Age
10
Country of Residence
United States
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
Our principal began a special project called Mr. Potato Head Pioneer. Every time a classroom gets 100% attendance, they add another piece to their figure. Once the figure is full students get a special reward. We thought about students that may not achieve that goal, especially younger students and students new to our school.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We will use our social media (Classroom Dojo and Facebook) to recognize student attendance growth. From their we will reach out to community members that have helped us in the past like local restaurants that hve give us treat cards. We wrote letters last year asking of prizes for our academic growth, we may create some letters just about attendance. There is also a local Lion's Club that has reached out in the past about donating a bicycle for outstanding attendance.
How many people are on your team?
9
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
Our principal's Mr. Potato Head Pioneer is already showing some success. We have had 8 days with 5 or more classrooms with perfect attendance and 12 days with 10 or more classrooms with 95% attendance. We know it can get more difficult during the colder months because of spreading germs. But our increases have been pretty good so far.
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Pilot-Stage (We’ve tried an activity or two)
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
You got to be in school to make the most of learning!
Project title
Attending to Attendance
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
We want every student to come to school every day at Daniel Boone. We know that that is a difficult mission. We know students have doctor's appoints, illnesses, and family emergencies but sometimes a student just doesn't want to come to school. It could be because it is a new place or they had a rough day or they don't feel good about themselves. We came up with a plan that the leadership team could partner with these students.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://dbe.madison.kyschools.us/
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Our first goal is finding students that had a gap in their attendane last year. We will work with our building coach and attendance clerk to determine that list. Then we will pair those students with a leadership team member. We will make a Google Sheet to keep track of attendance and members will check in with their partners at least once a week. We will determine what kind of treats to have for those who make their goals (candy, stickers, squishes).
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Our solution takes a very positive position. Usually kids that are missing a lot of school days just get letters in the mail about missing school. Their families get phone calls about missing days. Sometimes that can make things worse. We think you can boost attendance with positive peer relationships and student recognition.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
Kids love recognition. We would like to recognize 10 days of perfect attendance for struggling students. The reward might just be a small one, like a treat from a treat basket with a certificate. As students meet this goal, we would set another goal of 10 more days of perfect attendance for a lunch with the leadership team. We could even post on social media. We would work with our building coach and attendance clerk to track our successes. We would also like to include attendance growth winners in our school wide assemblies, on social media, and it would be great to have t-shirts made for them.
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Our team is made up of 5th grade students on the Daniel Boone Elementary Leadership Team. We meet monthly to work on different tasks like improving attendance, fundraising for projects, creating school and bus safety videos, creating welcome bags for new families, and advising the adult leadership team on different subjects.
