Glen Grove Community Project

I have been part of the Glen Grove Community for about 5 years now and in that time, I have learned that Gators have a lot of traditions. From the 5th grade musical to the teacher dance to the teachers lining up to wave to the buses as they leave on the last day - they are all Gator traditions that I cherish because it's a celebration of all of the hard work that everyone has put to make it to summer.

In those five years, we have experienced many changes to those traditions. Some of these changes happened because of the pandemic - the teacher dance was recorded from people's homes in 2020 and then, over the past three years, has been recorded to be shared in assemblies. The ways that field day has been run have changed from year to year and of course, the fifth-grade musical has seen many iterations. As we prepare for the end of this upcoming school year, we are changing things up once more with more in-person assemblies, practices for a live fifth-grade play, and much more.

Change of traditions happens all the time - and traditions of change happen as well.

Many of the summer celebrations are about change. Swedish Midsommar is a festival celebrated on the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice. It's a time to celebrate the beginning of summer and the changes that summer brings- longer days, warmer weather, the bounty of the land, and more.

Some of the changes are historical in nature. Imamat Day, celebrated by the Pakistani community all over the world, is a day that commemorates the most recent change in leadership in the Muslim community. The Fourth of July, or American Independence Day, remembers the change American colonists fought for to claim independence from British rule. Lastly, Juneteenth is a federal holiday commemorating enslaved African Americans' emancipation and celebrating Black history and culture.

Change is a good thing and while it can sometimes be daunting or downright scary with the end of every age and every grade, we go into summer knowing that the world keeps turning and we keep learning, both in and out of the classroom.

That said, while we close this year's chapter of the Glen Grove Community Project, we are also beginning new chapters. On behalf of the GGCP team, I sincerely thank everyone in our community for helping share its vibrancy and what makes it special.

It is important to recognize that while we have different ways to celebrate, ways to mourn, ways to remember, ways to thank, and ways to show love, we also have the common thread of the human experience. This is what we add to the fabric of this Gator family. The more I learned about this community this year, the more I appreciated and continue to appreciate being a part of it.

So, thank you, and may we all have a fun, restful, and happy summer!

Over 150 people attended Gator Family Game Night last Friday. There were a lot of smiles, a lot of laughs, and a lot of fun!

We have had quite a year as a community. Thank you for celebrating with us. Click the picture to see what we have done this year!

Craig of the Creek is a show on Cartoon Network following the adventures of Craig and his friends as they enjoy the life and community by the creek. The show has diverse characters with various background experiences and identities. Fun, wacky, and reminiscent of summers playing outside, this show has run for several seasons and is enjoyed by people both young and old.

Rated TV-PG, ages 6+

What changes does summer bring to your family?

Committee Members

• Katherine Ellison, Glen Grove Principal
• Aurora Joaquin, Glen Grove Speech-Language Pathologist
• Katelyn Kelleher, Glen Grove Psychologist
• Hedy Helfand, Glen Grove English Langauge Learning Teacher
• Marie Chang-Pisano, Glen Grove Reading Intervention Associate
• Sylvia Gorski Duarte, District Title III Family Resource Teacher
• Lindsey Lurie, District Multilingual Instructional Coach

Email: GGCommunityProject@gmail.com

(Published 11/15/2022)

The Glen Grove Community Project acknowledges that the land on which their community, Glenview District 34, lives and works today is in the original homelands of the Peoria, Bodwéwadmi (Potawatomi), Myaamia, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, Hoocąk (Ho-Chunk), and Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo) People and pay respects to the elders and communities of past and present.

In conjunction with this land acknowledgment, we want to provide resources to learn more about the original peoples and communities of the land.

Resources

• A Story of Survival: The Wampanoag and the English (A Native American Perspective of Thanksgiving)
• The Wampanoag Way (video)
• Native Americans (BrainPop video)
• Native America: A Documentary Exploring the World of America's First Peoples (PBS trailer)
• Glenview Public Library resources
• Visit The Grove to learn more about Native American groups that originally inhabited the area.