Lake Spokane Elementary Celebrates Arbor and Earth Day
Mrs. Paulson's 3rd graders with their trees. Photo Courtesy of Janine Fuson
Green is the word today and the 3rd graders in Lake Spokane Elementary (LSE) are with the program.
To celebrate Arbor Day and Earth Day on April 22, students from Mrs. Paulson, Mrs. Yack and Mrs. Golden's class planted about 70 Jeffrey pines in the half gallon milk cartons they brought to school. The children took their sap¬lings home, to observe and study the growth of the saplings and to plant them.
The event is part of the 3rd grade science curriculum on Culture, People, Places and Environment. The focus of this tree planting is the life cycle of a milk carton, its journey from trees to cardboard and back to the earth as a recycled and biodegradable planter.
Jeff Hall of Rose City Printing and Packaging from Portland facilitated the fun event. Every year, as part of its efforts to raise awareness of the environment and to pro¬mote recycling, Rose City Printing and Packaging company partners with local schools from states of CA, OR and WA to educate students in the life cycle of trees and their prod¬ucts, and to plant native trees. When 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Debbie Paulson saw Jeff Hall on television promoting his company's message, she thought it a great idea to integrate the activity into her curriculum. Connection was made, and a partnership forged. On Tuesday, Rose City Printing and Packaging sent Jeff Hall to the area schools with 700 pine saplings and potting soil. LSE was one of his stops.
The 3rd graders not only learned all about cardboard making, but the fascinating new use of their milk carton. Af¬terwards, they all dug their hands into the good earth, proud to have planted their own tree in the carton they brought from home--a green generation in the making.