Woodmere Elementary  Mission:

Woodmere strives to be a school that promotes the values of Kindness,Creativity, Hardwork & Anti-Racism throughout our community.

Table of Contents

What is school climate? 

Who can I go to if I have questions or want to be involved?

School Climate Team

Climate work groups

Schedule for family involvement activities

What behaviors do we Explicitly Teach? 

Schoolwide Values and Common Area Expectations

Woodmere’s core values

Common Area Behavior Matrix

Teaching common area expectations

Schoolwide (Tier 1) Climate Agreements

Effective Classroom Practices Plan

How do we actively acknowledge kids when they are meeting expectations at Woodmere?

Feedback and acknowledgement systems

Encouragement procedures in all common areas

Description of our school-wide acknowledgement system

How do we instructionally correct students when they are not meeting the expectations?

Defining stage 1 and 2/3 behaviors

Responding to Behaviors

Woodmere Student Behavioral Support Flowchart

Student Intervention Team:  Additional Behavior & Academic Supports (Tier II and Tier III)

How do we make certain that our climate work is culturally responsive? 

Fidelity Data

Appendix A: Definition of terms

What is “school climate”?

School climate refers to how students and staff feel about learning and working in our school. Our goal is to create a school environment where all children have a strong sense of safety and belonging.  Staff work collaboratively to create the conditions for that sense of belonging in multiple ways: Building positive relationships with families and students proactively, promoting and acknowledging students for our core values of kindness, creativity, hard work and being anti-racist, celebrating communities within our community, assemblies, buddy days and acknowledgement programs connected to our core values.  We believe that if we create a healthy school climate, it leads to more equitable learning outcomes for all students. 

Who can I go to if I have questions or want to be involved?

Climate work groups are a great place to take part in shaping our school community

Schedule for family involvement activities

What behaviors do we explicitly teach?

Schoolwide Values and Common Area Expectations

Woodmere’s core values

1.  Kind
2.  Hardworking
3.  Anti-Racist
4. Creative

Our Core Values were created with student, staff, family & community input.  Posters are distributed throughout the building in order to make them visible to everyone in the community. The intention is to send a consistent message about what our school community values and  how those look in different common areas. This will help Woodmere ensure that our core values are inclusive and affirming.

Students need to understand and exercise our core values on a regular basis to master the skills to be successful and prepared to be college and career ready. All adults acknowledge and reinforce these core values  when interacting with students.

Our core values are woven into our regular teaching practices in every lesson and in every class period throughout the grade levels. Staff name them consistently and strategically teach and review our core values  throughout the school year.

Common Area Behavior Matrix

Teaching Common Area Expectations

The table below lists the schedule and content for teaching expectations for common areas at Woodmere.   We explicitly teach our students routines for these areas as well as how our core values show up in these common spaces.  Students are formally taught the routines and expectations at least three times per year and retaught to classes or individuals as needed.   Our goal is to continually support our students to grow into these values with guidance, feedback and reflection. School staff understand that all students need explicit teaching about co-constructed expected behavior at school.

Common area lesson plans The link includes lessons, posters, policy, and routines for the following common areas. Assemblies, restroom, bus, cafeteria, coming to and from school, playground, and hallways.

Yearly Schedule for Teaching Common Area Expectations

Schoolwide (Tier 1) Climate Agreements

Each Woodmere student deserves to come to school and feel seen, safe and valued.  In order to make this happen, adults across the school intentionally support all students by implementing the following:

• A warm greeting by name each morning **
• Classroom community agreements
• School counselor classroom lessons
• Social emotional learning classroom lessons
• Universal visual schedule
• Classroom break space
• Seating options for independent work
• Predictable and accessible space for students to organize materials
• A hygienic and organized space for students
• In class sensory tools, teacher discretion, request as needed
• Preferential and/or alternative seating
• High ratio of positive interactions
• Classroom Jobs
• Explicit instruction of expectations, reviewed after each break and practiced daily
• Positive phone calls/texts home
• Restorative justice chats and community building circles
• Private responses to misbehavior
• Sticks of opportunity -increased and/or randomized opportunities to respond

Effective Classroom Practices Plan

Every teacher will have an Effective Classroom Practices Plan (ECP Plan). ECP Plans will be shared with administration no later than the day before back to school night.  Co-creating classroom practices reduces variability between classrooms and makes it more consistent for students. Professional development time will be provided in the first two weeks of school to complete these documents.

The Effective Classroom Practices Plan covers the essential features of effective classroom practices: Structure, teaching expectations, acknowledging positive behaviors, and supporting regulation & restorative practices.

Effective classroom practices plans

How do we actively acknowledge kids when they are meeting expectations at Woodmere?

Feedback and Acknowledgement Systems

Research shows that when adults “catch"  students exhibiting appropriate behaviors, those behaviors will increase and misbehaviors will decrease. Specific praise is extremely important in increasing the recurrence of appropriate behaviors.

Encouragement Procedures in all common areas

Staff will consistently encourage responsible behavior through positive, proactive interactions. Remember that all students are the responsibility of all staff.

• SMILE and choose your attitude! Remember it is show time!  
• Keep the rate of positive interactions high.  Five positives for every negative.
• Use visual cues to compliment and redirect student behavior.
• Don’t underestimate the power of verbal and nonverbal positive interactions.

Description of our school-wide acknowledgement system

Woodmere believes authentically  acknowledging  students  helps create community, a sense of belonging and purpose for all  individual students.  The below  lists ways our community  acknowledges students school-wide:

Shining Stars:

• Teachers can  select 1-2 students approximately every 2 weeks on Fridays.  
• Students can be chosen to be shining stars for any reason.

Shooting Stars:

• Academic growth recognition quarterly
• Hallway assemblies by grade level

Attendance Club

• Lunch groups
• Awards for improved attendance based on individualized plans
• SUN attendance awards for students

Running Club

• Recognition for miles completed

Inclusion Classroom Award

• Announced during assemblies

Morning announcements:

• Daily morning announcements
• Recognize heritage and awareness months and other communities at Woodmere
• Recognize student birthdays
• Provide opportunities for student leadership

Core Value Awards:

• Students are recognized at assemblies each month for Woodmere core values

Affinity groups:

• Indigenous
• BIPOC
• Vietnamese

Cafeteria announcements, displays, buddy days, and assemblies are all ways students find a sense of belonging and are acknowledged for who they are.

Dolphin pride and Dolphin of the day recognition in development

Targeted whole school incentives as needed - e.g. golden shoe, recess all stars

How do we Instructionally Correct students when they are not meeting the expectations?

Defining Stage 1  and 2/3 Behaviors

Behavior level calibration will be conducted by building staff in order to properly reflect the evolving needs of our community and to accommodate the diverse racial, cultural, linguistic and developmental needs of our school.

Responding to behaviors

We believe that well regulated adults have the best chance of supporting children who are not experiencing regulation.  For this reason, we emphasize the importance of all adults checking their own regulation when supporting a student who is struggling.  We consider what underlying skills a student is struggling with and use that information to provide a supportive response that allows students to work on developing the lagging skills.  Our staff will always use the least intensive behavior responses to support a student to re-engage in learning and move up through more supportive responses if needed.  See examples of how behavioral response intensifies in support as the behavior increases.

Responses to misbehavior in all common areas

1. Gentle Verbal Reminder and Reteach – a general reminder (i.e., “Remember we …”)
2. Possible Low level interventions:

1. Redirection – a clear, specific directive (i.e., “ The expectation is that you are …”)
2. Positive Practice – an opportunity to fulfill the request correctly (i.e., “Let’s try that again, show me how you can…)
3. Restitution- Students may be asked to clean up a mess they have made, or resolve problems with peers through conversation and agreements
4. Students may be asked to move.

3. Response to more severe misbehaviors: Staff members should ask for assistance using walkie talkie norms. Staff members who observe  the incident will write an ODR for Stage 2 behaviors and chronic stage 1 behaviors and place them in the principal box to be addressed in the next 72 hours. Stage 3 behaviors should be reported to the office immediately. An ODR should be written by the observer, delivered to the principal's secretary as soon as possible. Principal or designee will investigate incidents reported on the ODR and follow through with appropriate intervention.
4. Family and classroom teachers are notified by principal or designee in the same manner as ODR.

***During high escalation peaks  NCI trained staff members (Paras, SpEd. Teachers, School Psychologist, Behavior Intervention Coach) take the  lead in NCI strategies.

All individuals and groups shall be treated with fairness in all activities, programs, and operations. It is the policy of the Portland Public School Board that there will be no discrimination or harassment of individuals based on the grounds of age, color, creed, disability, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation in any educational programs, activities or employment. Reference: 1.80.020-P School District No.1 complies with Section 504, Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VI, Title IX of the Federal Education Amendments Act of 1972 in prohibiting discrimination in educational programs and activities. Please contact the Office of Student Family and School Support for any questions pertaining to district compliance: 503.916.2000.

*Think in 3’s

3 low levels may = one stage 1                 3 stage 1’s may = one stage 2                Fresh start every 3 weeks

Woodmere student behavioral support flowchart

Woodmere  has created and calibrated around a flowchart to describe how staff respond to unexpected behaviors. If a student is escalated such that the flowchart below does not meet their needs, they may utilize the school's deescalation space.   De-escalation spaces in room 14 and admin office are available, for students to de-escalate with adult support.  

Woodmere Student Behavioral Support Flowchart

Student Intervention Team:  Additional Behavior & Academic Supports (Tier II and Tier III)

When Tier 1 classroom and schoolwide supports are not enough to ensure student success, students may be brought to the school Student Intervention Team (SIT) to develop and implement Tier II and III interventions.

The Student Intervention Team (SIT) is a collaborative, general education solution-generating team made up of a variety of school perspectives. The purpose of the SIT is to

• support teachers in reflecting on and enhancing their Tier I practices and
• implement targeted Tier II and III behavior and Tier III academic interventions when needed.

Utilizing an equity lens, the team considers the whole student when making decisions that affect their long-term educational experience and sense of belonging in PPS. SIT works to provide every student what they need to thrive in the education setting. Families are notified about student strengths and challenges, as well as planned interventions, at all points in the process.

How do we make certain that our climate work is culturally responsive?

Fidelity Data

Culturally Responsive Tiered Fidelity Inventory (CR-TFI) & Fidelity Implementation Tool (FIT)

This School Climate Plan is under continuous review using both the CR-TFI and domains in the  FIT Assessment that pertain to strong and positive school culture and inclusive behavior/social emotional instruction.

These tools guide the action planning for the implementation of a positive school climate and connect directly with this School Climate Plan and the School Continuous Improvement Plan.

Current Improvement Plans

• TFI woodmere Action Plan
• SCIP

Successful Schools Survey (SSS)

• Completed once a year in May by all students (grades 3-12), staff, and families.
• Reviewed by the School Climate Team and shared with staff, students and families. Used to monitor and adjust climate initiatives.
• Accessed via the Panorama dashboard.    Recent Successful Schools Survey Data

Quarterly Student Survey

• Completed 4 times a year by students in grades 3-5
• Reviewed by the School Climate Team and shared with staff, students and families. Used to monitor and adjust climate initiatives.
• Linked on SCIPplan

Appendix A: Definition of terms

Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

School Climate is the most integral component of a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework. MTSS is focused on prevention and problem solving for all students using decision making based on data. MTSS uses evidence-based instruction, intervention and assessment practices to ensure that every student receives the appropriate level of support based on their level of need. Attention is focused on creating and sustaining Tier I support (universal), Tier II intervention (targeted group), and Tier III intervention (individual) systems to help eliminate barriers to learning and enable every student to successfully reach their full potential.

School Climate

School Climate encompasses culturally relevant, restorative practices with a racial equity and social justice lens, as well as school wide social emotional learning opportunities for all students in their classrooms.

Culturally Responsive Positive Behavior

Interventions & Supports (CR-PBIS)

            (Culturally-Responsive Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports) uses implementation science to help students to develop positive behaviors. At the most basic level, CR-PBIS can be described as a three-pronged approach:

1. Explicitly teach co-constructed expectations of the school and classroom community,
2. Actively acknowledge kids when they are following the expectations,
3. Instructionally redirect behavior using restorative practices.

Research shows that when school staff acknowledge positive behaviors at least three times more often than redirecting behavioral mistakes, positive behavior increases significantly.

The school climate team uses disaggregated data to make decisions and to develop the systems and practices of a school. The unique racial, cultural and linguistic makeup of the school is explicitly addressed at every decision point.

Restorative Practices

Restorative Justice is a philosophy grounded in the belief that positive, healthy relationships help us thrive. When we do things that impact others and create harm to those relationships, it is our individual and collective responsibility to make things right.

Restorative Practices are the skills and processes that help us build, maintain, and repair relationships to form healthy, supportive & inclusive communities. Restorative Practices are best utilized when intentional time is devoted to community building.

Community Building Circles that allow classroom communities to develop relationships by asking a series of  low impact questions to get to know one another. Circles should be done as often as possible to insure relational trust is developed over time.

Restorative Inquiry is an essential restorative practice. A series of guiding questions are asked to understand all parties involved in a conflict, disagreement and/or any level of harm. The questions get to the root of a conflict and help solve the conflict by giving voice to the person who was harmed.  

• What happened?
• Who was harmed and how?
• What can be done to make things better?
• What do you need to move forward?
• What support do you need to keep this from happening in the future?

Social Emotional Learning

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. (CASEL)

In PPS, we embrace Transformative SEL--which is a form of SEL implementation that concentrates SEL practice on transforming inequitable settings and systems, and promoting justice-oriented civic engagement.

“Transformative SEL” is a process whereby young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting, relationships that facilitate co-learning to critically examine root causes of inequity, and to develop collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being. This form of SEL is aimed at redistributing power to promote social justice through increased engagement in school and civic life. It emphasizes the development of identity, agency, belonging, curiosity, and collaborative problem solving within the CASEL framework. (CASEL)

CASEL’s 3 Signature Practices intentionally and explicitly help build a habit of practices through which students enhance their SEL skills: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. They provide a framework for supporting teachers in fostering a supportive environment and promoting SEL.  The 3 Signature Practices can be put into practice without extensive professional learning.  They can be incorporated into any K-12 lesson, community meeting, or staff meeting through carefully choosing, effectively facilitating and thoughtfully debriefing a: Warm Welcome, Engaging Activity & Optimistic Closure.

To support current and future social and emotional needs, trauma-informed science reminds us of the need to:

• Elevate student’s cultural assets, voice, and agency
• Strengthen relationships, community, and sense of belonging
• Affirm student identities and lived experiences
• Incorporate social and emotional skill building into academic learning 
• Establish consistent and predictable routines

Build trusting relationships with students and families through clear and transparent communication