Dragon Dollars

Kennedy Elementary school is very excited about our new PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Support) program. We instill in our students each day to be Ready, Respectful, and Responsible as soon as they board the bus in the morning until the second they get home from school. This year, we have really worked hard on showing exactly what it looks like to be Ready, Respectful and Responsible in each area of the school day (in the Hallway, on the Playground, in the Bathroom, etc). We have also shown them what it looks like to NOT be those 3 core values. We have done this through videos on our morning announcements (You can see them on our website www.barrrow.k12.ga.us/kes) and in the classroom. The students now are earning Dragon Dollars when they are “caught” being one of these 3 R’s! Every teacher and staff member, including our custodians and cafeteria workers are giving these dollars away when they see someone being Ready, Respectful, and Responsible. The students have now had the chance to spend their Dragon Dollars by making purchases through our Dragon Dollar Distribution Center. Every other week, students can order items ranging from Silly Bands and tattoos to Ice cream and Homework passes or even bigger items like lunch with a teacher or even a ticket to the Tailgate party or dance. The students fill out their order form and put the Dragon Dollars on the form and give it to their teacher. The teacher turns the orders into our Dragon Dollar Distribution (DDD) Center also known as Ms. Mays’s Special Friends Class by Wednesday. Ms. Mays’s class fills every order in less than 48 hours and has the items ready for delivery on Friday. Our PTO volunteers deliver these items on Friday to each classroom. This process has been beneficial to every student in our building because it is teaching them “life skills” that will make them a success in anything they choose to do. EVERY person who wants to be successful MUST be Ready, Respectful and Responsible to be that success as well as have the money management and organization skills. Every student is learning those money management skills and organization skills through this process. Ms. Mays’s class is learning job skills while they are also working on each of their individual goals. It really is an amazing process that you really need to see to truly appreciate it! Ms. Mays and Ms. Kathryn Bachman, our PBIS coach, have done a wonderful job to put this program in place, and I am very proud of them and our students for what they are learning through this. The cool thing is that they order form in now going ON-LINE this week! If that is not “real world” learning, I don’t know what is!