HMES Greets Each Morning with a Roar

When attendance at Herbert Mills STEM Elementary School was dwindling in 2013, the staff set out to find a way to get students excited to come to school.

The Morning Roar is a daily all-school assembly where the Herbert Mills Tigers are recognized and celebrated, students read announcements, teachers can check in and make announcements and the body and mind are engaged.

In addition to the announcements, achievements and birthdays are celebrated with a “roar” and simple exercises called Brain Boosters, like 10 jumping jacks, get the blood flowing. The assembly concludes with a “Coffey quote” to provide inspiration to the day.

“This is an opportunity for us to have an informal way to celebrate our students and share our vision for the school. We build our school culture through Morning Roar,” said Principal Coffey.

A tour group from Cincinnati recently visited Herbert Mills and they were excited to participate in Morning Roar. “We used to have an attendance problem here, and now kids are begging their parents to drop them off before the first bell so they don’t miss Morning Roar,” said Thomie Timmons, innovation coordinator for the District.

The tour group was also interested to see how Herbert Mills implemented arts into their STEM curriculum. Principal Coffey took the group of administrators and educators around the school, which was the first tour to visit after HMES’ recent STEM designation from the Ohio Department of Education. Two more tours are scheduled from Cleveland and Dayton later this month. Typically, HMES hosts two tours every month.

For more photos from Morning Roar, check out our Facebook Page!