Greetings from Florida!

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Florida is known as the Sunshine State

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Photos from near my home – the real Florida.

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Manatee on right.

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Beach Warning signs (flags) and friends at triathlon.

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Margaret K. Lewis School is located in North Florida in Millville, which is a part of Panama City.

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Margaret K. Lewis School in Millville

• Margaret K. Lewis School• 203 N. East Ave

Panama City, FL 32401• General Phone Numbers:• Main: 850-872-4765 • Fax (Main): 850-872-4727• Visit our school web site at

http://www.bayschools.com/schools/mkl

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Margaret K. Lewis School has students from ages three to twenty-one.

Students are mentally and physically challenged. Many are visually impaired, and or, hearing impaired.

Our school has autistic students, students with behavior problems, and students who are severely mentally and physically handicapped.

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Our school has twenty four professional staff along with a paraprofessional staff of around forty as well as our custodial, lunch room, and clerical staff.

We also have a full nursing staff with some in the classroom full time.

MKL has programs for speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy and a vision specialist.

Our school has around 160 students from the entire county area. They arrive either by school bus (equipped with lift) or parent drop off.

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Margaret K. Lewis School is involved with Special Olympics.

We are also involved with the MOVE International program, which is dedicated to helping children and adults with severe disabilities. The MOVE Curriculum teaches functional motor activities for increased independence in sitting, standing and walking.

This year we have a new Art/Music program for our students.

We also have a physical education class, which all of our students attend.

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MKL Mission Statement

Margaret K. Lewis School, in cooperation with families and the community, will effectively educate and empower each student to achieve an independent, purposeful, and fulfilling life.

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MKL Core Beliefs1. Student achievement is our primary focus and the learning environment will reflect a commitment to instruction and safety.2. Students will be given the same educational and social opportunities as non-disabled peers.3. Students will experience instruction in the environments in which they are expected to live, work, and play.4. Each learner's curriculum will be motivating, individualized, outcome based, and consistent throughout their school career.5. All students will have access to appropriate materials, methodologies, resources, equipment, therapies, and technologies needed to reach their potential.6. The transition process will begin the day the student enters MKL and drive their IEP until the day they leave MKL.7. Positive Behavior Supports will be a vital component of each educational program.8. Families will be provided with meaningful and appropriate opportunities and training to be actively involved in the educational process.9. All staff will work together as a team promoting mutual respect, personal dignity, professional development, and shared learning and decision making to meet the needs of our students, families, professionals, and community members.10. All MKL staff will be provided training and given the appropriate tools necessary to facilitate successful learning. 13

This year we have a computer lab where we have computer access for our students.

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We have a Media Center where our students can check out books and magazines. Our Media Specialist reads books to our students and helps them around the library.

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We have a ‘sister school’, which is in the Czech Republic. We hope to improve both of our educational programs to better meet the needs of our students through a mutual exchange of ideas and programs that work. Last year our friends from our sister school came to visit us, March, 2010.

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Our Sister School is located in Frýdek-Místek, Czech Republic. Our school wanted to make our Czech friends welcome at our school. We really enjoyed their visit.

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Our Czech friends Ilja and Jan along with Mr. and Mrs. Lewis and their son in Mrs. Andrea’s classroom. Mrs. Lewis was the first principal of our school and its founder. Mrs. Ilja is the principal of our sister school and Jan is a teacher there.

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Traveling around North Florida. World’s smallest police station.

Dinner at mom’s. Traditional southern food…turnip greens, black eyed peas, cornbread and iced tea. Yum!

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Some schools have mascots such as Bears, Wolves, Tigers, Sharks, Patriots, Spartans, Roughriders and Cowboys. Some of the schools I attended had mascots such as Wildcats, Dolphins, and Seminoles.

Schools in America have mascots. A mascot is a person, animal, or object believed to bring good luck, especially one kept as the symbol of an organization such as a sports team.

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Our School’s mascot is the American Bald Eagle

• The bald eagle is the national bird and a symbol of the United States of America. • We use the eagle to help our students identify with our school and to have a sense of

belonging to an identifiable group. • Our school has a nickname for our • eagle..Ernie the Eagle.

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Eagles soar high in the sky. Our students soar too!

• SOAR is an acronym for…• Successful.• Optimistic.• Ambitious.• Responsible.

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Margaret K. Lewis School has been a model school in The Positive Behavior

Supports System.

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AIM for PBS Success

• Adopt• Implement • Maintain

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What are the expectations for MKL students?

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SOAR Expectations

• Successful

• Optimistic

• Ambitious

• Responsible

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Successful

We will often find compensation if we think more of what life has given us and less about what life has taken away.

William Barclay

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Optimistic

• If I regarded my life from the point of view of the pessimist, I should be undone. I should seek in vain for the light that does not visit my eyes and the music that does not ring in my ears. I should beg night and day and never be satisfied. I should sit apart in awful solitude, a prey to fear and despair. But since I consider it a duty to myself and to others to be happy, I escape a misery worse than any physical deprivation.

Helen Keller

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Ambitious

• As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.

George Bernard Shaw

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Responsible

• You are not only responsible for what you say, but also what you do not say.

Martin Luther

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Positive Behavior Supports

The ‘Margaret K. Lewis School in Millville’ Way

Ruth Crowell, PBS Team Coach

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What is Positive Behavior Supports?

Margaret K. Lewis School is in its sixth year as a Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) School. PBS gives people a new way to think about behavior.

On a school-wide level, PBS relies on accurate and reliable discipline referral data to understand the behaviors occurring across campus.

The PBS process is a team-based approach that relies on a strong collaboration between families and professionals from a variety of disciplines.

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Successful School Programs

• Have clear rules• Teach students alternative responses

to misbehavior• Deter violent behavior with clear consequences• Use data to make decisions • Emphasize academics

U.S. Department of Education (1998). Safe, Drug-free Schools for All Students: What Works. American Institutes for Research, Washington, DC 34

What is a school-wide intervention?

• A clear set of standards that define behavioral expectations

• An overall framework that allows for a consistent and predictable staff response to students’ behavior

• A positive step toward fostering self-management • A resource for consistent decision-making

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Common Features of School-wide Interventions

• Clearly defined rules and expectations• Directly taught rules and expectations to students• Provided multiple opportunities for practicing

appropriate responses• Directly taught consequences• Consistently followed through

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Data, what data? Loss of Instructional Time Report

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What are the school-wide expectations for Margaret K. Lewis School in Millville students

and staff?

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The index fingers make a loop as the hand moves away from the side of the face. This could be thought of as a variation of the sign ANNOUNCE.

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What are the school-wide expectations for Margaret K. Lewis School in Millville students

and staff?

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The sign for HOPE while looking toward the future.

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What are the school-wide expectations for Margaret K. Lewis School in Millville students

and staff?

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The sign EXCITE is made with A hand shapes.

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What are the school-wide expectations for Margaret K. Lewis School in Millville students

and staff?

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The hands pushing down on the shoulder represent

the weight of responsibility.

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Students and staff are encouraged to recite their pledge that describes what is expected.

• I promise to SOAR like an MKL EAGLE.

I am Successful and do my best.I am Optimistic about myself and others.I am Ambitious and work hard.I am Responsible for my actions.I am an MKL SOARing EAGLE.

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Expectations and Pledge

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School-wide Expectations are met by following the Rules

There are rules for each of these areas: Bus Waiting Playground Cafeteria Hallway Library Gym Classrooms

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Bus Waiting Rules

• Be ready to load your bus.• Use a quiet voice.• Stay at your bus table and keep your hands, feet

and objects to self.

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Playground Rules

• Play well together.• Listen to staff.• Always stay inside the playground.• You are responsible for your actions.

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Cafeteria Rules

• Eat first, talk later.• Always use good table manners.• Take care of your personal space.

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Hallway Rules

• Watch where you are going.• Always have a quiet voice.• Listen to staff.• Keep hands and feet to self.

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Library Rules

• Be on time.• Obey librarian and staff.• Only use computers with permission.• Keep books clean and dry.• Scan your book to check out.

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Gym Rules

• Go to and from the gym quietly and orderly.

• You need to line up along the wall.• Make sure you participate in P.E.

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Mrs. Denman’s Classroom Rules

• Willing to work.• Obey teachers.• Responsible for my actions.• Keep hands, objects and feet to self.

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Business Partners

• Naval Diving and Salvage Training School in Panama City at one of our monthly Eagle of the Month Assemblies.

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Business Partners

Gulf Power (electric energy supplier) Transformers at some of our School-wide Events

Our principal and assistant principal on the right of photo below.

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School-wide Events

• The PBS Team will be hosting a series of events throughout the year for students who have demonstrated SOARing behavior.

• To be admitted to the event, each student will have to earn four wooden nickels. Each nickel represents a school-wide expectation – Successful, Optimistic, Ambitious, or Responsible.

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School-wide EventsMKL Wooden Nickels

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Western Day at School

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MKLM PBS Team

• Susan Barthelemy, Elementary Department• Rita Carlson, Secondary Department• Sue Denman, Independent Department• Judy Griffith, Communication Department• Diana Keisker, District Representative• Beth Lawrence, Paraprofessionals• Elizabeth Parker, Administration

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Thank you for your attention and feel free to ask any questions.

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