Of course, our reading and math goals are to promote our students to be at the proficient or greater level with the standardized tests that our students must take. So what is a school climate goal?  Our school climate goal is geared toward reducing the incidents of all behaviors that lead to suspensions. We are also promoting positive behavior and school participation activities at E.G. Bowers Elementary School.  We believe that activities that promote participation with our children, staff, parents and the community will lead to a positive school climate.  We are doing this several ways:

v Bowers Beginnings – Each morning, all students and staff meet in the gym to begin the day. Positive messages from Project Wisdom, a character education program, are read. Students are recognized for good behavior from the previous day.

v Bowers supports another character education program with Character Counts. Each month, activities are done in the classroom to practice each of the pillars of character – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. We have been discussing and celebrating the pillar of responsibility for September and October.

v Students are celebrated every month from each classroom based on the criteria for those pillars of character. The students honored for responsibility for September and October were given a t-shirt for their success at being responsible citizens at Bowers.

v A positive behavior management plan with a color wheel or chart has been implemented school wide. Green equals a good day; yellow, the children have received a warning; blue is a loss of a privilege; red is a phone call or note to parents. The goal for each child every day is to have a “green” day.

v Students who met the criteria of at least 33 “green” days for the first grading period were treated to a movie and popcorn in the gym on Oct. 23.  A great time was had by all.

v Students will be working for another “green” day reward in January with a sock hop. Plans for a fun day of learning group dances like the Hokey Pokie, Macarena, Chicken Dance and the Electric Slide will be part of the festivities. Of course, there will be treats as well. There will be reward events for March and June as well. We will be celebrating good behavior all year long.

v The Bowers Education Action Team (B.E.A.T.) parent group has been a great support with our school climate goal. They donated popcorn for our Friday event at the movies. They have also purchased great shirts for all the students that show different colors for each grade level. We are scheduling T-shirt days for the children to wear their shirts to show school pride. The B.E.A.T group has recently spruced up our front door with mulch and mums, making the Bowers campus very inviting.   

There are many more activities planned this year to promote school unity and parental involvement which, again, promotes a healthy school climate. We have Family Nights at each grade level, a Princess Dance and Spaghetti with a Prince along with our annual Pancake Breakfast, Carnival Night and Fun Day at Bowers. Last week, we celebrated Red Ribbon Week. The children participated in daily activities to promote healthy behaviors and make good decisions. 

This week, we are celebrating Spirit Week for the traditional Massillon/McKinley football contest. Monday is Million Dollar Monday for our Million Dollar Tigers, Tuesday is pajama day for the Tired Pups, Wacky Wednesday is for wacky clothes, Thursday is Orange and Black Day for Obie, and Free Choice Friday is to wear clothes for one of our favorite teams like the Massillon Tiger football team. The children will be purchasing spirit links all this week and the money will be donated to the United Way. This is a great activity to have our children participate as they are doing something good for the community. We also had students from Washington High volunteer to work with one of our classes at Bowers. They helped our students make spirit necklaces.        

All of these activities are designed to promote positive involvement with our children, staff, parents and community.

~Julie S. Brokaw, Bowers Elementary principal