Middle School students enjoy Thanksgiving-themed PBIS assemblies

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and students at Washingtonville Middle School began their celebrations a little early with a series of three Thanksgiving-themed Positive Behavior Intervention Strategies (PBIS) activity assemblies, one for each grade, on Tuesday, November 22, 2022.

“It was our idea to give them some fun competition as a reward for the positive behavior they are displaying,” said Assistant Principal Steven Nyarady. Seven sixth-grade teams competed in the first assembly as well as four teams each from the seventh-grade and eighth-grade assemblies. “Last year we held fall and spring PBIS activities, and they were very successful so we’ll do maybe three or four of them this year.”
 

Mr. Nyarady gave the students spectator behavior rules before the contest: No taunting, stay seated, use encouraging words and show respect. 

At the assemblies, students participated in five events – Stuff the Turkey (students crumple and throw magazine pages into a bin), Candy Corn Ring Toss (students toss rings onto candy corn decorated cones), Serve it Up (blind-folded students serve cotton ball mashed potatoes into a bowl), Leaf Blower (students blow a feather through a straw) and Johnny Appleseed (with one hand, students pick up apple cereal with a pipe cleaner). The staff, representing each team, even competed in an apple stacking contest. Scores were tallied at the end of each contest and winners were announced.