A. G. Wright Middle School
CWK Attendance Team Plan

At AGW our goal this year is for every child to feel connected and valued at our school by using the Connect with Kids attendance initiative.  Through this program, every child, at every grade level, will be respected for their individual voice and understand that they are an important and critical part of our learning community. We have several exciting activities planned to achieve our goal.  These initiatives include attendance recognition through morning announcements, classroom activities, celebrations, and clubs.  We also have programs that decrease bullying concerns and help students feel more connected to staff and teachers. Below is a summary of all these activities:

Morning Announcements:  
Our announcement may be “You feel Right at A.G.Wright”, “Wright here, Wright now, Everyday”, or “It’s not Cool to Skip School”.  We inform students each morning of the grade level attendance rate from the previous day.  For example, we announce that yesterday we had 97.75% of our 6th graders present, 96.55% of our 7th graders present and 96.89% of our 8th graders present.  We make it a friendly competition each morning and now the students look forward to finding out which grade level won for attendance the previous day!

Attendance Rewards:
The students also know that at the end of every month, every homeroom will have a student’s name randomly drawn from those who have attended school every day that month.  If your name is drawn, you win a free “make your own ice cream sundae” party with the students whose names were drawn from the other homerooms.  In all, each month 36 different students get an ice cream party.     

Attendance Clubs:
On the frontline of our CWK initiative this year is our Attendance Club (CWK committee) for students.  We have students from every grade level (6, 7, and 8) participating.  Posters, slogans and ideas for future activities come from this group. We have these posters and slogans posted around the school.  There are also teacher/counselor sponsors at every grade level to facilitate the Club.  Club student members are visiting classrooms to facilitate discussions with other students on what makes them want to come to school each day, and how they can be a friend to those who may need some extra encouragement in order to attend school regularly.  The CWK Resource Guide and video is an excellent tool.  

Tip Box:
The  TIP Box is where students can fill out and drop off forms with concerns they have about other students in regards to attendance, bullying issues and basically, any issue in which they feel a fellow student may need some positive intervention.

Tiger Activity Period (TAP):
The goal of this program is to have students see the adults in the building as more than just their classroom teachers. We are making time for kids to find connections with staff while applying academic skills to real life experiences.  To do this, every student signed up for a TAP period that they had a special interest in. For example, we have units on video production, first aid, elementary mentors, math mind games, civil war artifacts, web design, survival skills, golf lessons, podcasting, fashion, fitness, rockstars, etc.  We find our kids are anxious to get to school and go to their Tiger Activity Period. 

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