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Elementary School » Capturing Kids' Hearts

Capturing Kids' Hearts

WHY CAPTURING KIDS' HEARTS
The Capturing Kids' Hearts initiative is a dedicated focus on building strong relationships, fostering a healthy atmosphere for your children to grow and learn. By prioritizing connections, the program creates a welcoming and inclusive environment that promotes academic success through personal development. The emphasis on relationships extends beyond the classroom, creating a great working environment for our staff and fostering a sense of partnership with our school families. We believe that by investing in connections, we are laying the foundation for a supportive and collaborative community that benefits everyone involved.
 
 

A social contract are agreements that everyone in the classroom helps make. Teachers and students usually make these rules together during the second or third week of school. These norms are important because they guide how students should act with each other in the classroom. There are three very important rules in every social contract:

  1. Always try your best.
  2. Listen to others.
  3. Don't say mean things to each other.

These rules might be said in different ways, but they're in every social contract, even ones that the teachers and principal make together.

 

There are four questions that are really important when making a social contract:

  1. How do you want your teacher to treat you? Asking students what they need from their teacher to feel good in the classroom provides the leader a sense of the needs the exist in the classroom.
  2. How do you want your classmates to treat you? Having students discuss what they expect from each other helps everyone share the responsibility of making the classroom a positive and friendly place.
  3. How do you think your teacher wants to be treated? It's important for students to think about how their teacher feels. This helps everyone understand what the teacher expects and makes the relationship between the teacher and students better.
  4. How do you want to solve problems with your classmates? Dealing with problems is a big part of a social contract. This question helps students think about how to fix problems in a good way, making sure the group stays friendly even when things are tough.

When we answer these four questions, we make a social contract. It's like a promise that helps everyone know what to expect and how to work together. This makes the classroom a positive and friendly place where everyone can learn and grow together.

Every day in class, we kick off with something called "Good Things." It's a chance for people to share something good or positive that happened to them recently. You don't have to share if you don't want to, and not everyone has to talk every day. Good Things is like a way to start the day on a positive note, and it helps us understand the power of thinking about good stuff. We don't ignore bad things that might be happening, but we also want to make sure we focus on the good things in life. These are personal things that make each person happy. This also helps us learn about empathy, which means understanding and being happy for someone else's happiness. For example, if someone's good thing is that the University of Michigan won a football game, we want everyone to be happy for them, even if their team beat Michigan State. It's about celebrating each other's good moments.

Creating positive connections depends on individuals being able to manage their behavior. Sometimes, our students act on impulse. In such situations, we use Four Questions to help them navigate their actions and develop self-management skills:

  1. What are you doing?
  2. What are you supposed to be doing?
  3. Are you doing it?
  4. What are you going to do about it?

These questions bring the students' focus to the present, prompting them to think about their current actions, the expectations they should meet, and how they can align their behavior with those expectations.

 

As a general practice, we ask each question at least three times. The third time, we affirm the student and make it clear that they can either answer or choose a consequence. Even if a student chooses a consequence, we still expect an answer. Consequences can escalate, ranging from minor adjustments to more significant actions like leaving the classroom.

 

Additionally, in some cases, we may ask a fifth question:

 

5. What is going to happen if you break our Social Contract again?

 

This question aims to provide clarity for students about the potential consequences of breaking an agreement. Our ultimate goal, however, is to guide students in reflecting on their actions and creating a positive plan for the future. Through these questions and discussions, we aim to build relationships and help students grow in their ability to manage their behavior effectively.

Our social contract is like a deal about how we'll treat each other in our class. If someone breaks the deal, there are consequences. We want to use those moments when the deal is broken to help students learn and become more responsible. Here are the steps we follow if we notice a student not following the social contract:

  1. Warning: First, we might give a warning, either to the individual or to everyone, to make them think about what they're doing.

  2. Four Questions: We'll ask the student to think about what they are doing.

  3. Individual Conference: If talking in front of others is uncomfortable, we can talk in a different space.

  4. Natural Consequence: If a student refuses to answer, there might be a natural consequence, like cleaning their desk if they were drawing on it.

  5. Loss of Privilege: If the behavior continues, they might lose the chance to play on the swings or choose their seat.

  6. Behave Out: If the student knows what they're doing and keeps doing it, they might need to go to the office. There, they'll talk with the Academic & Behavior Coach or the Principal. They might lose recess, and in extreme cases, there could be a suspension.

We really try to help the teacher and student work things out together. Involving a third party is the last thing we want to do. Even if it comes to that, when the student comes back to class, the teacher will work with the student to be a positive part of the class again and fix any problems caused by their actions. By using the social contract and these steps, we think we can create a safe and self-managing classroom that's good for both students and teachers.

 

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It's important to know that these steps work best when a student can talk about their feelings. We do our best to help students before they get to a point where talking doesn't help. But we understand that as kids grow, some may struggle with controlling their emotions. In those cases, they might be asked to leave the classroom right away and come back once they've calmed down.

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