Bancroft Bulletin: Looking Back
By Madeline Sumida, Elementary Program Teacher & Site Coordinator
Photos Courtesy of Madeline Sumida
As the year comes to a close, the Bancroft AALEADers are taking time to celebrate, reflect upon what they’ve experienced, and express anxieties and hopes for the future. Both classes have explored the theme of super powers and using fantasy to identify individual students’ strengths and interests. We’ve looked at heroic narratives and developed our own epic stories to illustrate and discuss how leadership, empowerment, and development relate to our own lives.
Our youth council gave quieter or more spontaneous students an opportunity to develop their abilities to plan and focus their attention. Youth council members performed tasks such as budgeting for the end of the year party and developing activities for our final week of AALEAD Olympics. Shy students on the council found their voices and shared their ideas during Carpet Time. Fifth grade council members took notes and made agendas, good practice for their oncoming middle school lives.
The end of the year party started with a respectful tribute to our departing fifth graders and a class photograph signing activity. Students wrote affectionate messages and expressed their good wishes for the summer and next school year. Then came the highlight of the party—the food! As planned by the youth council, the cross-cultural menu included sushi, tamales, and Vietnamese spring rolls. And despite the best efforts of our adult staffers, an excess of sugar also fueled the partiers!
The third through fifth grade class took on the Herculean task of cleaning the AALEAD classroom—clearing out old projects and organizing the chaos of mixed-up materials. For their parts, younger students put into practice their learning about responsible consumerism.
After lessons about reusing, reducing, and recycling, students held a market day with tables displaying their own artwork, used plastic toys, and crafts made from recycled materials. A final round of games and art during the AALEAD Olympics will send the students off to summer break with happy memories of this 2014-2015 year!