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052595 West Patent students celebrate the Earth
by LAUREN S. GORDON
Well, not quite. These events were all a part of West Patent Elementary School's "Earth Day," Thursday, May 18.
The purpose of the day was to give students hands-on experience and teach them the importance of taking responsibility for the environment. Students and teachers took topics they had been studying, such as rain forests, earthworms, water-pollution and environmental protection, out of textbooks and incorporated them into their daily lives.
The day was organized by teacher Anne Minotti with the help of an Earth Day committee.
Activities
Each "team" of students had its own stations and activities. The first and second graders were painting white T-shirts, using stencils of butterflies, animals, whales and frogs, that were designed by one mother. Older students did painting on T-shirts, creating pictures in keeping with the Earth Day theme.
Earth conscious students
Four students display their work and new knowledge at West Patent Elementary School's earthday on Thursday, May 18. Lauren Gordon photo
Several students nurtured their own caterpillars, which they will continue to watch throughout the reproduction cycle. In a couple of weeks, these earth-conscious students will let their fully formed butterflies fly free.
In the computer room, students tested the pH levels of water for acid rain.
At another station, students were creating a "healthy, earth-conscious snack" — homemade trail mix.
The day was enriched by a visit from environmental speakers, and Naturalist Bill Robinson, who brought along various animals of prey that are important to the balance of nature.
"This is not frivolous activity," said third grade teacher Barbara Gurney. "This is related to the curriculum we teach everyday. We incorporated the subjects we were going to teach and made them more special by attaching them to Earth Day." ,
Several of Ms. Gurney's students were hard at work designing ways
to educate young people about the importance of the rain forests. "Students gathered statistics and found out that 100 acres of rain forests are destroyed every minute," Ms. Gurney said. "At that rate, there will be no more rain forests in 50 years."
In order to combat this destructive cycle, the students made posters, wrote to rain forest organizations, designed educational pic-
ture books and wrote petitions to government officials.
Parent involvment
Parent Toni Glanzer said there was "an extensive amount of parental involvement" with this day. "I think having parents involved generates a lot of energy and emotional excitement," she added.
"It is the parents in this building that make these things work," said Susan Hellman, West Patent's principal. "It's the spirit of volunteerism."
Students spoke of enjoying the day's activities, as well as gaining a real appreciation for the Earth and its importance.
A group of students in the science club dedicated a lot of time to the preparation of Earth Day by designing posters, giving tips on Earth protection and publicizing the day over the loudspeaker.
"We make eight barrels of garbage each day," said fourth-grade student Lee Sacks.
"Our goal is to not even create one barrel of garbage today," said fifth grader Danna Freedman-Sham.
In an effort to meet this goal, the students brought their own lunches, with recycleables, such as Tupper-ware and cloth napkins.
Positive response
All students responded positively to the days activities, and expressed a desire to continue the earth-conscious behavior everyday.
"I think what we are trying to get across is how important the environment is and how we should clean it up," said fourth grader Alexandra Kohl.
"You don't think about pollution everyday but seeing it with our own eyes, we see what we are living in," said Danna Freedman-Shara.
"
We never cared until now. Now we really know and we really care," Lee Sacks said.Fourth grader Alex Mosley said, "We want to keep it going on," echoed by Lee Sacks, who summed up the experience.
"Today is a special day. Today everyone doesn't pollute and every-one recycles," Lee said enthusiastically. "The next day people go right back to their old behavior and people pollute," he continued, with more sadness than enthusiasm. "We want people to realize that every day is Earth Day."