Photo by Alison James: Patience Daniel shows off her project she made out of items she found around her home – a robot.
By Alison James
Associate Editor
Students at Morris Avenue Intermediate combined schoolwork, creativity and the environment for a recent project.
Third graders were assigned a task to create something new from things they might normally throw away; write an explanation of what they created and how they created it; and present their items to their classes – a project that combined science, social studies, writing, art and presentation skills.
“It lets them learn about recycling in a fun way,” said teacher Betsy Carlisle. “They were all so excited about their projects. These kids are so creative.”
Students used everything from drink cans and cardboard to shoe boxes and plastic bottles, as well as milk jugs, string, plastic bags and other odds and ends to create fun and functional recycled items. Wind chimes, flower pots, toys and organizational tools were among the projects displayed by the students in the third grade hall.
Alex Gorriz made a bird feeder out of an empty peanut butter jar.
“I found it on the Internet, and I thought I could do really good on it,” Gorriz said. “I’m just going to find a tree somewhere in my neighborhood and hang it.”
Caden Boyse made a small camp stove out of a couple drink cans. Patience Daniel made a tin robot. Cade Morgan created a recycling bin out of wood and used drink cans.
Teacher Janice Green said the project was a good opportunity for the students to “just take pride in doing something together with their family members.”
“Sometimes we’re so focused on testing that they can’t get out of the box and be creative,” Green said. “I think was exciting for them to just explore and be creative. I think it was a good opportunity to just express themselves.”
And students also learned about recycling and conserving – like Susannah Couey, who made a wind chime out of drink cans and poptabs.
“My dad sometimes grills outside,” Couey said. “We jump on the trampoline. Sometimes my dad plays some music on his phone, so I thought this would be good to maybe save some electricity and have this to listen to instead.”