Liberty Learning Foundation’s Next Great Americans Bus Tour rolled into Anniston where five city schools had come together at Cobb Elementary to kick off the Super Citizen Program. In a 45-minute theatrical performance starring Libby Liberty,™ students sang, watched engaging videos and learned more about the exciting educational program they’ll begin after the buss rolls away. Today, however, the lady in green also introduced students to a soon-to-be-famous TV star, Mr. Palmer, who was on-screen and on-“hand” to entertain and teach more than 200 second graders from Cobb, Constantine, Tenth Street, Randolph, and Golden Springs Elementary Schools.
Palmer (essentially a witty and charasmatic hand puppet) leads the video, activity and project-based Super Citizen Program that engages grades 1-2 students in civics, character, financial literacy, careers and social studies.
After a video introduction to his other characters, and the mantra that kids have to “do good to be good,” Palmer handed the show back over to Statue of Liberty actress, Libby. She had young volunteers on stage to demonstate dimensions of the actual Green Lady, brought history to life, and ended with a rousing sing-along of our tour anthem, “YOU in the USA.“
“My favorite part about the show today was how Mr. Palmer got the students to join in on the fun,“ said Tawanna Vickers, Program Director for the Liberty Learning Foundation. “It was exciting to see the children’s reaction when Mr. Palmer asked them to create a hand puppet of their own. They created their hand puppets and raised them high up in the air. More importantly, they’ll take that enthusiasm back to the classroom to learn more.”
The Super Citizen Program will conclude with a project-based activity called “Helping Hands” where classes from all five schools bring their lessons full-circle – nominating and honoring a community hero at their graduation ceremonies. Press, parents and VIPs will be invited invited as students show proof that “when you honor a hero, you become a hero.
Today’s event, teacher training and crucial program resource kits were generously donated to Anniston City Schools by Wholesale Paper & Chemical who is investing in the future of child, community and country through this initiative.