What is Capturing Kids’ Hearts?

Capturing Kids' Hearts is a relationship centered program that seeks to create positive and meaningful classroom interactions that leads to a student-centered, self managing classroom where all children are valued and celebrated.

How does it work?

Teachers use the EXCEL model to communicate with students. Students create their own rules via a “social contract.” s

The EXCEL model is used:

• to build relationships

• to build self-managing groups

• to build safe classrooms and schools

Engage: Students are greeted at the door with eye contact and a sincere handshake, knuckle bump or other such greeting to welcome them to school and start the day on a positive note.

X-plore: Teachers listen and attend to the personal, emotional and academic needs of our students.

Communicate: Teachers communicate care as well as content.

Empower: Teachers empower students to gain the ability to “use and do” the things they have been taught.

Launch: Deals with how we “end and send” out students into the world. The purpose is to start out students on a course of actions by ending our classes on a powerful note.

The Social Contract:

At the beginning of the school year, a Social Contract is created by the students, facilitated by the teacher, in effort to answer four questions regarding the environment of the classroom. The four questions include:

• How do you want to be treated by the teacher?

• How do you want to be treated by each other?

• How do you think the teacher wants to be treated by you?

• How do we want to treat each other when there is conflict?

The resulting answers make up a list of adjectives which serve as the basis for student expectations of behavior in the classroom.

The Social Contract is signed by all classroom members including the teacher.

The document is a living document and is referred to on a regular basis to highlight success and serves as a guide for when problems arise.

The Four Behavior Questions:

These are questions that we ask each other to help stay true to the social contract.

• What are you doing?

• What are you supposed to be doing?

• Are you doing that?

• What are you going to do about that?

Good Things (News):

Sometime throughout the day, teachers will allow time for good things or good news. This is a time when students share something good that is going on with them. This creates an environment of positivity and helps build relationships.

The students at CME are recognized for following the components of Capturing Kids’ Hearts. Teachers and Staff members can reward students for following the social contract and SOAR matrixes in the hallways, lunchroom, gym, playground and parking lot by giving them a SOAR ticket. Students put their name on the ticket and put it in the classroom SOAR bucket. On Fridays teachers pull two tickets and those students get to go to the prize case and select a prize.