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Fifth graders Jackie Shaw,  and Isatou Sanneh, from Meadowdale Elementary, were both named Eagle of the Month for their excellence in schoolwork during the month of January.  About 55 students were recognized in the school’s Eagle of the Month Assembly on Feb. 5.

At Meadowdale Elementary, students aspire to be the Eagle of the Month.

About 55 students in kindergarten through sixth grade were awarded certificates on Friday for their student achievements during the month of January at Meadowdale’s Eagle of the Month Assembly.

Every month, the school holds an Eagle of the Month Assembly to recognize 50-60 students for following school rules, meeting expectations and exhibiting positive behavior.

“[Kids] are getting recognized for making good choices and being respectful, but then it’s also an opportunity for those kids who didn’t get an award for the month to strive to get one the next month,” said Principal Dan Davis.

Students are awarded for demonstrating excellence in schoolwork or one of the six lifelong learning skills Meadowdale teachers instill in their curriculum:  respect, responsibility, reflection and self-awareness, cooperation, problem solving and decision making, and independent work habits.

The assemblies are a way for Meadowdale to be proactive instead of reactive in the behavior recognition of its students, Davis said.

“Kids will come up to me, especially when it gets close to the assembly time, and tell me ‘I sure hope I get the Eagle of the Month this month,’” he said.  “There’s definitely that motivation of wanting to be recognized, [and] I think that goes a long way.”

Every teacher nominated up to three students from their classrooms for the award.  In the past, students in fifth and sixth grade voted for the Eagle of the Month students in their grades.

Fifth grader Isatou Sanneh was named an Eagle of the Month for her excellence in schoolwork.  She said she got the award because she started encouraging herself to read more.

“Usually I hated to read, and reading was the worst thing I wanted to do, but the only way to get the better grade was to read and to understand reading,” she said.

Sanneh’s award on Feb. 5 was her third nomination for Eagle of the Month.  She said she’s proud of herself, just as any student should be, but that the real reward is doing better in school.

“They give the awards so that the children that go the school know that they need to encourage themselves more to getting better grades and to work harder and [follow] the Meadowdale way,” she said.

Fifth grader Jackie Shaw was also named an Eagle of the Month for her excellence in schoolwork.  She said her teacher saw that she asks a lot of questions in class and that she does well on her homework.

“If people are given the award for doing a good job, they may keep on doing a good job,” she said. “It’s also nice to get an award, so you know that you’re doing something good.”

The award on Feb. 5 was Shaw’s eighth nomination, and her second as a fifth grader.  She said she’s going to continue to be a good student so that she can get another award.

The assembly is just one of several character-building programs at Meadowdale.  Other programs include No-Name Calling Week and the Cool Kid Award.  

“We just try to do a lot of positive things at the school to really build community and culture, and also a sense of safety, and so the assembly is one way we do that,” Davis said.  “We want to help kids build solid character.”

Meadowdale parents are invited to attend the 2:15 p.m. assembly when their children are nominated as an Eagle of the Month.

Following the assembly, photos of all the Eagle of the Month students are then posted for display on Meadowdale’s Eagle of the Month board for the rest of the month.

For every Eagle of the Month Assembly, the school has a fun dress-up theme for the day.  The theme for the Feb. 5 assembly was sports.  Students wore jerseys and sweatshirts of their favorite sports teams for the assembly.

The next Eagle of the Month Assembly is on March 5.