News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Alpena Community Schools School Social Worker Travis Boik discussed the different tools that students use in the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports ROAR room on Monday at Alcona Elementary School.

ALPENA — Principal Tim Lee and School Social Worker Travis Boik at Alcona Elementary School have been experimenting with an innovative method of behavior management for the past four years — they call it the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports ROAR room.

ROAR is an acronym used school-wide that enforces positive behavior. The letters stand for respectful, on-task, always safe, and responsible.

When you first walk into the ROAR room, you will see what looks like an indoor jungle gym. There’s a trampoline, a kid-sized elliptical and rowing machine, a ladder, a balance beam in the shape of a figure eight, and a standard balance beam.

A fish tank in the back of the classroom houses a school of salmon. Different varieties of fish are painted on the wall behind and to the left of the tank.

As you look to the right, you will see a desk that is often occupied by Paraprofessional Hailey Neilsen, as well as a circular table for students to work at. In the corner behind the table, a set of curtains separates a space for students to take a time out if needed.

You might wonder what it’s all used for, especially the trampoline and other equipment.

Students with Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, that have different sensory and social-emotional needs from other students may utilize the ROAR room, Lee said.

Students do not need to have an IEP to use the space, however.

“There’s a lot of other students that have a need just throughout the day, whether it’s an ongoing, like just kind of restless stuff, students that may have ADHD, they just need an outlet to burn some energy,” Lee said.

For some students, transitions are tough throughout the day. Going from physical education back to the classroom, for instance, can be difficult since students are hyped up from physical activity. Instead of going straight to class, a student might stop into the ROAR room to reset and acclimate back to learning time.

Students use the ROAR room for five to 10 minutes at a time. It is not a place for students to mess around or hang out with friends, but a place to learn social and emotional skills that are often not the primary purpose of instructional time. Boik and Lee are in constant communication with staff to make sure students are not coming down to the ROAR room just to escape from class.

“We had a student, he was pretty angry at the teacher,” Boik said. “He’s arguing today, and he came down here, and the biggest thing is they can’t come down here and just play with Legos. If they’re yelling, we have to do a behavioral reflection for what happened, who was involved? Why did you make the choice?”

They also teach students coping skills to help them handle future negative emotions.

Since the ROAR room has been in use, the number of suspensions and discipline referrals has decreased, Boik said. Kids do not just sit in the office for thirty minutes anymore if they are acting out in class. Instead, they come to the ROAR room, reflect on the behavior, de-stress, and go back to class.

It is especially helpful for kindergartners.

“Suspending kindergartners does not work, right?” Boik said. “Like, we used to suspend a kid out of school for a week. Typically, parents are working or they’re being watched by grandparents. They’re going home to either play video games or play with their toys.”

Once a kid realizes that acting out means they get to go home and play, they will repeat that behavior, Boik said. When they are sent to the ROAR room for five minutes instead of being suspended, that behavior decreases, Lee and Boik have found. The goal is for kids to miss the least amount of instructional time possible, while also teaching the social and emotional skills they need to participate in class.

“It’s an opportunity for them to truly learn some of those student skills and those regulation skills and understand what a student looks like and how they act like too,” Lee said.

The ROAR room has evolved over the past four years. Lee and Boik said as an example, there used to be tents for students to use. They found that kids were not using them correctly over time and replaced them with other tools. They plan to continue making changes to the room to match the needs of students from year to year.

One of the tools that the ROAR room offers to students is the Salmon in the Classroom project. Students who visit the ROAR room have helped raise the salmon from eggs to the size they are now.

“Typically, this would be like a science project, but I’m probably one of the first social workers for the DNR’s Salmon in the Classroom, to really tie it to social and emotional learning,” Boik said.

There is a sign next to the salmon tank that displays the eight executive functioning skills that Salmon in the Classroom teaches students.

For instance, the project can teach students self-monitoring.

“A child can monitor how good of a job they are doing by how well the salmon are doing,” the sign reads. “This skill translates well to the classroom.”

Students who come to the ROAR room regularly journal about the salmon and write down changes they have noticed from week to week. Even just watching the fish swim around the tank can be helpful for some kids, Lee said.

There are several reasons why a student would utilize the ROAR room.

For example, students might use the ROAR room if their parents call and say that something difficult happened over the weekend. So they might use the room for a couple of days while they need an outlet.

Some kids struggle with transitioning from the weekend to class time on Monday. Kids may come to the room on a Monday to talk it out and get some energy out before heading back to class.

Students with occupational or physical therapy needs can also use the tools found in the ROAR room.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.