One Earth, one chance: now
One Earth, one chance: now
By: Kathi Hinkle
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
Viewed 674 times
0 responses 0 comments April 22 is a special day set aside to celebrate Earth Day and the students at Cummings Valley Elementary School worked hard towards that inspiring day. Many events took place during the week leading up to Earth Day.
The students in Ms. Hinkle’s class picked up all of the trash from the entire campus and turned it into recycled art posters. Ms. Hinkle’s students also recycled juice cans and deposited them into collection cans that were delivered to every classroom.
The student body then donated their spare change for the purpose of planting two trees near the new bluebird boxes. A total of $230 was raised for this project.
The students of Mrs. Wagnon, Mrs. Thiesse and Ms. Theotig once again planted beautiful flowers in the upper campus area.
Additionally, Ms. Theotig’s students learned about the native plants and trees on the CVS campus. Ms. Theotig’s students are also learning the names of different plant species and making name plates for the trees. This activity will soon be followed student-guided tours of these plants and trees to other students at school.
Another exciting event that connected students to the earth was an assembly given by CALM of Bakersfield. CALM educational specialists brought with them a great horned owl, a peregrine falcon, a kangaroo rat and a gopher snake that were displayed up close for the students to see. The specialists also taught the students about animals native to the Kern County landscape.
In music class that week, Mrs. Gamble taught all the students an inspiring Earth Day conservation song.
During Friday morning’s flag salute on April 21, champion of conservation John Muir’s birthday, the student body had a visit from the naturalist himself (played by Caleb Ellms). Mr. Muir gave a brief speech to the student body about the importance of conservation and taking care of the earth. His speech ended with his famous quote, “Climb the mountains and give their good tidings.”
The best part of this year’s Earth Day activities was the installation of five new bluebird boxes on the lower playground. This was accomplished with the help of the Tehachapi Birding Club’s bluebird monitoring leader Karen Pestana and local woodsmith artisan, George Hammond.
In addition to making and installing the boxes, Pestana and Hammond visited all the classrooms, displayed a box for students to view and answered a myriad of questions about bluebirds, their boxes and nesting habits.
Pestana and Hammond were assisted with the installation of the boxes by students Brittany Roach and Taylor Cole. Each grade level will be in charge of monitoring one of the boxes throughout the year.
A good time was had by all who embarked on these wonderful Earth Day activities, but if we ask “Who benefited the most?” it would probably be a tie between the children of Cummings Valley School, the bluebirds of Cummings Valley and the earth. But in reality, it can’t be a tie because each child and bird came out a winner as did the earth.
That we could all do as much, like the song says, “What a wonderful world it would be!” As adults and role models in our children’s lives, let’s set an example and make every day Earth Day.
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