Celebrating Godzilla’s birthday and great attendance

Washington Elementary School students were treated to some special visitors last Friday as part of an innovative approach to improving school attendance.
The school held a “Godzilla’s Birthday” celebration on April 11, 2025, marking another creative milestone in a year-long attendance initiative spearheaded by school social worker Kelli Masters Morgan.
“It was more than just a fun day. It was part of a larger, year-long effort I’ve been leading to help our third graders understand the importance of consistent school attendance,” Morgan said. “Ever since COVID, truancy rates across the state have skyrocketed. Students are missing more school than ever before, which has a direct impact on their ability to learn and make academic progress.”
Morgan has employed several creative approaches throughout the school year to engage students around attendance.
“To help reverse this trend, I’ve been using creative, playful approaches to make the message stick with our younger learners,” she said. “In addition to Godzilla, I’ve dressed up as the ‘Attendance Fairy’ complete with tutu and wings, crowned ‘Attendance Royalty,’ and even introduced surprise visits from the ‘Polar Pals’ who magically moved around the building reminding students of the benefits of excellent attendance.”

The “Polar Pals” initiative also selected students with strong attendance habits to become “Attendance Elves,” adding peer recognition to the program, she said. Morgan believes these playful approaches are making a difference with the elementary students.
The Friday celebration came after students tracked classroom attendance throughout the month, working toward earning the special birthday party for the famous movie monster.
“On Friday morning, they were greeted by the dinosaur crew,” Morgan said. “During lunch, we had birthday cake and played a hilarious ‘Go Go Godzilla’ music video featuring cameos from our third grade students.”
The festivities continued throughout the day with Godzilla visiting classrooms to praise excellent attendance before the “entire dinosaur crew waved goodbye to send the message home” at dismissal time.
“The kids had so much fun—and I believe the pro-attendance message really landed,” Morgan said.
“My goals are simple: to get students’ attention, educate them about attendance expectations, and celebrate attendance success,” she said. “Hopefully these efforts will help build long-term attendance habits to support learning and achievement.”