Hiawatha Elementary School

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At Hiawatha Elementary School, we strive to meet the academic, career, and personal/social needs of all our students. By addressing the whole student, we are creating a climate that is conducive to learning; students can walk through Hiawatha’s doors knowing that they are an important part of their school community and that their academic and personal/social development will be supported by peers and staff members.

To reach our building climate goals, we provide all students with the opportunity to model positive school behaviors through school-wide programming. The following report describes our three main programs and how they have benefited Hiawatha’s school climate.

At the beginning and end of each school year, students and staff at Hiawatha participate in Cooperative Games. Over 20 stations are set-up for student groups, each made up of Kindergarten-6th grade students. These games help teach students positive school behaviors and provide opportunities for older students to become role models for others. These activities are student-directed (the 6th grade group leader explains each cooperative game) and are monitored by Hiawatha staff.

As a culminating experience to the games, we have an all-school picnic where all students and staff eat together and reflect on the activities.

At Hiawatha, we divided students by grade level (as we did in September for our Cooperative Games) so each teacher had a classroom with students K-6. These groups of students ate lunch together, went to recess together (playing cooperative games), and spent time in class learning more about how to show others respect, kindness, and teamwork skills. Students also helped take down our “Wall of Intolerance” (paper bricks made by our students with changes we would like to make) to reveal a positive message underneath (pictures of our students and our core values).

Overall, this day was a big success. We saw our older students supporting our younger students, many taking on valuable leadership roles. We also noticed a greater occurrence of respect, kindness, and patience toward others.

We plan on making Mix it Up at Lunch Day more than an annual event because of its success.

January 25th – January 29th, 2010, Hiawatha Elementary participated in No Name-Calling Week (NNCW), a national program “aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities” (www.nonamecallingweek.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/about/index.html).

During NNCW, our students participated in a Creative Expression Contest, writing poems and stories, drawing pictures, and building sculptures that show the importance of treating others with respect. Also, Hiawatha’s school counselor took time during NNCW to visit classrooms, discussing the negative impact name-calling has on our learning and overall time spent at school. Furthermore, students had the opportunity to recognize their peers for positive actions, such as being helpful or kind, using our special NNCW PAWS (Pride, Attitude, Work Ethic, Self-Control) cards.