School type Public, Elementary School number 5410 Faculty 43 (on FTE basis) Phone +1 773-534-5070 District Chicago Public Schools | Established 1926 Principal Kate Kane Grades PK-8 School board Chicago Public Schools Mascot Peterson Panther | |
Address 5510 N Christiana Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA | ||
Mary G Peterson Elementary School, known both as Peterson School and Peterson Elementary, is a public elementary school in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is part of Chicago Public Schools and was established in 1926.
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As of the 2012-2013 school year, the school had an enrollment of 858 students and 43 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis)
History
The school was founded in 1926 in honor of Mary Gage Peterson. The Peterson family owned a lot of land in North Park where the school is located. Mary Gage Peterson donated the land for the expressed purpose of public education. She was an avid conservationist and wrote Nature Lover's Creed in 1908.
In 2004, Peterson Elementary was one of only three schools in Illinois to receive a 2004 Technology for Teaching grant from Hewlett Packard. That same year, the Illinois Conservation Foundation awarded Peterson Elementary a grant to fund the school's "Classroom in a Garden" project, an effort that focused on an outdoor garden curriculum for approximately 300 first through third grades students.
In 2012, Paul Chapman of Iverness Associates and author of "Greening America's Schools: The Environmental Sustainability Movement in K-12 Education recognized Peterson Elementary as one of a handful of Chicago Public Schools committed to incorporating sustainable "green practices" into everyday school activities and the curriculum.
In 2014, Peterson Elementary installed an array of solar panels on the school's green roof and connected them to the Internet so that students and staff can see exactly how much "green" energy is being produced for their school. Peterson student recyclers were also recognized for the work maintaining recycling programs in all classrooms, and Peterson's compost team were congratulated for their work turning cafeteria leftovers into nourishment for the Peterson school garden. As of 2014, the Peterson garden has been maintained for more than a decade, giving students the chance to witness and participate in the entire food cycle.
Notable faculty
In 2005, Peterson Elementary grades 4/5 teacher and educator Mary E. Carney was a finalist for the Golden Apple Award. In 2010, Peterson Elementary social studies and civics educator Dr. Mark Brady was recognized by Pearson with an Independence Award for his achievements in social studies education. In 2011, Peterson Elementary 6/7 grades mathematics educator Robert Reynolds was selected for the Distinguished Fulbright Award in Teaching and spent one year in Finland researching mathematics instruction before returning to Peterson in 2012. In 2012, vice principal Kate Kane received the Roberts Award for School Innovation and used the funds to establish a Summer Curriculum Development Institute for teachers to explore incorporating Common Core standards and mapping targeted interventions for at-risk students. In 2013, Peterson Elementary Principal Adam Parrott-Sheffer was named "Most Valuable Principal" by Playworks. In 2014, music teacher and band director, Anand Sukamaran, received a Golden Apple award for excellence in teaching.