Earth Day

By Staff
Students mark event with hands-on activities
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Falkville Elementary School faculty members and students were busy as bees last week as they celebrated a fun-filled and challenging Earth Day celebration under the theme of "Let's Keep It Beautiful."
The celebration got under way in early April with each grade accepting a specific project to complete in a month.
K-1 students decorated brown grocery bags with environmental messages and illustrations and placed them at Charlie's Food Mart to advertise Earth Day in the community.
Second grade students collected and recycled newspapers to save trees.
Third grade students collected aluminum cans.
Fourth grade students created a mini-landfill to illustrate the decomposition and biodegrading of various kinds of waste.
Fifth grade students made photos of other students working on Earth Day projects and displayed them on a bulletin board.
Sixth grade students researched, wrote and created costumes for group skits to be presented to kindergarten and first grade classes.
Students also participated in grade level activities and contests as follows: Kindergarten students participated in a Smokey the Bear coloring contest; first graders sponsored a recycling parade with the help of band drummers and majorettes; second graders designed and made bookmarks with an environmental theme; third grade students wrote and illustrated poems with an environmental theme; Fourth graders made environmental posters; Fifth graders recycled trash items into useable products; and sixth graders made "Adopt-A-Playground "signs for the different grade levels to encourage upkeep of the school environment.
Guest speakers during the week leading up to Earth Day were Emily Johnson of the Decatur Recycling Center, Brad Bole and Debbie Segars, both of USDA, Daphane Moland of Wheeler Wildlife Refuge, Linda Bush of the Volunteer Center, Diane Stinson of the Pioneers, Mike McLemore of Native American Earth, Tina Rogers of Falkville Community Price, Jason Dockery of NFW's Project Wild Activities and Duey Weaver of the Alabama Forestry Commission.
Student were encouraged to wear something green Thursday (today) in keeping with the Earth Day Theme and to wear their Earth Day T-shirts on Friday.
"We had Earth Day plans in place March 1 and have participated in more hands-on activities this year than in the past," Anna Henderson, project coordinator, said.
She said by starting early the school was able to sponsor an elementary beauty walk as a fundraising project and also received a matching $1,000 donation from Wal-Mart. A $250 grant was received from the Legacy Group of Montgomery.