Tips for Starting Your Patrol

Choosing your patrol groups:

• Allow elections in the classroom to decide who goes on patrol this week.
• Choose the quiet ones.
• Have each homeroom elect two students that are not “serviced” by any other group – not special ed labeled, not GT, not athletically gifted.
• Science club, honors group, student council, the environmental club are all potential Watt Watchers!
• Form a buddy team with a special ed student and a regular ed student.
• Deal a group. Write everyone’s name on a notecard and “deal” patrol groups each week by picking cards out of the pile.
• Here is a sign-up sheet you can use.

Training your patrol groups:

• You train the first ones and have them train the ones that follow.
• Start with a small group and rotate turns every month or so until everyone gets a chance to participate.
• Practice hall etiquette.

Procedures:

• Find an exit map of your school. Separate patrol areas based on any logical method to you. Grade levels, hallways, subject areas, etc.
• Patrol as you move from activity to activity within the school such as when you leave your room to go to the library, gym class or, the lunchroom.
• Charge a fine after a certain number of tickets. The collected money could go towards a prize for the Zero Hero classroom.
• The Principal’s office is fair game.
• Make Watt Watcher clipboards. Tape a map of the patrol area to each one.
• Tape instructions for each patrol on the other side of the clipboard.
• Keep all supplies in a copy paper box decorated with light bulbs.
• Laminate tickets. Write “please return to the Watt Watcher mailbox” on the backs.
• Tie pencils to the clipboards.
• Allow students to use extra class time to color thank you notes.

Special occasions:

• Have thank you days each month. Announce your thank you list on the daily announcements or at staff meetings.
• Have an energy watcher of the day for each classroom- student wears a button and is responsible for turning off the light all day.
• Display graphs of your energy usage and savings in prominent areas.
• Do the Kick Off skit at the beginning of the year and change it to reflect your program at the end of the year.