Why students love Tuesdays at this elementary school

Tuesdays are very special at Grace Miller Elementary School.

For five minutes at the start of the day, all students in grades 3-5 meet with an adult on campus for an informal check-in. In groups of five, they talk about what books they’re reading, their favorite sports or what they had for breakfast.

It’s called Team Tuesday and its one way the elementary school in Bonita USD is working to increase students’ feelings of belonging, which has been identified as one of the district’s LCAP goals.

We asked Principal Leslie Sandoval to tell us more about how students and staff are enjoying this new activity.

Who’s involved with Team Tuesday and how did it get started? It requires our entire staff. Our school secretary, health clerk, preschool teachers, speech therapists, media center clerk, paraeducators, all TK-fifth grade teachers, and everyone else on campus stop for five minutes, once a week to informally connect with students. Students got to fill out a Google form selecting who they would prefer to be their team leader. ... When the teams were announced at our Friday Spirit Assembly, students cheered as they found out which staff member they were assigned to. We built the teams in December and started in January when we came back from winter break.

What happens during the meetings? We meet every Tuesday, but then every other week we do a fun activity. It could be “wear your grade color” or “our future is so bright we need shades” so they wear sunglasses — things that are not specifically about academics, but things that could start a conversation so that adult can get to know them. This week it was “eat a healthy breakfast.” ... We’re providing that small community to talk to the students.

Does the team leader do any academic intervention? The goal is for it to be supportive ... They have their teacher who’s going to be holding them accountable, so it’s less about accountability and more about encouragement — somebody who is reminding them things that are good habits and skills to have, but in a non-threatening way. It’s more just someone on campus who cares about them and is engaged with them.

What do the staff think about this? They’ve really been enjoying it. It’s been funny because it almost becomes a competition amongst the staff, which it’s not really, but they want to be known as the “cool” team leader. Some make little cards for their team. One made little friendship bracelets. Another one made necklaces. It’s been fun to watch the staff engage and connect ... they’re going above and beyond to do something special for those students.

Is Team Tuesday working? I have seen that for our students who have attendance concerns, they tend to be here on the Tuesday. And those who are tardy tend to get here on time because they meet first thing in the morning. Eventually, we’ll be looking at CAASPP scores. Our kids that struggle more also aren’t here as often, and that’s part of the struggle ... We are hopeful that this creates another point of positive contact for our students and increases their sense of belonging.