Wilburn’s House System

Background

We began with our school community in the fall of 2018. We used random drawings for House assignments.  Administration held a faculty meeting with a huge twist. Upbeat music was played and adults took turns randomly drawing for their House assignment.  Excitement filled the air. As each adult drew their assignment, you could hear the cheer and saw hugs as people ran to their House locations and were welcomed by those already there.

During our “Meet the Teacher” event all students were given an opportunity to choose a house by going down a bouncy slide and choosing a bracelet in the  slide pool while their team member waited for them at the bottom of the bouncy slide. Students were welcomed as adults and students cheered. During the first day of school students gathered in the multi-purpose room and learned about the goals, structures, and meaning of Houses. Cheers were created and each team developed a slogan and hand signals to represent their house. 

2019-2020 School Year

All students are required to purchase a house t-shirt and wear them on House meeting days.  Our PTA has partnered with us to help support House implementation. 

This upcoming year, we will continue with our House System and hope to implement it even better.  Every month a House will be highlighted. Each Wednesday for that month our school wears that House color. On our morning news we will highlight one student each day and have them share attributes of having positive character in school.  We will encourage students to take pride in their house and celebrate the other houses too. Our houses will meet the fourth Friday of each month to celebrate, share successes and discuss areas of improvement.  We will meet quarterly as a school to have a school-wide house meeting in the form of a pep rally. 

We will begin with monthly awards for the winning House.  Our plan for the coming year is to purchase flags to be flown outside of our school to show our community which House leads each week.

Students, teachers and staff all belong to a House. Houses are a part of everyday life in our school. Using Class Dojo, points are given by adults who see students exhibiting any one of the characteristics (PAWS) that our Houses represent. Points are displayed in our main hallway. Students love seeing which House is ahead and work hard to catch up if they are not in the lead.

Our school-wide house Leadership Team will  meet at least quarterly to discuss to review and respond to feedback from staff and  students. It is our goal to improve our House Meetings each time and engage all our students in this process.  

Earning House Points  

Practice self-control

Act Responsibly

Work for Success

Show Respect

For the 2019-20 school year Dojo points will be awarded  to Houses only outside of the classroom setting. In common areas students can lose points for their house. For example, if a student is running in the hallway, the house of earth can lose a point if the student running belongs to that house. Inside the classroom, teachers will award individual points only using Dojo, that do not go towards Houses. Teachers must incentivise their classroom points weekly and send the plan to their assigned admin.