(Ehete, WY) – Wyoming Indian Middle School recently hosted its “Be A Good Relative Week,” now in its second year, as a part of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Program.
Each day of the week had a specific theme and learning lessons, including:
- Monday: Honor Your Grandparents – Grandparents were invited to the school for breakfast and an assembly with all students and staff. Young Sky Nation Singers sang an honor song for all of the students’ grandparents. Students wore medallions with their grandparents’ names throughout the day. Grandparents also spent time in the library, mentoring students with stories of their grandparents and how life was for them as they were growing up.
- Tuesday: Respect Food and Water – Students prepared a community meal in conjunction with the Native Summer Garden Program. The Native Summer Garden, sponsored by the WIS JOM IEC and led by Ms. Maggie Bisaga, Ms. Shota Runs Close To Lodge, and Mrs. Gloria Goggles, provided fresh vegetables for the meal of Elk Chili, Buffalo Vegetable Stew, Baked Acorn Squash, Wild Rice, and Peppermint Tea with Honey. Students and staff cooked the meal and created a recipe cookbook, which was sent home with families.
- Wednesday: Respect School Community – Students picked up trash and litter from the school grounds and surrounding areas.
- Thursday: Remember Who You Represent – Students created banners that display the ways that they are positive, contributing members of their community.
- Friday: Respect All Our Relatives – Students wore red to represent all Native People here in the Wind River area and all over the US.
CeCe Prine, Instructional Facilitator at WIMS said that the “amount of hard work and effort by the staff and students to make the Family Dinner night successful was amazing.”
“Students learned how to make Elk Chili and Buffalo Stew, they colored place mats, put together food boxes, and made chokecherry glaze. For many school family nights, teachers and staff prepare everything, the middle school students drove everything and helped make this a successful evening for all who attended. We had over 120 people attend the dinner, students, siblings, parents, grandparents, former students, and friends.”
“Be a Good Relative Week was an exceptional experience that reinforced the values of respect, responsibility, and connection—helping students grow as citizens, learners, and relatives,” Prine added.
Prine also explained more about what the PBIS program entails, and described it as a “multi-tiered framework that Wyoming Indian schools use to improve behaviors and outcomes through positive, safe, and effective learning environments.”
“Wyoming Indian Middle School has built a PBIS program that is culturally responsive so that students are not only learning the positive behaviors that we want to see in the school, but also to provide an understanding of the behaviors as seen through their native culture. The Be A Good Relative Week was designed to teach positive behaviors in a way that connects to students’ backgrounds and promotes a deeper sense of belonging to our community in and outside of the classroom.”
The WIMS PBIS team will also be traveling to Spokane, WA, this month to present at the National Indian Education Association conference to discuss ways for other Native schools to make their PBIS program culturally responsive.