Welcome New Students

We have developed a plan to make students in grades 1-5 feel welcome to our school.  These include: a) making sure the teachers know who is new and assign a buddy for lunch and recess the first week; b) give students a button to wear so others will know they are new and introduce themselves; c) have a welcome reception the first week of school (because of numbers we have 3 gatherings - grade 1, grades 2&3, grades 4&5; d) at reception they meet the counselors, the principal stops by, we play a school trivia game, and do an activity or listen to a story depending on age; e) all students receive a new student survival kit - bag with items symbolizing things like eraser because it is ok to make mistakes...; f) Passport - with pictures of all staff that work with all the students in building - find the staff member and ask them 2 questions - students get 2 weeks to complete this activity and return completed Passport to counselors for prizes; g) follow-up - either an individual check in or group lunch - example all first grade girls/boys each lunch with a counselor the second/third week of school.  If students are still having difficulty adjusting, we invite them to be in a counseling group.  We also take pictures of  all new staff and students and highlight them on the large bulletin board in the main hall of our school for the month of September.