December 22, 2022

At Gilles-Sweet Elementary, one program helps students understand and develop better behaviors and expectations throughout the school year.

The Warrior PRIDE program is part of the school’s Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports initiative. PBIS initiatives are evidence-based programs that support students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health. They are designed to “create positive, equitable, and safe learning environments where everyone thrives,” according to the Center for PBIS.

Warrior PRIDE highlights five areas of behavior expectations for students. Every day at school, students should make Positive Decisions, have Respect, Integrity, and Determination, and be Engaged with their lessons. The tenants of Warrior PRIDE are regularly reinforced at the school through the school’s PRIDE Houses.

“Our whole school stops every ‘Violet’ day from 2:00 PM to 2:40 PM, and we’ve mixed up all of our students into different PRIDE houses with a different teacher,” Counselor Meredith Schulte explained. “Grades one through three are mixed together in different houses, and then so are the fourth and fifth graders.”

The differentiation in grade levels helps the school deliver programming most relevant to the age group.

“It was started to focus on teaching and then re-teaching our behavior expectations,” Schulte said. “But then, we didn’t have to do that every week. Our fifth graders have been having these lessons since the first grade. So then we end up sprinkling in the behavior-reinforcing lessons with social-emotional learning lessons.”

Besides some behavioral lessons, other areas taught in the PRIDE house include growth mindset, goal-setting, gratitude, conflict resolution, and emotion regulation.

“You can’t just assume kids know those behaviors and what those behaviors look like,” Gilles-Sweet Principal Matt Krivak said. “There are things they may not have the opportunity to learn at home about expected and unexpected behaviors. Or maybe they are taught expected behavior at home, but it's not expected when we come to school.” 

Students recognized for engaging in positive Warrior PRIDE behaviors are rewarded with a PRIDE ticket, which can be redeemed at the school’s Warrior Warehouse. 

“When they go shopping at the warehouse, it’s piggybacked with our library class,” Krivak stated. “They can use their ticket to buy something like an eraser or a bracelet, but they can also buy these Warrior Experiences with staff.”

Some of the Warrior Experiences include lunch with a friend and staff member. Others include playing a game or enjoying ice cream with a teacher or principal. Students can also purchase a smoothie from the school’s Smoothies On-The-Go program. So far, 89 experiences have been sold at the warehouse this school year.

“Usually with the Warrior Experiences, we make them higher amounts, like 100 tickets,” Krivak expressed. “So they have to save them up. An eraser, that’s ten tickets. Some of the kids will work together and combine tickets to get an experience.”

Warrior Experiences and PBIS have both had a positive impact for students and for the school’s climate as well.

“It was amazing to walk into and really see a fully-developed PBIS program,” Associate Principal Shanna Kovi said. “The kids know how to behave in every part. This is where you really teach the kids the meat and potatoes of how to behave. And then we have all these programs around the building that support this. You’d be floored if you saw the huge PBIS binder. There are a lot of intricate parts.”

PHOTO CAPTION: The Warrior Experiences board in the library at Gilles-Sweet Elementary.