Ardale proud superintendent Stalo. We are delighted tonight to have uh principal uh Adams and her team with us this evening to share information regarding the words matter initiative at Sonnetson which is a schoolwide effort to teach students, staff and families the power of language um and its impact on relationships, learning and community. So welcome and thanks for being here this evening. >> Thank you for having us Dr. Stalo Chair Evans Becker and uh board members. We're excited uh to start with the mission of Robbinsdale because the mission of Robinsdale directly connects with the words matter um work that we're doing at Sonison. So the mission of Robbinsdale Area Schools is to inspire and educate all learners to develop their unique potential and positively contribute to their community. So, I'm here to talk uh about words matter and I brought a team with me because it's a team sport here at Sonison. So, I brought Shelinda Sherrod, our assistant principal, and Kelly Betszel, our social worker, and they'll be sharing in the presentation a little bit. There's also some other participants that are surprised at the end. So with that um I wanted to share a little bit about why we started uh a focus on words matter. Last year we started noticing a pattern a pattern of our students using unkind words and language with each other and with grown-ups. And as we continue to examine that pattern, what we saw was kids using the best language they had at the time and we also know that when kids are sad, mad, confused, upset, frustrated, the amount of language that they have shrinks. And so what we wanted to go about doing is thinking about rather than trying to consequence kids into positive language, what if we taught the power of their language and what if we taught them habits around language. So we've embarked on a year-long schoolwide plan to teach our students how powerful their words are. Our goal is to create a culture of kindness, respect, and inclusion. And we knew that we couldn't just do it with staff and students. We needed to wrap our whole arms around the whole thing. We needed families to be involved, too. So, what does uh what does words matter look like across uh the the school year? It's organized in monthly themes. So each month we are connecting a theme with our restorative practices and with our SEAL curriculum. So for example September we focus on just what are words and why are they powerful. October is all about kindness and action and November will be gratitude and compliments and we will go on from there. So what do students experience when they are engaging with word matter? First, daily announcements around words matter embedded into our morning announcements. Monthly classroom lessons that have read alouds, discussions, role plays. Uh we already are deeply invested in restorative practices and so embedding this work into our daily community building circles has been a really important practice. Then we've added many schoolwide celebrations and we're embedding um some very clear language agreements. All of our teachers built clear language agreements in their classrooms. So this is an example of one of our words matter announcements from last week. We're focusing on not just using kind words but connecting them to action. Teaching them that kind words followed by an action makes a big difference. This next one is also an example and it's a challenge. This has been really fun and interesting. One of the things that we noticed is as students walked into the building or left the building, you could say good morning or good afternoon or have a good night and they just keep on walking. You can either get mad about that or feel like that's disrespectful or you can teach kids to say good morning. You too. So, we started over the course of the last couple of weeks really emphasizing using those polite words that we learn when we're little that we just need to have practice using. And I am telling you, it's been a game changer. Mornings have always been my favorite time. Now, they say good morning, you too. And they're saying good morning to each other. We also introduced Excuse me. Today, I was working with two first graders. There had been a little incident where one kid bumped into another kid when they were both trying to put their folders away and it created some argument. And as I was processing with him, I got to the point of what could we do have done different? And the first grader said, "I could have said excuse me." Yes, he could have said, "Excuse me." Language that that first grader didn't have before this process. Here's some examples of the words matter agreements that our staff are doing in the classrooms. They're also looking at things like what kind of words build relationships and what kind of words break relationships. And then a picture of one of our classes engaged in in the community circle. With that, I want to talk a little bit about a student leadership um team. And for that, I'm going to introduce uh Kelly Bets, our social worker. Hi. Um so, I am super excited to share about a really cool opportunity that we've given our students this year. Um and I look forward for it to come more years to come. Um so our kindness team is something that we initiated this year for our students to have a leadership opportunity in the school. Um so we're we've built a team that is going to come together um on a regular basis to engage in school projects that help encourage kindness in the school. Um you might do different volunteer opportunities, be part of those assemblies and morning announcements, all those kinds of things. Um as you can see, we had 60 student interviews. That is 73% of our fourth and fifth grade students. It took some time. Um but they were so inspirational. Um, we had students that not only shared what kindness means to them, but went deeper and talked about how kindness is a way of being having a safe community. Um, a place where we can show up authentically ourselves. Um, some of them even shared very personal stories about kindness in their own lives. Um, and some even went even deeper, I think, and were vulnerable to share experiences of when they weren't kind and how they want to be a better person every day. Um, so yeah, we're really excited to have this team show that leadership opportunity. We also because we had so many applicants are working with our climate and culture specialists so we can provide some additional leadership opportunities in other ways because clearly we have kids who want to show up for kindness at Sonos. So how are we involving families? Uh every week we're including words matter content in our newsletter. We have a family pledge that we are inviting our families to sign. We had it at open house. We had it at our back to school barbecue night and we'll have it at bingo tomorrow night at Sonison. We want to encourage parents to talk about language and how it's used at home, how it's used at school, and how that powerful work together can create a community of kindness. So, we're working holistically with everyone. These are some pictures. It includes our our pledge and from our back to school barbecue and our open house. So with that, I'm going to introduce Shelinda Sherrod. All right. So why does kindness matter? So research shows that students thrive in environments where they feel safe, respected, and included. When harmful language is addressed in restorative, not punitive ways, students learn responsibility and empathy. By working together, our school staff, students, and families, we are creating community where words are used to lift others up and strengthen belonging. Words matter. And here's some pictures of some of our amazing Sonos scholars and why our words matter. So our commitment, we are committed to teaching, modeling, and celebrating language that makes our school a place where every child and adult feels seen, heard, and valued. So here is the surprise at the end. If I if you can stop really quick, I'll say what this is about. Yeah. This is the way. We need a reminder to be higher. The love before we speak will build up. Show up. That is what we need. is every day to I'm making a choice today what I say. I'm making a choice to say kindness is the way we are to be kind of we'll always build up to show up cuz that is what we need. Kindness every day. [Music] away. Love finds the way I make the choice to say this is the way it can take the cloud away and bring the sun away. Make a choice to say kindness is the way. We need a reminder to be kinder. Are you glory build up to show up? That is what we need. clouds away and bring the sun to me. The choice to say darkness is the way every day. [Music] >> So that song was created by our music teacher, Mrs. Lutz and those um individual students are amazing sonis and scholars self- selected to participate and singing the song. So there are second graders from Miss Stoka's class and fourth and fifth graders from Mr. Adusi's class. Words matter, better words, better world. Nice. So with that, um I also have some uh some words matter work for you. So we have a family pledge for you. So, you can take a look at that. And we've got some bookmarks and stickers for you to uh use as well as reminders for you all. >> That I'll take questions. >> Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you. What a great program. Um any questions? Board members. No questions. No. Uh Director Basset, >> have you seen those little U bumblebee thingies? >> I love those from SA. >> Yeah, right. >> Yeah, we see any. Yes. If you see any, hang on to them. Okay. >> Yeah. I I do have to give a shout out. This uh logo work was done by our um one of our EAS, Sam St. Clair, who also has a degree in graphic design. So, we got to take take advantage of her gifts, too. >> Very nice. >> Very nice. Wonderful. This fabulous. I heard this over here. Just fabulous. Well, thank you I want to uh extend my thank you as well um not only for the presentation and the work you're all doing with your kids and for the amazing students um but thanks for kicking off Ardell proud proud this year you know when we ask principles to say hey who wants to start and do this first I love that you jumped into it knowing that this is important for all of us um to hear and to remember and I think That song might be a really good way for me to start every single one of my days. So, thank you. If we could get a photo, we have certificates. Please make sure that the students who hopefully are going to watch this performance, um, they did a fantastic job. So, thank you. I'm just