PAX

Our class has been doing something called PAX all year and we started a fantastic new component to it last week. PAX has many components to it but the main idea is that PAX means "peace" and PAX behaviors are those we want to see more of in our classroom (such as sharing, quiet voices, helping others, bodies to self, kind words, etc). To have a PAX classroom we talk daily about PAX voices, PAX hands, PAX feet, and what it means to be a PAX leader (someone who regularly does all of the things we decided are PAX behaviors). You can ask your child about many of the things we do throughout the day like PAX quiet and the PAX game!

The next component we recently added is "PAX-it Notes." Students (and teachers) "catch each other doing something good" and write each other PAX-it notes which we are reading aloud then hanging on the door. We keep them up for the day then send them home and start over for the next day. Some of the messages they wrote today include "you had a great quiet raised hand during Morning Meeting", "I noticed that you were ignoring distractions at at writing time," "you helped me feel better when I was sad," "I saw you cleaning up calmly and quietly after break," "you were very focused during math," etc. I am chuckling to myself typing these because the kids are starting to sound like little teachers but this has really been amazing! The students are learning to notice and acknowledge the good things their peers are doing and this has really been furthering our sense of classroom community. Please take a look at PAX-it notes you see coming home and ask your child about them!