This year, the Hiawatha School community has been working together to build a strong, positive culture where every child feels encouraged to make great choices. Through its Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) approach, they are focusing on recognizing and celebrating the behaviors that help everyone learn and grow.
Across the school, students and staff now share a common language about what it means to be respectful, responsible, and kind. This year, Hiawatha introduced a simplified version that still captures the heart of the program by noticing and celebrating positive behavior.
One of the most exciting parts of this work is the ‘Hive’ system.
In classrooms and the cafeteria, students can earn plastic links whenever they demonstrate positive choices, things like helping a classmate, following expectations, or showing kindness. Each link is added to the class chart, and when a class collects 100 links, they celebrate together with a small classroom celebration.
When classes reach that milestone, they trade in their links for a ‘bee’ that gets added to the school-wide ‘hive.’ As more ‘bees’ fill the ‘hive,’ the entire school gets closer to a building-wide celebration, a moment when students and staff can all recognize the positive choices happening throughout the school.
Another important part of our PBIS work happens every Friday during the school-wide assembly. During these gatherings, students learn and practice expected behaviors in a fun and engaging way. These assemblies help ensure that everyone understands what positive behavior looks like across the school.
PBIS helps Hiawatha focus on recognizing the positive choices students make every day, which encourages those behaviors to continue.