Earth Day

Today is Earth Day. I used to celebrate Earth Day by having my students design a project they could do to improve the environment. Some of them cleaned up areas which were full of waste junk. They kept track of the different types of material they found and graphed it to share. They took before and after pictures of what they were doing.

Others planted flowers and kept track of the growth of the plants. Some of them even got their parents involved and graphed the amount of oxygen the plant would add to the environment. Many times they planted the flowers around their homes but at other times they did it in a more public place.

The idea was to get them to think about their environment and their own personal impact on it. We took the entire month to do this and at the end we had presentations to share what we had done. Oh yes, the presentations had to be prepared using recycled material. No fancy paste board for this one.

Some of the students really "got into the idea" and others did the minimum. Typical for fifth and sixth grade (or any other age for that matter). I always enjoyed seeing what types of projects they would come up with. It was open ended and they could design their own project and carry it out. I never tried to assign much homework but this project was entirely done outside the class day. It didn't hurt them to do it and hopefully they gleaned something from the experience that made them better custodians of the environment.

The Ames Community Schools used to have a project called Project Eco and three times a year classes would be taken to the woods to study nature. Nancy Kurrle was the Eco lady and she was marvelous. It did not matter what age of student she had with her she related to them and taught them a lot. She now teaches at the Ames Middle School and she is just as creative and gets her students outside to study the environment. She is a passionate teacher and she communicates that passion to others. I was lucky to have had her as a partner when we went out on these trips.

I think the impetus for Project Eco was the Sixth grade overnights which we used to do at the 4-H camp over by Luther Iowa. These were the idea of another passionate teacher, Laverna Larson. We would take the students out and we would have a great time. One of the days we would have projects designed by the teachers and the second day we would have experts who would come in and help share their love of the environment. It was one of the greatest times each year. A lot of work but well worth it.

We would go, rain or shine, and the fact that it is raining right now with the attendant new rain smell may be what brought this to mind. I love rain, especially heavy rain in the woods. We would climb down to the creek for some of our activities and if it was pouring down rain we would get wet. I mean drenched. There is nothing more beautiful than a may forest in the rain. We don't usually go out when it is raining but I am ever grateful that I had the experiences I had as a teacher in the Ames Schools. It is sad that they no longer do these activities. Today's students will not have that chance and they will be poorer for it.

Below are some Earth Day links. Read them and then design your own Earth Day project. Preserve, protect and defend your environment. We can't do everything but we can all do something.

The Wilderness Society Earth Day site

Earth Day Network
Kaboose Earth Day (for Kids)
EPA Earth Day site