Plunkett School Holds Earth Day Fair Tonight

By Tammy Daniels
iBerkshires Staff
04:02PM / Thursday, April 16, 2009

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Photos by Tammy Daniels Third-grader Jake Mezcywor checks the 'tornado' bottle as project partner Adam Bush looks projects by fellow pupils at Plunkett School.

ADAMS, Mass. — The little red and yellow houses swirled in the tornado and dropped into a soda bottle. Adam Bush picked up the joined two-liter jugs of wateer, shook them up and sent the plastic cars and houses spinning again.

The mini-tornado was the creation of Adam and Jake Meczywor, third-graders at C.T. Plunkett Elementary School. Part of their earth science curriculum, the project was designed to show the power of nature.

"My mom thought of putting in houses from the Monopoly game," said Adam. "And I got the cars from the Life game."

The boys tornado-in-a-two-liter was a popular stop among the stations set up within the gymnasium displaying projects done over the last few weeks for the school's Earth Day celebration today. The children also learned about solar power, "earth-friendly" music and composting.

The afternoon was a preview of Thursday evening's open house, when parents and residents are invited to browse the exhibits and listen to the drumming rhythm of Gaia Roots.

This is the second annual Earth Day fair at the school, held a week earlier because of school vacation next week when the actual day, April 22, lands. The focus on Earth is part of the science curriculum and the fair is the culmination of studies done in each grade.

"Each class makes a project on what they studied," said kindergarten teacher and Earth Day coordinator Mara Woolly. "Every kid gets to be a part of it."

Aimee Gelinas talks about natural instruments; Sandy Totter shows off some wriggly worms.

The fair was made possible with a $1,000 grant from the Northern Berkshire Cultural Council through Topia Arts Center, which is collaborating with the school as part of its educational mission. Woolly is a member of Topia's board and wrote the grant.

Recycling was a popular motif — many of the projects showed how trash could be turned into treasures from shoebox bunnies to hats to CD sunflowers. But they're grounding green went beyond recycling.

"I was surprised at how much they knew [about solar panels]," said Rebecca Knights of Berkshire Photovoltaic Systems, after one group had anticipated much of her talk. "It's really great that they know at this age about being green."

Knights had a neat display showing the range of solar panels and where they were located in Berkshire County. Sandy Totter, program coordinator of Northern Berkshire Solid Waste District, had a messier presentation: worms.

The kids were eager to peek into the white bucket full of soil and garbage — and teeming with worms and bugs.

"These worms are special; they're red wigglers," said Totter, lifting a mass of the wriggling bodies with a wood spatula to see them better. Since worms don't have teeth, they need food that's "good and rotten and mushy."

It was an example of extreme recycling that could be done at home, she told the pupils, by creating compost piles for vegetable wastes.

Aimee Gelinas of Gaia Roots was getting the kids in tune with the natural beat of the Earth by demonstrating drumming on traditional instruments made of gourds and wood.

"The instruments are all very earth-based," said Gelinas, who is also an environmental educator. "And the people who use the instruments are all very connected to the earth."

Gelinas will be joined by her three partners in Gaia Roots this evening along with a dancer; there will also be children's activities. The fair will be open from 5 to 7 p.m.

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