At Thompson Intermediate School in Alabaster, students and teachers were all about Torch Teams this week, while the Liberty Team returned to visit the school to check in on how the Super Citizen Program is doing.
Vice President of Educational Resources Cynthia Green and Roving Reporter Barbie Sumner stopped in nineteen 5th grade classrooms to speak to students on how they are nominating their Hometown Heroes and also, how they plan to raise funds to purchase the statue to give to their heroes.
Mrs. Dominquez and Mrs. Smith‘s classrooms are still learning what a Super Citizen is. Due to their diversity in their class, students in Mrs. Dominquez’s class decided to use different languages to describe what characteristics a Super Citizen has.
“We talked about the qualities of a Super Citizen – the 3 c’s. Since the students did not understand this, we used various resources to help them understand the various qualities in their home language.”, said Mrs. Cheryl Dominguez. “The students understood the words we were able to talk about the application of courage, compassion, and commitment and what it looks like. This led into our nomination of our Hero…Mrs. Vaccarella. This group of students has worked hard at writing a biography about Mrs. Vaccarella…focusing on the 3’cs!”
Outside Mrs. Smith’s classroom, they showcased a Super Citizen Wall. They hope to hang all the posters or essays that each students writes to help their students think of how they are making an impact in their community.
Other classes we spoke with were ready to nominate their Torch Team Heroes! These classes voted individually on their Torch Team Heroes and we were live to be a part of the big unveiling of the winner. With the majority of the votes, one fifth grade class decided to nominate 3 year old Charlie Jean. Charlie was diagnosed with cancer and at a young age is fighting for her life. These fifth graders noticed her strength and courage and wanted to recognize her for that.
Now that students have picked their Torch Team Hero, they are brainstorming ideas on how their class can purchase a Statue of Liberty Replica to present to their hero at the Graduation Celebration. Some classes like Mrs. Kristin Hall’s, are doing a coin drop to raise funds, while others have decided to be more creative.
Students in 4 classrooms at Thompson Intermediate are having a Marketplace to raise funds. Students in these classes are making items to sell to raise the funds, they are making things like bracelets, art projects, and tons of other ideas.Teachers we spoke with are so excited to see their students turning into littler entrepreneurs!
Thompson Intermediate’s Celebration is scheduled for December 4th at Thompson High School. These fifth graders will present their statue to their Torch Team Heroes during this Celebration event.
