hear the students work please click on

 China Slides  The voice thread is the first one with the orange map of China.

This morning Mr. Moses reminded students we have to remember the school expectations:

 BE  SAFE                                          

  BE  RESPECTFUL                                            

  BE READY to LEARN

He spoke about friendly reminders if we are not following those expectations.  A friendly reminder from a teacher is to help students understand what they need to do to  show for good behavior.  If someone has a problem after a friendly reminder a teacher or staff person may have to write a formal warning on a blue sheet.  This will go home to parents to sign so that they know what is happening at school. 

Mr. Moses then reminded students if the misbehavior continues then a white paper is filled out and students will have to have a program to help them to show they understand the school expectations. 

Mr. Moses said that there have been many blue sheets written up and we need to work on following our school expectations.

Mr. Shepherd’s class led us in the flag salute and then shared what they have learned about animals.  They told us about the six categories of animals and some students told us facts they knew about the animals in those categories.  We then watched books on the large screen that the class had made on their ipads.

This morning we had visitors from Russia who told us how to say our school expectations in Russian.

Then they also helped to put our “warm fuzzies” in our big container.  Thank you Mrs. Bourassa for bringing our guests.

This morning Mrs. Reynolds, who works with kindergarden in reading, led our Morning Meeting.  First the students taught us how to do the “butterfly greeting” which each student practiced with friends around them.  

Mrs. Reynolds said that because we now have spring weather some of the children she works with wanted to  read to us about changes that srping brings.  They used props of  a rain coat, air freshener of spring smells, a chirpping chick, a basket of flowers  and a jug of maple syrup.  At the end Greta read a poem about spring and a bouquet of flowers.  Mrs. Reynolds and the students then gave all the teachers colorful  flowers thanking the teachers for their work at school.

Mrs. Reynolds also complimented the students on the chain symbolizing all the kind acts that students have been doing as part of our wellness challenge.  They certainly have been filling peoples bucket just as it tell us in the story Have You Filled a Bucket .

On Friday March 22nd the Porters Point students again filled the container for Being Safe, Being Respectful and Being Ready to Learn.  We are proud of our students and how hard they are working everyday to make our school a positive school community.

The students were very excited to hear that they would receive a special Vermont treat later in the day to mark their achievement.    Mr. Moses delivered maple sugar leaves to each class.  The maple leaves were made by Miss Purinton with maple syrup donated by her father and his maple sugar farm.

THANK YOU MISS PURINTON! The Purinton Sugarhouse is located in Huntington.

Mrs. Bissonnette’s class lead us in the flag salute and shared an acrostic poem about Porters Point School and our students. The students then showed an imovie to demonstrate what each word would look like.

Peaceful

Optimistic

Responsible

Thinkers

Educational

Respectful

Safe

Polite

Organized

Interactive

Net Workers

Terrific

This morning Ms. Larose reminded everyone that the UVM basketball team is playing in the America East finals on Saturday morning so her class is wearing green and gold to cheer them on.

Ms. Larose and a student helped to empty the “Warm Fuzzies” into the BE SAFE container and it looks like we may fill the container next week!!

Mrs. Hooper’s class shared that they had been studying about Alaska and taught us a greeting for hello, “cha cha”.  They also shared their Alaska Alphabet book with facts they had learned.

This week our Wellness Challenged focused on movement.  Students learned new stetches during the week and Ms. Mutz taught the students the song The Body Boogie.  The students got up and did a little “BOOGIE” before going back to class.