Langtree Elementary School’s 5th grade classes are celebrating the school’s 50th anniversary by giving back to their community.
Principal Joyce Gallo, teachers and the PTA have dubbed this year, The Year of Triple 5’s—5th Grade, 50th Anniversary, 5 Projects. The 5th grade classes will be completing five service projects during the 2016-2017 school year, and on Monday they will head to the Hamilton Township Senior Center to complete one more.
Students will be visiting the senior center for a Valentine’s Day Party. The students are being treated to a dance lesson from the seniors and have planned to teach the seniors a dance of their own.
In addition to snacks, music and dancing, the students are bringing some of their favorite board games to play with their new senior friends. One hundred township seniors are signed up to attend and the Langtree students are busy creating handmade Valentine’s Day cards to bring on the big day.
Other projects included:
Thanksgiving Cheer: A Project for Meals on Wheels of Mercer County. In November, students decorated 180 placemats and made paper flowers for participants of the MOW program to make their holiday a little more cheerful.
Holiday Happiness: Holiday Cards for deployed Troops from Joint Base McGuire-Dix. In December, the students made holiday cards with a message of their choice. They also made a blank card for the soldiers to write in and send home to their loved ones. The cards were packed up with some candy treats and delivered to the base by a handful of students.
Socks, Snacks and Encouragement: Collection for the Trenton Salvation Army. The students filled 200 pairs of new socks full of prepackaged crackers, cookies, fruit snacks, granola bars, etc. that were donated by the entire student body. The 5th graders also created encouraging messages—such as, “you are beautiful,” “push yourself because no one else is going to do it,” “you are so much stronger than you think”—and placed them in the socks. These will be passed out to the poor and homeless community served by the Trenton Salvation Army Community Outreach Mobile Cantina.
Bulldogs Helping Bulldogs. In the Spring, students will complete their last project and make fleece dog blankets for a New Jersey Bulldog Rescue. They chose the bulldogs to honor the school mascot.
