Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 20, 1991                   TAG: 9104200126
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: SHAWSVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium

WHALES OF THEIR OWN/ EARTH DAY IN THIS SCHOOL MEANS PLANTING PINE TREES AND

Very busy.

They made paper fish. They made place mats for local restaurants. They made drawings of trees.

They studied about insects, animals and the environment. They learned about recycling.

They even made a 5-foot-long paper mache model of a killer whale named Wally.

All in celebration of Earth Day.

"We call it Happy Birthday, Earth," said Marlin Taylor, 6, of Shawsville.

And that is just what it is.

The pupils spent Friday listening to guest speakers and working on environmentally safe projects. In all, there were nine speakers and 16 volunteers to help the children learn about their world.

"We learned how to draw fish," said Ryan Earles, 5, summing up his view of things.

"I learned that Earth is getting polluted. You need to recycle to save the Earth," said Freeman Nester, 10.

"Trees - when you cut trees, you should plant another," said Beth Burdette, 10. "You need to remember trees help you make paper."

The Virginia Forest Service donated 500 pine seedlings to the school. Each pupil, teacher and volunteer planted a tree behind the school to serve as a windbreak.

One of the highlights of the program is adopting whales. The entire school has started a fund to adopt humpback whales to call their very own.

"They are part of a whale-adoption program from the International Wildlife Coalition - they promote the protection of fish," said Carol Shields, a fifth-grade science teacher and chairman of the Earth Day Committee. "It costs $15 per whale. We'll probably get to adopt three this year - and four if we're lucky."

Shields said the teachers' main objective this year is to expose the children to Earth Day.

"This is our first Earth Day celebration," she said. "We want to introduce the children to it this year, then expand in the future."

Folks from Mill Mountain Zoo in Roanoke came and told the children to respect the animals and love them, not harm them.

Tina Marsh of Virginia Tech's entomology department brought some live cockroaches and a slide show of some of the other interesting insects from the area.

"She is teaching them about insects - and that not all of them are for stomping on," Shields said.

Apco people came and talked about mining and obtaining energy, demonstrating with chocolate chip cookies.

"The kids have to get the chocolate chips out of their cookies without harming the cookie itself," said Shields. "If they mess up the cookie too much, they have to pay for it."

Other speakers represented the Water Treatment Authority and the Town of Blacksburg Recycling.

And the cafeteria workers were given a break. The children had lunches in bags - plain white ones that are environment-friendly - with no utensils or plastic.

Kindergarteners got to make their own wrapping paper by stamping out designs with cut-out potatoes and paint.

"Wrapping paper doesn't degrade - we are trying to let the kids know they can make their own," Shields said. "It's just paper that covers a box."

The school also has started its own recycling program. Each classroom has a large trash can that the children put all waste paper into. They also recycle aluminum cans.

Shields said Roanoke and Christiansburg are the closest places that have recycling collection sites, and for some people that is just too far away.