For the past 50 years, Earth Day has been celebrated by billions of people around the globe, annually every 22nd of April, to join together in promoting awareness for the health of our environment.
Across the school, our students engaged in a wide range of activities and stimulations to highlight the importance of Earth Day; you can see what some of our students were up to in more detail below.
During Mr Chana's English class, students explored the idea of single-use plastic bottles. They were saddened to see how these easily bought bottles are thrown away, with most ending up in landfills or our oceans. Students brainstormed ideas on how we could reuse these within our campus and decided to make bird feeders, not only to use up single-use plastic but to welcome more wildlife onto our beautiful campus. Students wrote instructions during English lessons to teach others how to make the plastic bottle bird feeders and what 'Small Actions' we could do to save our planet.
Ms. Melia's Prep 4 English students created a mini classroom garden and got their hands dirty planting flower seeds in colourful pots. The students will continue to water and care for the plants over the next few months, working as a team to help the mini garden grow. Students also shared their knowledge about Earth Day, writing facts and decorating an earth wall display.
During Ms Flora’s art classes, students learnt that if we all work together we can help to protect our planet. Students then made earth paintings to remind them of their small actions for change.
Ms Edy took the children through the school and picked up litter from the corners. We can do very little, but we can impress upon the children that protecting the earth starts with the little things.
On this Earth Day, our message to the community is simple: actions matter.
Our actions matter, now and for the future. Turning off the light isn't just about the CO² saved - which is good – but more significantly, it's the behaviour that shows that "my actions matter", and when one person makes good choices, it equals positive impacts and can act to inspire others to do the same.
It is essential to highlight that the Earth Day events at schools aren't exclusive to this day but rather a chance to spotlight our approach to the earth that we have every day. We are working towards environmental sustainability and global citizenship being not just something we do but a bit of who we are.
Let's all play our part to make a difference for the benefit of the planet, not just on Earth Day, but every day.
*The bird feeders made by Mr Chana's classes have been hung in the school and we look forward to the arrival of the beautiful birds!
