Horizon Elementary School

Building playground behavioral expectations

For Horizon Elementary School, the 2010-11 school year has been deemed “The Year of The Playground.” Our Universal PBIS Team met over the summer and reviewed our SWIS data and determined that the majority of our Office Discipline Referrals (ODRs) were occurring on the playground. We created a playground action plan for the 2010-11 school year, which included the following steps (these are in addition to the existing program we had already established):

•Divide the playground into four separate areas and rotate students on a weekly basis.
•Keep specific ODR data based on each playground area
•During the first week of school, specifically teach the use of playground equipment and the rules for specific games. This was completed twice with each class – it was led once by the playground assistants and once by the classroom teacher.
•After the classes complete the teaching and modeling sessions, classes receive a classroom “Playground Passport” that is stamped for each area of the playground.
•Hold a school-wide assembly to acknowledge each class for completing their playground teaching sessions.
•Develop a quarterly plan for re-teaching and reviewing playground routines and rules.
•Use more frequent recognition with our existing acknowledgment system (Hawk awards) for positive behaviors on the playground.
•After a review of 2009-10 playground data, our Tier 2 created booster groups of students with high numbers of playground referrals. We started the year with additional teaching to these students of the playground rules and routines.
•Initiate frequent review of Playground ODRs. Once a student has three playground ODRs they would attend a playground booster session to practice and model the correct playground behaviors. After four weeks of the booster playground group, the students would shadow a playground assistant for two weeks and acknowledge other students who demonstrated positive playground behaviors.
•Create a playground CICO form for students who were having behavioral issues only on the playground

Measuring results

Data were kept on the number of ODRs in each of the designated areas of the playground. The area that had the highest number of ODRs in September was wall ball and the grade with the highest number of ODRs was 4th grade. Based on this data, the Universal Team met in the beginning of October and created the following interventions which were implemented during October:
•Each week a different 4th grade class was assigned to play wall ball, instead of all three classes playing together.
•Wall ball rules were re-taught.
•Playground booster sessions were held for students with three or more ODR.

Month Number of Referrals
September 27
October 17
November 4

Celebrating success

This was such a huge success for our entire PBIS team, our wonderful playground assistants, and our dedicated staff. Every member of our school had a part in this plan, and it was the connected efforts of everyone that reduced our number of ODRs from 27 to four within a two-month time period. We used data to drive our action plan for the 2010-11 school year, and we continued to use updated data to assess and alter our plan to address the needs of our students. And it WORKED!

https://www.sunprairieschools.org/horizon