Earth Week Celebrations at Tatamagouche Elementary

On April 18th there were 41 students at Tatamagouche Elementary eagerly awaiting a visit from Pam Chandler from Green Schools NS. These primary and grade one students were enthusiastic about how to save energy and help our planet. Pam shared the Going Green Song from Have Fun Teaching, and students all listened to the lyrics while dancing and jumping to express their energy. The song is about how to go green with simple choices like reusable shopping bags and donating used clothes instead of throwing them out. Another way to help the Earth is to recycle and compost everything we can, instead of simply throwing waste in the trash. These students are learning composting and waste sorting, which is so so important. The “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” message in the song was familiar to these folks, and the music was fun too!

After the song, the students all gathered together for story time with Pam. The book 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World by Melanie Walsh is made from 100% recycled paper, which was the cause for great excitement in the students. One young man was extremely happy as he told his classmates that trees take in the dirty carbon dioxide that we breathe out, and turns it back into clean oxygen for us to breathe. That’s one of the reasons why plants and trees are so important! Tatamagouche Elementary School grows lots of plants using a raised garden bed for each class. A garden is a great green initiative that also helps students learn to grow their own veggies and flowers. We’re looking forward to seeing the fall harvest! 

Students all stood up to play the Earth Day Game with Pam. If her statement was a good idea to help protect the Earth and celebrate Earth Day, the students sat down. If something was bad for the planet, and not a great way to celebrate Earth Day, the students had to jump up and do jumping jacks! The children knew that planting seeds and trees helps the planet, so they sat down. They also knew that leaving lights turned on in the classroom on a sunny day wastes energy, so the students jumped up and did lots of jumping jacks!

After the game, the children made a promise to the Earth: an Earth Day Pledge! The students came up with some great ways to celebrate Earth Day, such as:

-Cleaning up litter

-Turning off the lights

-Using a clothes line

-Playing outside instead of playing video games

-Making draft snakes

-Planting a tree

-Planting a garden

The list of pledges could be very long because there are so many things we can do to help the Earth and save energy! Tatamagouche Elementary students are very green indeed!