Benteen Elementary School Celebration of Learning

With just a week left before the last day of school, Benteen Elementary School hosted its Celebration of Learning exhibition, where the fifth-grade students showcased their final projects of the year.

The Benteen Elementary School International Baccalaureate (IB) program helps students become more globally minded and connected to the world. The fifth-grade students displayed their wide range of interests with projects focused on providing assistance to the homeless, erosion solutions, endangered animals, climate change, and more.

photos by: Jessica Mynatt (APS)

“Students look forward to this all year long as it gives them a chance to really show what they learned not only this year, but through everything that they learned at Benteen,” Principal Gerard Lattimore said. “The IB program gives students a chance to really dive into inquiry-based learning and figure out solutions to help make the world a better place.”

The students researched their topics, polled their teachers and peers, and explored potential solutions to their presentation subject. One student added a digital component to his presentation and designed a zoo in Minecraft featuring the animals he was highlighting in his project.

In addition to the fifth-grade exhibition, Benteen extended its Celebration of Learning with an around-the-world experience. Students and teachers transformed their classrooms into representations of a variety of unique countries and cultures, including Japan, Jamaica, Panama, Liberia, and China.

Students shared interesting facts about their classroom’s country with detailed slideshow presentations, and offered tastings of popular foods like ramen, beef patties, jollof rice, and more.

Benteen’s Celebration of Learning exhibition serves as both a capstone event for its students heading on to middle school, and a memorable experience for all its students.

“My heart definitely goes out to this work, and I’m so excited to see how far the students have grown in this program,” Lattimore said. “Benteen is a school that welcomes everyone. We have some of the best, most dedicated teachers in the world, and they go over and beyond to make sure students get exactly what they need.”