Yale School Gardens:
We are fortunate to once again to have partners from Lower Columbia School Gardens visit Yale each Friday afternoon. Last month our kids were able to harvest a gigantic golden squash from the Yale school garden. When stood on end, the squash measured over 4 feet tall. Some of our kindergarteners stood next to it for pictures and were clearly shorter than the squash. The kids were very excited to have grown something so unique. The squash was then made into bread and the kids were able to taste their hard work. They loved it!
Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports at Yale Elementary:
On October 10, the Yale staff met to review school data and determine where we should focus school improvement efforts. As a result of our discussion, the Yale staff chose three school goals for the 2016-17 school year.
The most significant goal will be to implement school-wide positive behavior intervention and supports. As a small school, the team of teachers has been strongly aligned and successful with their classroom supports for positive behavior. However, our data reflects that during recess and PE our students have more issues.
To send a more consistent message about expectations at Yale, we seek to make our positive behavior plan a school-wide practice we involve all staff in. Our first step toward this is to partner with our new Behavior Specialist/Trainer to evaluate our current school-wide approach to supporting positive behaviors for students at Yale. She has spent two full days onsite and has given us some very insightful feedback. We are very grateful for her expertise and time.