Article and photos Courtesy of Jan Lee

On May 25 and 26, the kindergarten through fifth grade students at San Cayetano School participated in fun and educational Earth Day activities.

For over 20 years, teacher, Mr. Steve Miech, has organized the Earth Day activities. The students brought recyclable items to school. Then, students used some of these materials to create projects for Earth Day. For example, bottles were repurposed to make hockey sticks, golf clubs and bowling pins. Cereal boxes were reused in the arts and crafts activity. The creative students made various obstacle courses and targets from other boxes, plastic bottles and bottle caps. Over the morning of two days, all students at San Cayetano then had the opportunity to rotate through the 10 activities designed and made by their classmates. Parents and grandparents who may believe that children need expensive toys to have fun would have enjoyed the exuberance displayed by the students at the Earth Day activities.

Again this year, Otto and Sons Nursery donated trees to be planted at San Cayetano. If you have ever been on the San Cayetano campus, you have seen the row of sycamore and other trees. These trees provide shade and beauty for the school. Otto and Sons has donated all these trees. Another thank you goes to Harrison Industries. During the course of over 20 years of Earth Day events at San Cayetano, Harrison Industries has either donated or provided at a small charge all the receptacles to collect and recycle the materials for Earth Day. Fillmore High School students provide leadership at each of the 10 activity stations. It was gratifying to watch the high level of enthusiasm, kindness, patience and skill the high school students demonstrated toward the younger San Cayetano students.

On Friday afternoon, May 26, the San Cayetano students attended an Earth Day rally near the newly planted trees (thank you Fillmore Unified ground crew). Many of the classes had prepared chants, posters or songs about the earth. The third grade sang “This Land Is Your Land.” Several classes performed chants and songs from science units that were part of SEAL (Sobrato Early Academic Language) instruction. Young students use high level academic language as they demonstrate understanding of various topics of instruction. While the Earth Day activities were fun, a great deal of learning and preparation went into the success of the day.

As the end of the school year approaches, remember to thank not only teachers, but all the people who help educate our youth. Participate in activities over the summer that encourage students to read and learn.