Mrs. Frissell and Mrs. Cayton’s 2007-2008 fourth grade class were recently recognized for their hard work on a service learning project with the Staples Earth Force Award. This Award recognizes and honors youth working to make a difference by serving as active environmental citizens.
The Twin Lakes students, working with Suncoast Earth Force, wanted to improve habitat for animals on their school campus. Through fieldtrips, expert guest speakers and a lot of research, the class put together a plan to help protect the gopher tortoises they had crawling around on campus. They wrote grants to help pay for the native plants they would need before getting dirty planting them themselves.
Next, the students wanted to tell their schoolmates all about what they had learned and created a “wildlife museum” in their classroom. Here, they brought the entire school through to teach them through educational games, presentations, wildlife watches, and storytelling activities. The museum was full decorated with life-sized paper mache’ animals and various types of artwork the kids created.
For all of this hard work for their community, the students, now fifth graders looking to carry on where they left off last year, received a five hundred dollar donation towards their school from Staples.
The partnership with Staples Foundation for Learning, a private charitable arm created by Staples, Inc., enables Earth Force to provide educators and students with opportunities that make a lasting, positive impact on the community.
For more information about this award winning, service learning project, please click on the url link at the top of this article.