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Students do the teaching about recycling
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Neighbors | Pam Jadue.Julianna Frengler (left), Anny Carroll, Patrick Faloon and Casey Roberts (right) perform a basketball skit promoting recycling.
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Neighbors | Pam Jadue.St. Joseph and Immaculate Heart of Mary students Natalie Smith (left), Erin Styka, Jerica Day and Sierra DuBois perform for their fellow students during a recent Earth Day assembly at the school.
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Neighbors | Pam Jadue.Carlie Chepke (right) gets some help from the audience on demonstrating how to separate recycling materials.
By PAM JADUE
The St. Joseph and Immaculate Heart of Mary Science Club culminated a year’s worth of activities with an Earth Day assembly for the school’s students from kindergarten through eighth grade April 29.
During the 45-minute assembly, students presented skits and musical performances with a “Green” theme. The purpose of the event was to teach about the need to recycle, reduce and reuse.
The Science Club has around 40 seventh and eighth-grade members who meet monthly after school with their advisers, Sharon Nicastro and Kathy DuBois, to explore various science concepts. The activities build upon what they are learning in the science classroom.
The students investigate science themes through hands-on activities, discussions and service projects. A sample activity includes building hover crafts with canisters and balloons.
Additionally, club members work to educate their schoolmates on various topics by designing awareness posters and service announcements concerning science-related issues.
The club helps to oversee school recycling projects throughout the year. The club plans activities to encourage students to recycle through their aluminum can drive.
To kick off the school’s annual Earth Day event, the Science Club had some help from the first and second-grade students who retold the Dr. Seuss story “The Lorax” using homemade puppets and props to act out the script, inspired by the Mahoning County Green Team. The story narration was done by English teacher Caroline Mulhall.
The assembly continued with the seventh and eighth grade club members performing skits and service announcements promoting “reduce, reuse and recycle.”
According to Nicastro, the students worked in small groups to write “Green-themed” scripts, plan and design props and practice their performances.
The students wrote scripts using familiar characters like Buzz Lightyear and Dora the Explorer to get the younger students interested in recycling and gave audience members the opportunity to participate in the performance.