Hiawatha Public Schools "Capturing Kids Hearts"

Capturing Kids Hearts is a program that works to build relational capacity among students, staff, and the community. Each morning you'll find teachers at HES greeting students in the morning before entering their classrooms. We also have students who greet their peers at the front entrance and eventually, they will take over classroom greetings. In each of our classroom communities, students have worked to build a social contract. This contract is an agreement of how they want to be treated, how they treat one another, how they treat their teacher, and what they do when conflict occurs.

We have also utilized the common terms from our classroom social contracts to build a school wide contract. Students sign these contracts to show they agree. Staff worked at the beginning of the year professional development to also create a social contract as we model what we expect of our students. Once the day begins, you can find each classroom starts their day with "good things". As of right now, teachers lead this process. Students share "good things" that have happened to them that are followed up with questions to get a deeper look. Eventually, our students will also lead this process.

Capturing Kids Hearts works to empower our students in a variety of ways. They help hold one another accountable, take on various leadership roles in the building, and are recognized for their excellence in a variety of topics. CKH helps develop strong relationships among everyone who is a member of our HES community.