Chatsworth : Fair Teaches Students to Take Care of Planet

From the outside, it looked like any other school auditorium--a colorless cube of brick and plaster. On the inside, however, the spacious room teemed with the exotic flora and fauna of a South American rain forest, complete with a burbling waterfall.

Created by students and faculty at Pinecrest Preparatory School in Chatsworth, the colorful floor-to-ceiling display was the showpiece of a daylong fair designed to teach students the importance of caring for the planet.

“The problems have become serious and we really need to do something,” explained first-grade teacher Danielle Chassman, who organized the Earth Day event with fourth-grade teacher Allison Harmon. “People need to be aware of it.”

At one outdoor activity area, students rummaged through boxes of donated materials to create whimsical sculptures from junk. Chad McDonald, 12, used a discarded toilet paper roll and Styrofoam sphere to build a makeshift tower and said he regularly recycles at home.

“We need to save our landfills,” Chad said.

Elsewhere, kindergartners assembled colored drawings of endangered species into large, construction-paper quilts and students wrote letters to wildlife groups pledging their support.

“All the classrooms have been doing different activities to emphasize the Earth,” Harmon explained, noting that the event was a rare opportunity to bring children together from all grades for a day of education and amusement. “They enjoy learning about the animals.”

Despite the fun and games, several sixth-graders said that Earth Day has shown them why people should protecting the environment.

“We learned to save the Earth,” said Scott Gleason.

“So the air won’t get polluted,” offered classmate Adam Barber.

And what happens if we don’t?

“We can’t breathe and everyone dies,” Scott said.