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Highlights Archive

Keeseville Elementary Honors Student Success with A Day Long Celebration! by Wanda McQueen - Feb. 2010 Luau at Keeseville Elementary
“The smile on this fourth-graders face told me all I needed to know about the importance of this fun-filled event” - SS/HS Project Administrator

Students in grades K-6 recently celebrated success in being respectful, responsible, safe, and team players at Keeseville Elementary School.  The Luau-themed event is part of the PBIS initiative to create a more positive school environment.  PBIS focuses on what students are doing right, not wrong, by recognizing positive student behavior.  When I asked one staff member what they thought of the PBIS initiative she said, “I love this PBIS stuff!  Parents are already telling me they have seen an improvement in their child’s behavior at home.”

To transform an entire school building into a tropical wonderland took the commitment of all KES staff.  Led by their PBIS Team, school staff began planning for this event at the beginning of the school year. Detailed schedules were created for individual classrooms as well as the cafeteria, gymnasium, and lobby areas.  The building was filled with hula hoops, leis, grass skirts, oversized sunglasses, seashells, and even a life-size monkey in the main lobby.  Activities included: coconut bowling, grass skirt relay, the limbo, vacationer dash, seashell hunt, musical hoops, and the surfboard shuffle (my personal favorite). 

Classes also competed for first prize in a fruit cocktail contest judged by the principal, Kevin Hulbert and his Administrative Assistant, Ellen Giroux.  Creative concoctions arrived with “fish eggs”, tropical tumblers, and even PBIS written in sand on a serving tray!  Mr. Hulbert and Ms. Giroux judged on taste, coloring, and presentation styles and personally handed out prizes to students representing the winning classrooms.

Overall, students and staff had a great time.  Of course, at the end of the day it was all about the students, and they all felt appreciated for their hard work and great accomplishments!  When I thanked a PBIS team member for doing such a great job she replied, “WE did a great job...we are a team here!”    Way to go Patriots!

Calling all babies, toddlers and preschoolers, and the adults who take care of them, please come play.
As part of the Communities of One Safe Schools/Healthy Students project, the Child Care Coordinating Council of the North Country (CCCCNC) is offering parent/child play groups once a week in the Moriah, Ticonderoga, Saranac, AuSable Valley and Northern Adirondack school districts. There is no cost and all families with children under five years of age living in one of the participating school districts are invited to attend.

Since the groups started meeting this spring, 76 children from 50 families have participated. Parents find it helpful to be with other parents, and their children are making new friends. Activities are just right for very young children, and include messy and creative play, fun with music, and learning through discovery.

Not only is it FREE, but because the groups meet in the elementary school, parents and their young children are learning what it’s like to be in the “big school” long before they begin thinking about kindergarten.
Families can also use the Family Resource Center set up by CCCCNC in each elementary school. Families can borrow books and videos on a variety of childhood topics. Need help potty training your child? Does your child have trouble sleeping through the night? Do you have a picky eater? Are you a tired parent? You are not alone and the CCCCNC can help.

Groups will continue to meet throughout the summer. For a schedule, click on one of the school links on the right hand of this page, or contact Leslie Coulombe at CCCC, 561-4999.

The ABC’s of ABL
June 2009
A: active
B: building character
C: challenging

Dozens of elementary students in the school districts that are part of the Communities of One Safe Schools / Healthy Students program—AuSable, Moriah, Northern Adirondack, Saranac and Ticonderoga—participated in Adventure Based Learning (ABL) during the last half of the school year. Behavioral Health Services North (BHSN), a Communities of One partner based in Plattsburgh, NY, facilitated ABL with 15-20 students in each district.

The participants met once a week to take part in what one student described as “the coolest activities at school.” The activities are all designed to challenge individual kids but also to build the strength of the group. Students build trust among one another, a necessity in some activities, like expecting 15 classmates to hold the small logs you walk on to get from one side of the gym to the other, several feet off the ground.

A highpoint for the students was a chance to go on a peak outing, a day-long adventure that took place during a weekend at least once in each 6-week session. Even hiking through the mud during a down-pour, and an overabundance of black-flies, couldn’t dampen the spirits of students from Saranac. Students who were struggling received a helping-hand from their peers, and everyone ended the day smiling.

“The kids all had a character building experience,” said Mary LoTemplio, Communities of One Site Coordinator at Saranac Elementary School, “and they have a great story to tell about their adventure.”

The students aren’t the only ones enjoying ABL. Parents, grandparents, and teachers are talking about the change they see in their children.

“The students and their families love this program,” said Christine Brudvig, Site Coordinator at Northern Adirondack Elementary School. “Kids are proud of being part of the group and I can already see confidence growing.”

“I’m just so happy that my grandson is part of this. It’s been great for all us,” commented one proud grandfather.

For more information about Adventure Based Learning or Communities of One, please contact Project Administrator Wanda McQueen or the school’s site coordinator.

Summer Fun at Morrisonville and Ticonderoga Elementary Schools June 2009

How many assets do you have? That question will be answered by hundreds of children this summer because of a partnership between their school and Eastern Adirondack Health Care Network (EAHCN). These partnerships are part of the Communities of One Safe Schools / Healthy Students project.

Students from Morrisonville and Ticonderoga Elementary Schools will be leading the pack—the back-pack, that is. With the help of EAHCN, each student will be leaving school for the summer with a back-pack filled with fun activities based on the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets®. Assets are positive experiences and qualities that assist kids in their development and help them become healthy, caring, responsible adults.

The back-packs will include: a calendar of free activities available in the community this summer, a book, an activity journal, a reading list of their teachers’ favorite childhood books, creative activities (Asset #17, in case you were wondering) such as a folder to decorate, jump-roping songs, and a letter to parents providing examples of fun family activities.

The 40 Assets® are a result of research conducted with millions of young people over many years by the Search Institute®. The assets are grouped in eight categories: Support, Empowerment, Boundaries and Expectations, Constructive Use of Time, Commitment to Learning, Positive Values, Social Competencies, and Positive Identity. These skills are being added to existing programs in your school to strengthen your child's learning and growth.

As an added incentive for making good use of the summer months, students in Morrisonville who record the most assets in their journal and have it signed by a parent will receive a special prize at an assembly in the fall.

Supporting Positive School Environments Training April. 27, 2009

SPSE/PBIS Training Apr. 27, 2009
Click on photo to view a photo gallery of this event

Beaming with Pride at Northern Adirondack Elementary
April 2009

Diligence, defined as “constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken” was the theme for a recent Pride Assembly at Northern Adirondack Elementary School. The monthly event fills the gym with faculty, staff and family members eager to show their appreciation for the students’ efforts to model good behavior.

Following skits that demonstrated diligence—created and performed by students—dozens of awards were given to well-deserving children. Some were praised for their improved behavior on the bus, others for having good table manners in the cafeteria. “Tracks to Success” certificates were given to students who have improved academics and students whose works were published in the district newsletter received “Student Author” recognition.

At the end of the assembly drawings were held for school mascot prizes. Any student who receives a “gold slip” for demonstrating good behavior is entered into the drawing, and that incentive works. There were hundreds of slips to choose from.

The certificate and prize winners took great pride in the accomplishments. The rest of the students will continue to make a “constant and earnest effort” to make sure their name is announced soon. 

Communities of One Partners Attend First Training - March 2009

SPSE TrainingPartners attended training in February on Supporting Positive School Environments (SPSE).  This training is the first in a series of trainings scheduled for this school year.  All five school districts and 6 partner agencies participated in the event. 

Supporting Positive School Environments (SPSE) is a school-wide behavior management system based on the Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) Model. SPSE impacts the entire student body by establishing a school culture where positive behavior is expected, taught and acknowledged.

The Communities of One partnership was fortunate to contract Joe Otter to provide the trainings being offered this year.  Joe is contracted through the Capital region BOCES and is one of the official PBIS trainers in New York State.

Click here to view a photo gallery of this event.

For more information, please contact:
Wanda McQueen - Project Administrator
(518) 561-0100 x 357

School Community Coordinator
(518) 561-0100 x373