By Liz Nolan, Contributing Writer
Northborough – Each month Fannie E. Proctor Elementary School highlights a character theme. “Caring” was November’s theme and students and staff were busy with activities which not only showed caring for their school community, but also the larger Northborough community.
The school held a candy collection for the troops and a winter coat drive for Northborough families in need. One effort that has been part of Proctor Pride tradition for 14 years is its annual Turkey Trot, which incorporates exercise, healthy competition among classes, and a food drive.
The effort was spearheaded by physical education teacher Fernando Ferreira and school nurse Diane Gage, RN. The activity’s focus is on health and cardio but has a connection with community giving. Parent volunteer and staff members joined students to cheer them on.
Principal Alana Cyr said, “The goal of this race is to not only stay fit in a fun way by seeing how many laps a class can do, but to have our students bring in much-needed items for the food pantry on the day the students race.”
This year the school tripled the number of food donations over last year and collected a total of 1,166 items.
New this year was the school’s partnership with King Arthur Flour and its free Bake for Good program. A company representative visited the school Nov. 2 and students learned how math, science and reading skills are involved in baking bread from scratch.
Fourth- and fifth-graders were given a bread-making kit to take home, which included flours, yeast and a step-by-step instruction booklet to make two loaves of bread – one to keep and one to donate to either the Northborough Senior Center or to My Father’s Table in Marlborough.
Third-graders wrote letters that accompanied each loaf, while students in grades K-2 decorated bread bags with stickers.
“It was an all-school project,” said Cyr. “In total, we baked 75 loaves of bread.”
She said she received great feedback from parents and students.
“It was a special time to slow down a bit and do this with family and be able to share what they made,” said Cyr. “They were proud of it.”
She said that although academic learning is a priority, learning to care for each other and the larger world around is important, too.