Student Council
The entire school signed character pledges at the beginning of the year. Each student promised to work hard to improve his/her character. The students are encouraged to focus on a certain character trait each month. Students also completed honesty challenge contracts during honesty month. The students took the pledge home and participated with their families. Many students were very successful and earned a reward from their families. Student Council members present the Student of the Month certificates to students during our Character Education assemblies each month. Each month teachers choose one student from their classroom that has successfully demonstrated the character trait of the month. The teacher writes a short paragraph describing why the student was chosen. Student Council members then read these paragraphs to Whitehall School and the students are recognized for showing their great character. Each student’s picture is taken and displayed on the growing great character bulletin board in the hallway. Students vote on Teachers of the Month as well, and a teacher is honored at the assembly each month. Students are also given WOW, Whitehall’s Outstanding Winners, slips throughout the month for demonstrating good character in the classroom. Once a student collects fifteen wow slips, they can hand them in on Fridays to Student Council members. Students trade their wow slips for a character education pencil. At the monthly assemblies, two slips are chosen and those students win a WOW bag full of fun goodies. There is one winner from first and second grade and one winner from third and fourth grade.
Student Council also sponsors door-decorating contests. Teachers and students decorate their doorways to go along with the character trait theme. In the fall, the lively hallways were decorated with colorful doorways demonstrating the theme of responsibility. A committee of teachers chose two classrooms to win the contest. The winners were rewarded with apple cider, cookies, and a visit from a secret reader, Mrs. Pietroski. Student Council members also had a blast running a school wide election in the fall. They took turns welcoming students to the voting booth and tallying the votes. The students demonstrated good character by using please and thank you as students entered and exited the booth. They also showed responsibility by showing up for their shifts at the booth on time and completing their job of tallying the votes and filling in the posters for each classroom. The entire school had a great time and the results were consistent with the actual election. Members of the Student Council work with the Character Education Team and the Safety Patrol to raise money for Toys for Tots in December. Toys are purchased and Student Council members join in the effort to choose appropriate toys for members of our community. Toys are given to families in our community to brighten their holiday season. Each year, the members of Student Council come up with new ideas and projects. As part of loyalty month this Spring, Student Council will sponsor Whitehall School Spirit Week. This will be a week for teachers and students to show their appreciation for Whitehall School. Activities will be planned and students will be encouraged to wear their Whitehall Spirit Wear. During loyalty month, students will be encouraged to bring in donations for the local animal shelter. This will be a way for students to support a facility in our community. The members of Student Council also have recently taken on the rebuilding of the Butterfly Garden as a project. The students came up with the idea to sell Butterfly Kisses to raise money for the project. Students attach Hershey Kisses to paper cut outs of butterflies and sell them periodically to students after lunches. The Butterfly Garden will be an ongoing project for the members of Student Council. The students are very excited to be a part of this endeavor.
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