Arlington holds first ‘Town Meeting’

Pam Schiff
Posted 11/20/14

Getting an entire elementary school together for an assembly is a daunting task. Getting them all together for an assembly on Halloween is practically unthinkable.

But the sixth-grade students in …

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Arlington holds first ‘Town Meeting’

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Getting an entire elementary school together for an assembly is a daunting task. Getting them all together for an assembly on Halloween is practically unthinkable.

But the sixth-grade students in Matt Sheridan’s Room 10 at Arlington Elementary School took on that task with their first Town Meeting on Friday, Oct. 31. And they knocked it out of the park.

With a creative, energetic and student-driven agenda, the assembly went smoothly and everyone agreed it was a huge success.

Working within the boundaries of PBIS – or “positive behavior interventions and supports” – Sheridan designed the script.

“I scripted the first part and as I moved along in the process the students then added their own suggestions and created some of the other parts of the meeting,” he said.

The students practiced for a couple of days, while a majority of the students would come into school early or stay in for their lunch periods to work on the signs, scripting and rehearsing.

The meeting kicked off with an exchange between Sheridan and his students asking why they were holding the assembly. Once they said it was to recognize all the good work Arlington students had accomplished, it was time to start.

After the Pledge of Allegiance, Principal Michelle David led the students in the school oath.

Awards were presented to 69 students for perfect attendance.

Students from Sheridan’s class acted out different scenarios as certain teachers from the school before awards were presented.

For the library, they pretended to be “Miss Beth” and gave out two awards.

One honoree was Brianna Jade, a second-grade student recognized for “always showing awesome behavior, including listening and following directions, taking part in class discussions and being respectful to her classmates,” said Azaylia Phath, a student of Sheridan’s.

The second honoree for the library award was sixth-grader, Madison Lawhorne.

“One day at recess, Ms. Beth saw Madison go up to someone who was a new student at Arlington and was hanging out by himself. She invited this person to come and hang out with her. It was a great way to make that person feel welcome and more comfortable. This is what an Arlington All-Star does,” said Phath.

Samir Melgar, Chris Torres and Sam Cunha dressed like sports players and gave reports and updates on certain sport happenings such as soccer, football and the World Series.

Awards were presented in other areas as well. Vmath honors went to seven students, citizenship awards were given to 18 students, 14 students were recognized for reading and 13 honored for math.

Vmath is a special online math program that students can utilize in their classrooms or at home. To date, Arlington school has solved 200,000 math problem in only four weeks. The students were challenged to break their record and solve 2 million problems by June 1, in which case they would receive an extra hour of recess.

Sheridan and his students ended the meeting with a special “Arlington Cheer.”

“I am really proud and impressed by the job these students did today. They stepped up and showed the other kids how to be respectful and have fun. They are role models for the younger students, and I couldn’t ask for more,” Sheridan said.

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