Here’s to the Earth: Students Find Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

Posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2020

Earth Day has traditionally been celebrated by the Gaynor community, and this year was no different.

Traditionally, the Community Service students make basil planters out of recycled materials for each classroom for Earth Day. Each classroom then has to take care of their little basil plants.

Even though the community is not physically together, that didn’t stop this tradition from continuing on, with a slight modification.

Blue Cluster Head Teachers Mollie Book and Rebecca Felt created a video on how to make a basil planter. In this way, the tradition of caring for a basil plant lives on in the households of the Gaynor community.

Director of Student Life Sue Sortino said, “Earth Day is always celebrated by the Gaynor community, and it was clear that this Earth Day was special, in many different ways. It was the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, coming at a time when we are all so aware, now more than ever, of the necessity of taking care of the Earth and of one another.”

In addition to this activity, teachers also created special assignments and lesson plans for their students to celebrate the Earth. 

In the EC’s Hudson Room, students first celebrated Earth Day with a math lesson. They took pictures of items and sorted them into two categories: garbage and recycling. They then made a graph with the results.

For their second activity, they read “The Earth Book” by Todd Parr and colored in their own Earth, adding a picture of something they can do to help the Earth inside the heart.

In Art Teacher Sophia Saad’s class, students learned about recycled art in honor of Earth Day, and then created their own. One Pink Cluster student decorated a glass jar so she could repurpose it.

Green Cluster students also created art honoring the earth in Art Teacher Sophie Yolowitz’s class. Some students drew a picture of the Earth, with one outlining the Earth with different ways we can help protect it and another creating a flower out of used paper.

Art Teacher Andrea Nelson’s students celebrated Earth Day by creating pictures of themselves hugging the Earth, with arms that stuck out from the paper. Ms. Nelson encouraged students to decorate the empty spaces of their project with reasons why they love the Earth.

In Head Teacher Nicole Goldman and Assistant Teacher Leslie O’Toole’s Green Cluster class, students created digital artwork to advertise Earth Day. They used the platform Padlet to create their art and have all of the drawings come together as one.

Science Teacher Lindsey Rappaport had her Orange Cluster students listen to a read-aloud of the book “One Plastic Bag” by Miranda Paul. The book is about the true story of how one African woman began a movement to recycle the plastic bags polluting her community by crocheting them. 

After the reading, Ms. Rappaport asked the students to share how they would recycle a plastic bag to turn it from trash to treasure to save the Earth. After this activity, students learned more about Earth Day and got to choose from an Earth Day Choice Board, where they could pick an activity of their choice to celebrate.

For her Pink and Red Cluster students, Ms. Rappaport had the students listen to a read-aloud of the book “Michael Recycle” by Ellie Bethel. This was followed by an activity that allowed them to be “recycling superheroes” in their own homes — with a recycling scavenger hunt. 

Similar to the Orange Cluster students, the Pink and Red Cluster students then learned more about Earth Day and got to choose an activity from the Earth Day Choice Board.

Students in Head Teacher Cassandra Adler and Assistant Teacher Avigail Hirschfield’s Silver Cluster class created a Google Slides presentation to give some background on Earth Day.

Students were split into three groups, and each worked on a different section. The first group researched the history of Earth Day, the second group researched Earth Day posters and created their own, and the third group researched Earth Day photographs and took their own. 

Though it may have been done virtually, the Gaynor community continued their tradition of celebrating and honoring the Earth, together.