On Friday, February 26th, the Mohawk Trails ESE staff offered Pancakes with Parents as a site celebration for our families. We opened the doors at 7:00 a.m. and encouraged all families to join our breakfast any time between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.

The staff worked really hard to put the breakfast together. On Thursday night, we put together 4 breakfast casseroles to go along with the pancakes. The smell of bacon was coming down the hall from the teachers lounge as parents were picking up their kids on Thursday.

We had a great turnout of about 30 families. Everyone enjoyed pancakes, casseroles, fruit salad, coffee and juice. It was fun to interact with all the families. Some parents even stuck around to play some board games and legos with their children. We hope you all can join us for our next site celebration that we will hold closer to the end of the school year.

The Mohawk Trails ESE program has implemented a new quiet time positive behavior program, and we wanted to make sure that parents were aware of the changes. Everyday (except Friday) all grades participate in quiet time from 3:30-4:10 pm. This time is designated for students to work on their homework. If they do not have homework, they are encouraged to work on something academic such as reading, crossword puzzles or word searches which we provide to the students.

During quiet time, each student and grade has an opportunity to be rewarded and recognized for their positive behavior. First, each grade is collectively working towards an ice cream party. The ESE staff has made an “ice cream mountain” poster board that has squares that move up the mountain. Each grade has the opportunity to move their piece to the next square after quiet time each day and closer to the ice cream party! It is up to the discretion of the facilitator in charge of each grade to decide if that grade gets to move their piece up ice cream mountain. Generally, we go by a “three strikes and you’re out” rule. If a grade has to be warned three times to quiet down, they will not get to move their game piece up the mountain.

Secondly, we want to reward those individual students who display positive behavior; those who are quiet and follow directions during quiet time. During quiet time, each student gets a ticket with their name on it. If the facilitator in charge has to give even one warning to an individual student, that facilitator can take the students’ ticket. At the end of quiet time, all students that have their tickets put them in a bucket for a prize drawing. The individual positive behavior program was implemented to reward those students who really work towards good behavior and to encourage the remaining students to do so too.

Throughout the year, we have had several complaints from both parents and students regarding quiet time. Parents want to see their kids working on their homework while at ESE, and students want to have a quiet place to do so. We hope that our new positive behavior plan encourages your child to work on their homework and to be quiet so those around them are able to concentrate. So far, we have had great success with the program, and the students are excited for the daily prize drawing and the ice cream party. If you have any questions or concerns regarding quiet time, please see either Cyndi Canada or Kelsey Miller. Stay tuned to see which grade makes it up the mountain to win the first party!