High school, young students do green things
KARNS CITY — Kindergarteners at Chicora Elementary kept busy fishing, playing games and exploring nature with Karns City High School students Thursday with activities emphasizing the importance of the environment.
About 60 kindergarten students, many of them dressed in rain coats and rubber boots, rotated through the activities, all conveniently located behind the high school, 1446 Kittanning Pike.
Both kindergarteners and high schoolers had the opportunity to fish with homemade rods and to catch frogs, tadpoles and newts with nets.
Five-year-old Luke Mann was able to catch a fish within minutes.
“It was a pretty small fish, but it had a yellow belly,” Luke said, telling high school students excitedly.
It was particularly enthralling for Luke since he didn't catch any fish or frogs using a net.
Tom Stewart, who teaches applied science at Karns City High School, has run the nature day event for the past six years.
Students in his class work for months to prepare lesson plans and games and man teaching stations.
It's not just about teaching younger children about sustainability and the environment, but teaching them about the importance of community.
Students called local organizations to ask for donations. Diehl Automotive, Lowe's and Wendy's were among the contributors, providing everything from food to supplies for the event.
“A lot of people in the community care,” said Anna Sinz, 15, a ninth-grader in the applied science class.
In addition to finding community sponsorships, she and a few other students organized a camouflage game for the kindergarteners to play.
Deer, owls, walking sticks and grasshoppers are just a few animals that use camouflage. Candy was used to teach the youngsters about camouflage.
“We had them pick up gummy bears camouflaged in the grass,” Anna said. “It teaches them about how animals camouflage themselves.”
Typically, the red, yellow and orange ones are picked up, but not the green ones.
Kindergarteners also made crafts using recyclable plastics such as bottles and cardboard and learned about reducing, reusing and recycling.
Stewart, who many of his students call “Stew,” said the event is just as much about the high school students as it is about those in kindergarten.
“For seniors, who graduate in a couple of weeks, this is a reminder of where they came from,” he said.
Students enrolled in his applied science class have also built toothpick bridges, solar-powered matchbox cars, hot air balloons and homemade bottle rockets.
