Bonifay Kiwanis Club and Holmes County School Board Promotes the love of BUGs!
The fourth grade students at Bethlehem, Bonifay, Poplar Springs, and Ponce De Leon Elementary school love BUGs now that the Bonifay Kiwanis Club has introduced a new program at the schools called Bring Up Grades or as the student’s know it the BUG program.
Each grading period fourth grade students are recognized for increasing one grade while maintaining grades in all the other subject areas. Each student has a set goal of bringing up one grade each grading period beginning with the second grading period. Students are encouraged to continue this process and will hopefully increase grades in many subjects by the end of the school year.
Bring Up Grade recipients are placed on the BUG Honor Roll and receive an award certificate at a ceremony hosted by the Bonifay Kiwanis Club. Representatives from local sponsoring businesses have agreed to support the program and students by providing food and prizes during the BUG recognition parties that will be held after report cards are issued.
“The beauty of the BUG program is that it encourages students to focus on making one small accomplishment at a time,” says Kiwanis Kids program coordinator Lisa Pyron with Kiwanis International. “When a child reaches his/her self determined goal, it promotes a sense of accomplishment which motivates them to continue achieving.”
The Bonifay Kiwanis Club hopes that the BUG program will show the residents of Holmes County that Kiwanis believes in “Serving the Children of the World because they are “A Global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.
BUG – Q & A with Kiwanis International Kiwanis Kids program coordinator Lisa Pyron
What have Kiwanis clubs, and teachers experienced by as a result of implementing the Bring Up Grades Program?
The feedback I have received to date is that students enjoy participating in the decision process of establishing a goal of increasing one grade and therefore are very motivated about studying to increase this grade.
Teachers comment that an achievable goal to raise one grade during a grading period helps students focus. They work more diligently because they want to be placed on the BUG Honor Roll.
The program provides an opportunity for teachers to recognize students that may not normally receive recognition for academic achievement.
How does one address the issue of children in a class who do not achieve their goal and improve one grade?
When a student doesn’t achieve their goal of raising one grade, the teacher should sit down and talk with the student about difficulties, which prevented the student from achieving his/her goal. After challenges preventing success are identified, the student and teacher should sit down together and make a list of what can be done differently during the next three weeks to accomplish the original goal. (This would be the perfect time to talk about the importance of perseverance.) The key is to provide the student with a positive learning experience as a result of failing at a task. Rather than focusing on failing, the student focuses on what he/she can change in order to be successful during the next grading period.
Perhaps the teacher has one student who is unable to raise his/her grades to be placed on the BUG Honor Roll, the student still has the opportunity to be honored as a Super BUG. Super BUGs are students who assist others in accomplishing their goals. They go out of their way to help others and therefore are honored by the virtue that they helped someone else understand so they were able to achieve.
