NILES — This week, students of Merritt Elementary School have hopped, crab-walked and done wall push-ups down their main hallway.

Brandi Zoll, the school’s counselor, is happy to see it happen. On Monday, Merritt Elementary opened up its “Merritt Cat Walk” at its 1620 Lasalle Ave., Niles location. The sensory path is meant to give students needing brain or behavioral breaks time to stretch, let loose and then relax in a structured way.

Zoll has been teaching children classroom by classroom how to follow the path of large stickers. Students have hopscotched on leaves, marched across multicolored ants and hopped from log to log.

It is “an activity to calm down my body,” said one student. To another, it was “a space to get my wiggles out.”

The sensory path is part of a larger effort launched Monday called Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, or PBIS. It was created by federal education departments and meant to improve outcomes in schools, protect well-being and foster positive behavior.

“It’s a tool to help cultivate that space in your school, that atmosphere, that culture of positivity, positive supports,” Zoll said.

Tools such as PBIS are not new to the school. Rather, launching it Monday was a way for staff to reassess ways they are teaching and encouraging safety, respect, kindness and responsibility with consistency.

“Our kids are changing, and the supports that they have at school also have to adjust so we’re meeting their needs — social, emotional, mental, academic,” Zoll said.

Students and teachers alike are being impacted by the programming already, Zoll said.

For instance, on Tuesday, students gathered in groups near the school’s entrance. There, teachers discussed how using a low voice level and be conscious of students around them when entering school for the day can make for a safer start to the day.

Students were also taught to use low voice levels when walking in the halls to avoid distracting the classes they passed.

By reteaching these lessons on respect, staff realized that they had broken their own rules, Zoll said. Now, teachers also speak in low voices and stay off of phones when they are moving through the hallways.

“The staff wholeheartedly believe that they are in a position to make a difference for the students,” Zoll said. “We want to show the students that the same expectations we have for them we have for us.”

A coalition of teachers from each grade level, staff and a person outside the school district have taken monthly courses together at Berrien RESA in Berrien Springs to learn the best ways to promote positive behavior interventions and supports. Drawing upon surveys and responses from students, teachers and parents, they devised a means to foster positive behavior.

Zoll said the group did not create a curriculum, but a series of steps everyone at Merritt can take to better themselves and the community at large.

The coalition ultimately came up with the CATS acronym as a core standard for all members of the Merritt community to follow. CATS stand for “Caring,” “Act respectfully,” “Take responsibility” and “Safety.” Each principle is meant to be taught, encouraged and celebrated at each facet of the school, from a classroom to a bus ride.

At the “Merritt Cat Walk,” for instance, students are taught to be caring by waiting their turn, respectful by keeping their voices low, responsible by helping others learn exercises and safe by heading back to their classroom after using the path.

If a student is found practicing good CATS behavior anywhere, teachers and staff can give out CATS tickets. Part of the tickets can be torn off and placed in one of two tubes as a vote.

CATS tickets earners could vote between, say, a dance party or a time for board games. Their ticket stubs are placed in clear tubes so they can see which choice is leading and be inspired to earn more CATS tickets.

The way that positive behaviors and supports are encouraged may change by next school year, said Principal Matt Severin. Monday’s launch was a soft one. As the coalition of PBIS leaders gather feedback from students and teachers, they will refine implementation.

When Merritt students learning PBIS today leave for third grade, he hopes they are set up to be successful and “ready to rock and roll.”

“We want the kids to be proud to be Brandywine Bobcats,” Severin said. “We want them to be good people just because they’re Bobcats.”