KELSEYVILLE >> Successful schools make a practice of encouraging students to come to school daily. The teachers at Kelseyville Elementary School (KES) know that missing even two days of school a month, even in Transitional-Kindergarten and Kindergarten, can cause a child to fall behind. Falling behind can mean difficulty learning to read, mastering math concepts and ultimately, finishing high school or achieving a goal of attending college.
For Barbara Gleason, principal at KES, and the faculty, celebrating attendance has been a positive focus at the school, and one that promotes good-natured fun in achieving awesome attendance. They have developed and implemented a school-wide system of incentives and rewards for good attendance and responsible behavior that make the students excited to come to school each day.
On any given school day brightly colored college pennants are seen waving in the breeze outside the classroom doors. The pennants signify that all the students in that class are in attendance that day and the students feel a sense of pride in that recognition.
Being a member of the exclusive “Wolf Pack”, which takes its name from the school mascot, the Kelseyville Elementary Wolves, is another way students are recognized for following one of the school’s rules: be safe, be respectful, be responsible, be a learner.
Gleason and staff have implemented other recognition events like the Awesome Attendance party which honors those students with perfect attendance, and the Character-Trait-of-the-Month rally in which students act out or make video presentations that focus on positive, personal traits of character.
The staff at Kelseyville Elementary take teaching seriously. They know that attendance is the key to student learning, student personal and academic achievement, and growing students to become the future leaders in the community.
For more information about the successful practices that Kelseyville Elementary uses to engage its students as fully as possible, contact the school office at 279-4232.
