Every Day is Earth Day at Aquebogue

Kindergartners at Aquebogue plant trees as part of their Earth Day & Arbor Day celebrations.

“Earth Day is every day!”--reads a poster in one of the District’s schools—and that was certainly the case in April at the Aquebogue Elementary School. The “Book of the Month” was Someday a Tree by Eve Bunting. Ms. Bunting’s book inspired an array of writing projects and was the basis for scientific and literary discussion throughout the month.

Early in the month, the Aquebogue students participated in an “Election Day for the Best Environmental Slogan.” Using a real voting booth, they voted on five outstanding slogans for Earth Day: (1) Green is Clean! (2) Green is Keen, help keep the Earth Clean! (3) Plant a flower, give the Earth more power! (4) Our Earth, Our Responsibility! and (5) Be a Solution to End the Pollution. The winning slogan was written by third grader Megan, who wrote, “Plant a flower, give the Earth more power!” She received a $25 gift card from Target. Her slogan also inspired the posters that hung throughout the building.

Third grader Kaylee won (for her grade level) the Earth Day Poetry contest sponsored by the News Review. She wrote:

Wind is blowing
Snow is piled on top of trees.
Birds are chirping.
Sunset is coming.
Mother animals are putting their babies to sleep.
Earth, beautiful Earth.

One class (Room 11) created a “Biodegradable Graveyard” in the main lobby—revealing that Styrofoam is basically not biodegradable. Another class made a poster of the three Rs: recycle, reuse and reduce.

Room 10 visited the Holtsville Ecology site. When they returned, they wrote a summary of what they learned at the Ecology site. “We learned how to keep our earth clean. We also learned about wildlife and our environment,” they wrote. “We wrote Haiku poems about the animals we saw at the zoo! We had a great time!”

Yet another class posted their “Environmental Acts of Kindness Pledge!” It read: “I pledge to perform random acts of environmental kindness each day by finding ways to conserve water, materials and energy. I also promise to help keep the earth a beautiful and safe place to live by not littering, writing graffiti or causing excess waste.”

The first grade classes joined together to create a paper tree and placed it on the wall in their wing of the building. They noted all the things that trees do for the earth on the leaves of the tree: trees give us oxygen, trees give us paper, trees give us shade, trees give us maple syrup, trees give us places to play . . .” they wrote.

The week before Arbor Day featured:

(1) Monday, there was a “Storm Water Pollution Assembly,” presented by Mark Cappelino, a Storm Water Educator, who dresses up as Detective “Storm Waters,” and, along with his robotic dog, sniffs out pollution, Mr. Cappelino shares a DVD with the students and talks about the hazards of storm water runoff.

(2) Tuesday featured an “Earth Day Songs” assembly presented by John Farrell.

(3) Also on Tuesday, there was a presentation to the 4th graders on “Norway Spruce Seedlings” by Connie Farr and Susan Koukounas.



(4) On Thursday, there was a Wildlife Conservation Presentation” to the 1st and 2nd graders by the Department of Environmental Conservation about recognizing and respecting the wildlife in your own backyard and caring for their habitats.

(5) AND FINALLY, on the Friday before Arbor Day, the kindergartners participated in a “Tree Planting Ceremony.” They planted 2 Zelkovas, 2 Kwanzan Cherries, and 2 Red Maples. The trees for the planting were donated by Dan Chekijian of DGC Services in Hampton Bays.

(6) While the kindergartners were planting trees, students were visiting the “Go Solar —Alternative Fuel Shed” that was parked in the back of the building. The shed featured a plasma screen TV and an array of devices that can create and store power that is generated by solar panels and wind power.

Throughout the month of April and part of the Earth Day theme, all of the students in the Aquebogue School worked with Mrs. Ahern, the school’s art teacher, and artists-in-residence Marta Baumiller (Aquebogue) and Julie Tesser (Brooklyn) to create an amazing ceramic wall mosaic made entirely of old broken or chipped china, ceramic tiles, plates, mugs, beach class, rocks, shells, glass marbles and other colorful items. The donations from the students were broken into small pieces and used to make a 4 foot x 22 foot mural of underwater life entitled "Saving the Sea." Each child in the school participated in some way to make the mural. It was financed through a $2,000 matching grant from the East End Arts Council. The mural is currently being grouted and then will be assembled and mounted on a hallway wall near the art room. It’s amazing!

On May 3rd, Riverhead Town Supervisor Phil Cardinale will be the featured speaker at the Student Assembly of the Week. His presentation is entitled, “Simple Things You Can Do for the Local Environment.”

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