Penn Wynne Elementary School recently held a fun-filled, end-of-year assembly where the Penguins celebrated a couple of considerable accomplishments, along with the long-awaited arrival of summer break!
So, what did the Penn Wynne community have to celebrate? First, it was revealed that the Penguins raised more than $12,000 for charity during the recent Jimmy Sullivan Memorial Walkathon. Second, they surpassed the year-long, schoolwide goal of “Penguin Points” set back in September as part of Penn Wynne’s Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) program.
Jimmy Sullivan Memorial Walkathon
During the week of May 20, Penn Wynne Elementary School students participated in the annual Jimmy Sullivan Memorial Walkathon – a school tradition founded 35 years ago to help support Jimmy Sullivan, a kindergartner born with lung and heart problems.
This year, the Penn Wynne HSA, in collaboration with Jimmy’s sister Colleen Gerlach Sullivan, selected the Penn Wynne Library Community Reading Garden project as the Walkathon beneficiary. The Community Reading Garden is a "pocket park" being created at the Penn Wynne Library in Wynnewood that will serve as a place for all children to read, relax, play, study, listen to story time, meet with tutors, or enjoy other great library programming.
The Community Reading Garden will feature unique elements such as a pollinator pathway; Hügelkultur, a raised garden bed filled with repurposed organic materials; game tables; stroller and scooter parking racks; and more. When the Community Reading Garden opens in the Fall of 2025, Penn Wynne students will experience first-hand the direct and tangible connection between their hard work and the positive impact it can have on their community!
To kick off the end-of-year assembly, the Penguins and the Sullivan family presented a giant check worth $12,024.09 for the Community Reading Garden to Danielle Gowen, Children’s Librarian at the Penn Wynne Library.
Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) Program
PBIS is a set of ideas and tools used in schools to improve students' behavior. At Penn Wynne, students earn Penguin Points when staff observe them acting in ways that exemplify the “Three Bs” - Being Safe, Being Kind, and Being Respectful. There are both classroom and schoolwide point goals, and when classes reach certain point levels, they earn rewards, such as movie parties, time at the Lego wall, extra recess, and more.
At the end-of-year assembly, a group of elementary school dancers - with the help of art teacher and choreographer Ms. McNally - revealed that the students recorded more than 80,000 "Penguin Points," which exceeded the goal established at the start of the academic year. For their efforts, Principal Shawn Bernatowicz rewarded the Penguins with a special prize: a Soak ‘N’ Wet Alternative Dunk Tank, which will now provide students endless opportunities to throw bean bags at a target that, if hit, will dump a bucket of water on the head of any teacher or administrator who happens to be sitting beneath it.
Principal Bernatowicz and a handful of staff members then graciously accepted the “honor” of being the test subjects on the Soak ‘N’ Wet Alternative Dunk Tank’s maiden voyage, much to the delight of the students.
Among the other highlights from the end-of-year assembly were a special rap performed by a group of students to mark the beginning of summer and a student dance routine choreographed by Ms. McNally. For images from the check presentation and a video of the rap, dance and soaking of teachers, click play on the slideshow and video below!