The staff of James M. Quinn Elementary School launched into the year with a message about good behavior and a promise to students that good behavior comes with great rewards.

Hundreds of youngsters hooted and hollered as they cheered on some of their favorite teachers and administrators at Quinn School during a head-to-head volleyball game on Friday. The competition was meant to promote sportsmanship and kick off the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Program.

“The program focuses on when kids do things well,” Assistant Principal Audra Thomas said.

The staff decided to use their annual volleyball game to show students how to be supportive if others make mistakes.

“It’s important in unifying the community,” outreach worker Kelly Bloom said. “We try to set examples with our anti-bullying skits and sportsmanship assemblies.”

Bloom said the purpose of the program is to emphasize respect for others and to set an example of the behavioral expectations at Quinn.

“[The volleyball game] is something fun for the staff to do and everyone comes together,” said Thomas. “It’s one of my favorite assemblies.”

Principal Colin Grimsey said the volleyball game teaches a lot about sportsmanship and having fun.

“It brings the whole school together, and it’s a great way to kick off the school year,” said Grimsey. “The teachers love it, too.”

The assembly also marked the beginning of a program to help promote good behavior in which each class is given a rocket. The rockets are essentially piggybanks filled with tokens rewarded to students for good behavior. The program has been ongoing at Quinn for several years.

There are three different types of rockets in the program: small classroom rockets;medium-sized rockets for each grade; and a towering, four-foot tall rocket for the entire school.

“If a child is doing something well, an adult, or even one of their peers, will give them a coin to put in the rocket,” said Thomas. “Once the classroom rocket is filled, the class gets a prize, such as an extra movie or recess time.”

Once the classroom rocket is filled with the “rocket fuel,” the coins are placed into even larger rockets for each grade level, which are about two feet tall. If a grade manages to fill a rocket, an even bigger prize is rewarded, such as a bouncy house.

According to Thomas, Quinn Elementary has three major expectations: for the students to respect themselves, to respect others and to respect property.

School psychologist Katie Noyes came up with a motto for the program after seeing someone in the community with a T-shirt with the same saying: “I respect you, I respect me, I respect everything I see.”

“I hope it spreads and [the students] adopt it,” said Noyes. “I also hope the slogan helps them remember the things they're working on and to remember why they got their coin.”

Ultimately, the major goal is to fill a third and final rocket that accounts for good behavior across the entire school.

“I think this year will be the year,” Thomas said, referring to her hope to see Quinn's students fill the giant rocket.