This week’s Carbon School District update shines a spotlight on Bruin Point Elementary where Principal Connie Todachinnie took time to speak over the telephone about the school’s behavioral system and reading program.
The COVID precautions that the school takes are starting to take its toll on the students and administrators. “You can tell it starting to wear on our kids. Wearing a mask, having to stay apart, wearing a mask at recess, having to not converse with your neighbor when your eating lunch. Its wearing on the kids, its wearing on us all – the whole world. It’s tough but we’re getting through it,” said Principal Todachinnie. With the pandemic its important for students to be working on positive behaviors so the school is implementing some new ideas to their school behavioral system.
“The Hero System is actually like a platform for gathering data but I really like the word Hero. When I taught down at Bluff Elementary School in San Juan County, we created Hero Tickets, I wanted by fifth graders to be Heros. So, we talked about Heros, what does it really mean. So, we took the name of the platform and are going farther with it,” said Principal Todachinnie. A Hero is a person that is helpful, kind and there for another individual during their time of need. Students seem to get the idea and are enjoying the new behavioral system which is a point system.
Reading is going very well at the school with all the students progressing nicely. “Our kids are actually doing a lot better in reading than we thought they were going to be doing. We’ve actually extended our in class independent reading time so students are able to choose their Just Right Books, sit down, read for a while, converse with the teacher. It’s not just reading words, its really making sure that they understand where is the conversing with the teacher part comes in,” said Principal Todachinnie. She also invites students to her office to read with her and then sends home a postcard to parents to let them know how their student is doing.
To stay informed about the happenings taking place at Bruin Point Elementary visit the school’s Facebook page.