Daniel Warren Elementary School Celebrates Its Own Heroes

As a culminating experience to their studies in the Daniel Warren Wonder Studio on the topic of “Heroes – Real and Fantasy,” kindergarten through second grade students and all staff members gathered in their school’s multipurpose room Dec. 10 to celebrate their own strengths.

“Our celebration was about empowering students to see the potential they all have to be heroes in their community,” Principal Tara Goldberg said. “Each student and teacher wore their own cape, which they created and decorated with symbols that represented their strengths and interests.”

During the assembly, members of each class marched up to the front of the room to showcase their capes to the applause of classmates and teachers.

Goldberg said the students have been exploring heroes through contemporary stories and folktales to develop an understanding of what it means to be a hero. They looked at the virtues that heroes embody and examined symbols used on costumes and the meanings they hold. In addition, the students reflected on different questions, such as “Why do we have heroes?” “Why are heroes important?” and “Can a kid be a superhero?”

“The students considered and wrote about ways they could use their own hero strengths for good,” librarian and media teacher Leigh Ann Kowalchick-Porphy said.

As the study came to an end, the students participated in a hero training session and worked at stations that helped develop their perseverance, trust, teamwork and problem-solving.