SOUTH LOOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEARN, CREATE, EXPLORE & EXPERIENCE

THE STUDENTS The students in this neighborhood are in the upper class however, some of the students that were picked from the lottery are middle class as well. I know a lot about this school as well because my grandson attends this school now. This school cares about the students academics and arts. Their logo is the Lion the reason for the lion is to teach the students to: Be safe: a lion is strong, and like a lion, south loop students will be strong and make good decisions that keep ourselves and our classmates safe. we will keep our bodies strong by eating right and exercising! Be responsible: a lion is a leader, and like a lion, south loop students will be responsible leaders. we will do the right thing and set a good example. we will see what needs to be done and do it, and we will help those less fortunate than ourselves. Be respectful: a lion is proud, and like a lion, south loop students will show respect for themselves and each other by displaying pride in our being, our accomplishments, the accomplishments our classmates, and our school.

INNOVATIVE & UNIQUE This school offers the Kids College website to help them learn while at home. It also have an Accelerated Program which is proud to be one of CPS's Regional Gifted Centers, housed here at South Loop Elementary School. The Gifted Department has been in existence since 2003, and is known here at South Loop School as the Accelerated Program. Our Accelerated Program is an incremental part of South Loop School's personality, and its unique, diverse community. This school is also very diverse with different nationalities.

21 ST CENTURY SKILLS The 21 st Century Skills that are being used at the South Loop schools are the basic academic along with the national Beta Club. Like all National Beta Clubs, the South Loop School club prepares young people for life. It empowers them to be successful and helps them grow as young adults. It grooms them to be the leaders of tomorrow by challenging them to lead today through the service of others. The South Loop Beta Club places a high value on community service. Students learn that the Beta values of academic achievement, character and leadership are all strengthened when we work together to plan and perform community service projects. Students are taught to look at everything as an opportunity to learn something new and gain new experience.

REFLECTING CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY South Loop reflect culturally relevant pedagogy when they have their Around the World which is an evening event where our families come together to celebrate and learn about our diverse cultures. Families are invited to create a display about their culture with foods, artifacts, photographs and books. Our celebration culminates with several live performances, including music and dance. It is a special evening that all of our families enjoy, whether presenting about their own culture or learning about others. One day each month is designated as a Culture Awareness Day! Teachers plan classroom activities to learn about the month's designated cultural group.

CREATIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM South Loop uses creativity in the classroom for both teacher and the student by offer the classes that will help them bring up their talents. These classes consist of Lango's dynamic classes which incorporate original music, dance, games and storytelling to keep kids immersed and engaged in their target language. Our experienced and fluent teachers lead kids through the adventures of the "Lango Kids," a multicultural cast of characters who appear in our original workbooks, songs, and other learning materials. Our brand new fall curriculum is titled Tennis Adventures and promises to be a ton of fun for students and parents alike. New this year, Lango students will all have access to our new interactive e-books for at home follow up! (minimum of 6 students to run classes). When discussing classroom creativity, teachers often report that they value student creativity but feel overwhelmed with more pressing curricular constraints (Beghetto, 2007). It is true that some subjects do not necessarily require students to learn creatively and that promoting student creativity requires much more classroom time (Beghetto & Plucker, 2006) than other types of learning. However, encouraging creativity is not contradictory to classroom learning. Therefore, enhancing student creativity can be seen as one basic curricular task. For this reason, if teachers understand that the most promising instructional strategies to foster creativity are idea-generation activities, much more opportunities would appear in the classroom. Pang, Weiguo "Promoting creativity in the classroom: A generative view." Psychology Of Aesthetics, Creativity, And The Arts 9, no. 2: PsycARTICLES, EBSCOhost (accessed June 14, 2015).

REFERENCES Shelton, T. (2012) Cultural Exploration. South Loop Elementary. Retrieved on June 13, 2015 from Pang, Weiguo "Promoting creativity in the classroom: A generative view." Psychology Of Aesthetics, Creativity, And The Arts 9, no. 2: PsycARTICLES, EBSCOhost (accessed June 14, 2015).