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O.J. Neighbours Elementary Kaleidoscope Kids gather on and around one of the benches made from the bottle caps they collected. Pictured are (front row, from left to right) Gryphon Palmer, Emma Morel, Ayla Barber, Maddox Mindach, Gabe LePage, Henry Beauchamp; Jen Rankin (back row, from left to right), Lillian Kelley, McKinley Vanlandingham, Kelly Thompson, Anne Eddingfield, Michael LePage, Martha Steller, Taylin Shepherd, and Angie Beauchamp. Photo by Mandy Underwood.
Bottlecap benches donated to O.J.N. By Mandy Underwood munderwood@thepaperofwabash.com
Their goal was to collect 200 pounds of caps, which was easily done in just a few months. “It took some time and effort to do this,” said Martha Steller, a fourh grade On Wednesday, Jan. 8, two benches made from plastic bottle caps were placed on Kaleidoscope Kid. “We had to go through and tell everyone about it so that we could either side of the entrance of O.J. Neighbours (OJN) Elementary School. get them to bring all of the bottle caps in.” Each year, eight million tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans and eco system, Caps were also collected at Modoc’s Market and this number continues to grow. When the Kaleidoscope Kids, a group of high in downtown Wabash. ability learners at OJN heard this fact, they were shocked. “Modoc’s is a huge help and a partner “This year, my third and fourth grade kids started talking about the with us in fighting the plastic pollution plastic pollution problem because they felt shocked after they problem,” said Eddingfield. learned about what was happening with our oceans and our eco-sys“They have actually come in and given tems and how much plastic is going into our landfills and our presentations and talked with the kids oceans. They felt powerless and so we wanted to do something.,” because they have really led the way said Anne Eddingfield, the High Ability Teacher at OJN. with reducing single use plastic by Eddingfield works with about 20 students ranging from first using paper straws and offering to serve s p ro v ide e h c n to fourth grade who have tested well and show a high level of their drinks in glass mugs, and all of e b e s n d re s t a “M ay t h e t r educational ability. She works with each student 90 minutes per their drink containers and trash bags are o f m o rs o f c week, and although they are “high ability,” a term coined and biodegradable.” m a ny ye a e w h o s e e k it ” used by the state, she chooses to call them Kaleidoscope Kids in Once all the caps were collected, they to t h os ugh n a H order to remind them that they are not better than other students, needed to be washed. n ia r d -A but that they are unique with a lot of different facets, just like a kaleiEach Kaleidoscope Kid took home a large doscope. bag of caps and made sure they were clean. During the 90 minutes that she works with these students, she helps Adrian Haughn described the cleaning them look into major issues. process as “agony.” “One of the things I try to do with the kids I work with is a lot of critical “After all of the agony we went through having to thinking, so we try to take a problem or an issue and delve into it more deeply and clean the caps, the benches are finally done, so it feels look at it from different perspectives and maybe not just take it at face value,” she good and it was an accomplishment,” said the fourth said. “We try to look into it and form our own opinions based on evidence.” grader. This is what they did with the plastic pollution problem. Once the clean caps were accumulated, Jen Rankin of Wabash The students brainstormed and eventually landed on the plan to collect plastic County Solid Waste Management District helped to execute the rest of the project. bottle caps and get them made into benches. (continued on page 5)
January 15, 2020
Proudly Serving Wabash County Since 1977
Vol. 42, No. 42