South Kearns Elementary shows their students appreciation. South Kearns is an elementary school located in central Kearns. The school has 417 students, with grades kindergarten through fifth grade. South Kearns is a Title One school. It was originally built in 1955, but it was remodeled three years ago. In addition to the remodel, the school, administration, staff, and teachers offer much more.
South Kearns Principal, Kim Babka, was an interim assistant principal at the school before becoming the principal. “Staff is incredible,” Kim Babka said. “The atmosphere is fun.”
Kim Babka, shares ways on how they are trying to improve the elementary. The school uses PBIS, (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support,) to help practice better behavior.
One way they use this is roar tickets that the students receive for good behavior. Along with roar tickets, they have a roar store where the students can purchase fun things with their tickets. The school offers their students a chance to buy Christmas presents as well during the holidays to give back to their families.
A way of rewarding good behavior towards the classroom as a whole is, “the elephant in the room.” This is a giant elephant that visits the classroom when spectacular behavior is shown by a specific class. This is a school wide incentive for each class to participate in, to show correct hallway behavior and be rewarded for it.
South Kearns has a community center where the staff does weekend packets on Fridays for the kids to take home food to eat over the weekend. The food bank also does bread donations to the school where they drop off loaves of bread that the students can take home. An organization that supports the school is Cummins. They host family nights with fun activities at the school, where they have food and games. Cummins also donated bikes last school year to all third and fourth grade students.
One of South Kearns after school programs is Salt Lake County after school program that takes the students from the end of the day until 5-6pm. This program offers tutoring and activities for the students. Find more information on South Kearns website. For some of the many ways South Kearns elementary tries to encourage and show appreciation towards their students. https://schools.graniteschools.org/southkearns/
