THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605250138
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 49 lines
IF FIRST-GRADERS at G.A. Treakle Elementary School didn't know much about recycling before, they definitely do now.
The 43 students have collected more than 5,000 aluminum cans over the past six weeks. All will be turned in to Reynolds Aluminum Recycling Co.'s Portsmouth pick-up center.
First-grade teachers Terrill W. Britt, 32, and Martha W. Cross, 25, began the recycling effort as a way to help teach their students about Earth Day April 22.
Earth Day is a national event designed to focus attention on environmental issues.
Britt and Cross wanted to do more than just a one-day celebration.
The students created artwork and crafts using recycled materials; read stories about recycling and litter; brainstormed ways of reusing items in their classrooms; and set up a five-week experiment to observe what happens to food and nonfood items when buried in the ground, a loose simulation of what occurs at landfills.
And they collected cans.
``Our aim was just to get them interested in recycling,'' Britt said.
``It really helps them see just how much trash people do generate, and what a good thing it is to collect these things and keep them from going to the landfills.''
The teachers had expected the kids to gather only about 350 cans or so, over the six-week collection period that ended Friday.
``We had that before the end of the first day,'' Britt said.
Parents and students all contributed, she said.
Each day, the teachers made a game of collecting the cans from the students, and then counting them in front of the whole class. They then were added to big, plastic bags full of the clinking metal cylinders.
Britt said that based on Reynolds estimates, she expects to collect $50 to $60 for the cans.
The money will be used to buy McDonald's Happy Meals for each student, to be enjoyed outside at lunchtime on Friday.
``We're going to let the kids have a treat, because they've worked so hard,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Treakle students discuss recycling. They are, from left: Jasmine
Gilliam, Lakia Robertson, Kolby Keene, Lauren Farmer and Kristen
Burritt. by CNB