Middle-schoolers mark Earth Day with crafts, planting
Seventh-graders at Geneva Middle School North celebrated Earth Day Friday with crafts and gardening.
Students planted marigolds around the flagpole in front of the school. They also made photo frames out of twigs, crafted beads and bowls out of magazine paper, and sewed polypropylene tote bags. (When the bags wear out, they can be recycled in any program that takes No. 5 plastics.)
They also had a contest to make towers using recycled boxes.
The events were organized by biology teachers Jenny Benjamin and Sarah Morris.
“I think I did good,” Brandon DeJesus said, examining the tote bag he had just sewed in a Family and Consumer Science sewing room. He said his family uses tote bags when it shops at the grocery store, and that he would use the tote bag he made to carry sports gear. DeJesus, who plays baseball, said keeping his stitches straight was the hardest part of the project.
He might have had trouble keeping a straight face, too, because there was a lot of good-natured joshing going on. “Brad, don’t sew your fingers together,” teased Aaron Bastin, after he had finished his tote.
The students had learned to use the sewing machines during the second quarter in the fall. All students take a year of “Family and Consumer Science,” including 10 weeks of sewing, 10 weeks of nutrition/cooking, 10 weeks of wood shop and 10 weeks of consumer studies.
Earth Day, which is April 22, started in 1970, and interest in it revived in 1990.
Several local organizations will celebrate it Saturday.
Ÿ The Fox Valley Park District is having games and crafts from 1 to 3 p.m. at Red Oak Nature Center, 2343 S. River St. (Route 25), North Aurora. People who ride a bicycle or carpool to the event will be entered in a raffle for a park district gift card.
Ÿ Plant oaks from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday with the Kane County Forest Preserve District at Schweitzer Woods, 16N690 Sleepy Hollow Road, West Dundee.
Ÿ The Geneva Natural Resources Committee has an event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Peck Farm Park, 4038 Kaneville Road. This free event will feature the Geneva Green Market, rain barrels for sale, bicycle tuneups, a bicycle rodeo, free paper shredding, electronics recycling and local merchants.
Ÿ Prairie View Elementary School, 10N630 Nesler Road, Elgin, will collect recyclables from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Acceptable items are anything metal, including metal hangers, lawn mowers, bikes, storm doors, lawn furniture, cans, etc.; all batteries including automotive and boat; all old appliances; any insulated wire such as extension and computer cords; and electronics including computers, laptops, printers, monitors, cellphones, cameras, scanners, radios, video game consoles, and DVD and VHS players.
Ÿ Stop by Tekakwitha Woods Nature Center between 1 and 4 p.m. Sunday for self-guided activities, and a 4 p.m. naturalist-led hike. The center is at 5W076 Villa Marie Road, St. Charles.