In Our Village: Albion Elementary

In Our Village: Albion Elementary A special thank you goes out to all of the students who contributed work to In Our Village: Albion Elementary and the teachers and service learning coordinators who guided the projects that inspired them.

This book is dedicated to you and the wonderful work that you do everyday.

This project was supported in part by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the NYS Learn and Serve America Grant.

Copyright Š 2009 Albion Central School District. All Rights Reserved.

In Our Village: Albion Elementary In our school “village”, we place a very big emphasis on others. From formal character education and service learning programs to the more simple everyday acts that allow us to connect to fellow peers, students, and staff, Albion Elementary is a place that constantly thinks about others and how we can best exist in the world. It was very natural to us that our unique feature to contribute to In Our Village should focus on our character and service learning projects; they are a part of our school district’s mission statement, “Achievement, Character, and Success for Life” and a huge reflection of who we choose to be as students, educators, and humans.

Throughout the pages that follow, you will see examples of simple kindnesses enacted by great students. From Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade, our elementary school places high value on connecting academics to character, and educating students to be thoughtful and contributing members of society. You will first read about our town and school in general. Next, you will read about character, service learning and citizenship, and their importance to our school and district, and then see wonderful examples of student and classroom projects from a diverse body of classrooms and students. We hope you enjoy the wit and wisdom gained from our students (we certainly did!), and encourage you to keep track of future service learning projects on our district website: www.albionk12.org .

Similar to all the In Our Village books that have preceded ours, we are indebted to Barbara Cervone and Cathryn Berger Kaye. From the poetic inspiration of Barbara’s original Kambi ya Simba IOV book to Cathy’s enthusiasm for taking its message to a global level, we have benefited tenfold from the two women so instrumental in bringing about such an innovative method of international exchange. Thank you to both of you and to all the IOV books and their creators who have inspired us along the way.

Laura Rog Albion Central School District Albion, NY

Historic Sites and Places in Albion

By Kyle Smith, Dylan Bader, Greg Husung, and Kyle Thaine, 5th Grade Students Albion is very historic in many ways such as...The Erie Canal, which is one of the largest man made canals that you can see in the entire world. Another historic sight in Albion you can see is the house of the girl that told Abraham Lincoln to grow his beard. One other historic landmark that is in Albion is the first Free Methodist church ever built in the entire world. To add onto all of this, there was a Civil War meeting room in Albion. Did you know that the first Donald Duck recorded voice was in Albion? After all of this, still the first dialed telephone was dialed in Albion. Also our Main Street Bridge collapsed due to a tight-roping accident. Main Street in Albion contains a plethora of historic sites such as Fischer's, Elsewhere Cafe, Tim Horton’s, and the Swan Library. As you can see, Albion is a very historic town.

Taking Responsibility for Our Village

By Cate Usselman, Oddyse Bennett, Eureka Yates, 5th Grade Students Our Village needs everybody's support. Albion is a village that is small, mighty and a modern community. One of the ways students at our school help our village is we have donations.

For example, we give clothing like coats, jackets, shoes and socks. These items are all given to charities in our county. Food labels and box tops are also given away such as Campbell’s soup labels.

The labels are sent in to get more items for the school. The third graders in our school help out a lot by recycling paper. They all come around the school and pick up the paper in the recycling bins.

Also, all the grades, kindergarten to fifth grade, go downtown on the streets to pick up garbage and trash. There are many responsible actions we take to help our land. Therefore, we take much responsibility for our village.

A Day in the Life

By Ellen Narburgh, Samantha Bowman, Ashlee Bocach, Kourtney Lathrop, 5th Grade Students We start our day by coming in at 9:00 am we stay and learn till 3:15 pm. In that time we have our teachers enlighten us with subjects like math, reading,writing, social studies, and science. We have health unlike some schools, we learn about our body and others. Our school in Albion has a large music community. Albion has other specials like art, we can be as creative as we want. We have created pottery, we have done abstract art,then we have constructed a country side atmosphere and more. In gym we do many comical games like Skunk in a Hole, Snake in the Grass, The British Bull Dog, and Wall ball. We use puppets to learn lefty and righty, and red light green light. Our walls are filled with color and educational bulletin boards. Lunch may not be very important to us sometimes, but we get fed at the minimum of $1.25. Now on Fridays we can go and sit at different tables and sit with friends!!!!

Assemblies and Activities

By Amber Barson, Alissa Basinait, Katelyn Perry, Stephanie McGee, 5th Grade Students This school does many activities and has many assemblies. Some examples of activities are Optimism Day, Flag Day, Spirit Week, Chorus, Moving-Up Day for 5th Grade, and the fourth and fifth grade Talent Show. Other activities include middle school presentations, Science Day, and Pioneer Day is a favorite for fourth graders. Many others are picnics, bookstore, book fairs, and book orders, also in 5th grade are poppy posters for the American Legion, cheerleading and football, and Earth Day. There are also great assemblies such as Glenn Colton, Mexican Dancing, American Indian Dancing, Chorus Recitals, field trips, soccer, and Special Olympics. Many more include service learning, the Bubble Man, and concerts. These are some of the many assemblies and activities at Albion Elementary and Middle Schools.

Technology

By Matt DeCarlo, Jacob Osbourne, Nathaniel Trembly, and Sam Richardson, 5th Grade Students Albion Elementary School's technology is out of this world, literally, the satellites. We have a lot of technology in our school. For example, we have at least 6 computers in each room. In the computer room we have at least 27 computers with a flat screen TV connected to Miss McDonald's computer.

[She is our computer teacher.] We do power points, typing lessons, CCC, Edline and more. We have an intercom system in our school. We have plumbing, pencil sharpeners, and overheads in at least every classroom. We have fire alarms in every hallway. We have generators for when storms happen.

Outlets, handicap systems, and kitchens are in our school. We have a sensor for the lights so we do not waste energy. Phones are very important in our school too so we don't have to run around the school. As a result, Albion Elementary School's technology is great. Without technology, this wouldn't be our school!

School Sports

By Daniel Beam, Jack Burgoon, Tyler Quill, 5th Grade Students Our school has great sports like football, where we have great running backs and amazing quarterbacks. Even though we don’t have it in the Elementary School, when you get in the Middle School, boy you better be ready. We also have soccer programs in the morning and the afternoon.

Also, we have summer activities for kids during the summer. During the school year we have swimming classes to help improve kids’ swimming. You can also join the traveling basketball league.

Gym gets us ready for the sports in the Middle and the High School. We run around the gym at least six times. Twice a year we go out on the track to give us an idea if we want to join the seventh grade track team. Thanks to Mr. Adams, Mr. Price, and Mrs. Scharping, we are well prepared for the Middle and High School sports.

Sports In Albion

By Jared Fearby, Nick Neilans, Ricardo Romero, and Mike Laine, 5th Grade Students Sports in Albion have taught us how to be respectful, responsible, and more physically fit. For example, baseball has showed us how to be responsible because we need to keep track of our uniforms and to be there on time. These are some of the many examples we have learned.

We have learned a lot in football, baseball, basketball, and soccer. In football we have learned to be stronger so we can run fast, to be ready to tackle big kids, and to withstand some hits. Also, in soccer we learned to control the ball and to kick better. In baseball you would need to pay attention because if a batter was up, you might be hit when you are on the other side of the dugout and you should concentrate on the ball the whole game. Basketball taught us to aim for the basket and to use hand-eye coordination. So you see, we have learned a lot in these sports.

As a result, the sports in Albion have taught us how to be better and smarter people. We hope you can be as physically fit as we are.

Being a Purple Eagle

By Zach Champeny, Dakota Purvee, Doug Ford, and Tyler Ward, 5th Grade Students There are many meanings of being a Purple Eagle. Things such as being optimistic - being optimistic means not to be mean or mad at others. Also almost everyone at Albion Elementary School is optimistic. Another thing about being a Purple Eagle is that nobody is a bully, we are good mannered and we are good at sports. They also are responsible. In our school we have many sports for athletic people. Everyone respects each other. The students in our school have good spirit and cheer for our team. So you see, that’s the meaning of being a Purple Eagle. In conclusion, there are many reasons of being a Purple Eagle. Hopefully the Eagle spirit will live on for many years.

What It Means to Be a Purple Eagle!

By Brittani Diaz, Eugenia Soto, Kelsee Soule, and Desiree Barber, 5th Grade Students Our school mascot is the Purple Eagle. To be a Purple Eagle it takes Respect, Responsibility, and Optimism. Many people in Albion Elementary School have what it takes to be an Eagle. In our school respect means to treat people the way you want to be treated. Responsibility means not to forget your homework or any supplies you need for the school day; also to be truthful. Optimism means that kids in our school have a good spirit. To be a Purple eagle you need pride and eagle spirit.

Real eagles are strong, independent, and symbolize freedom. Also classmates are being recognized for showing the Eagle Way at all times. For instance, children get awards for acting like an Eagle.

Peer Tutoring

By Alexis Grandy, Destiny Rivera, Wesley Rivera, and Reginald Dash, 5th Grade Students Over the years, we have helped Little Eagles earn their wings by helping them do better in school.

Peer tutoring is very important to our school, by helping little kids fly high the Eagle Way. For example, peer tutoring goes all around the elementary school. From teacher to students, 5th grade to 2nd grade, you never know. Peer tutoring evolves right around us to our Little Eagles. The little kids do better with peer tutoring because it helps them do better in reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Next peer tutoring also helps the younger kids by helping them do better on their school work. So you see, peer tutoring is very important to our school.

All in all, you see peer tutoring is very important to us all by helping our Little Eagles fly the Albion Purple Eagle way.

Safety Patrol

By Cortlin Artis, Dylan Hellems, Timothy Drake, and Zachary Shaffer, 5th Grade Students Safety Patrol makes sure Albion school is safe. Safety Patrol nicely says, “Walk please” – if they don’t listen they could either fall or bump into someone. Also, if they don’t listen, they can be punished. Punishments include getting written up, being in the front of the bus, suspension, and being in the principal’s office during recess. There are punishments for Safety Patrol, too – they might get kicked off Safety Patrol if they misbehave.

Safety Patrol is in the mornings and the afternoon. The school averages 900 students, so the hallways are always busy. Safety Patrol lasts 15 to 20 minutes. Some Safety Patrolers help kindergarten classes. They help put away backpacks, they help them get ready for school, and help teach them basic math, spelling, and reading.

Student Leadership Council

By Raven White, Chris Young, Mahogany Taylor, Hanna Luke, and Abby Maines-Eick, 5th Grade Students Student Leadership Council (SLC) is an honor for some students to have in Albion Elementary School. Students are elected by students and some by teachers. You go to meetings and meet with a teacher named Miss Rog, she is the teacher who instructs SLC. She is very smart and creative.

Miss Rog helps the chosen and elected students when they need help with thinking of ways to change the school.

Students in SLC go on many different trips for many different reasons, such as going to SUNY Brockport and a rock wall exhibit. Students went to SUNY Brockport College for the Games for the Physically Challenged to help students with physical challenges. SLC also went to the rock wall exhibit where they could face their fears and challenge themselves. SLC students also learned about students from Kambi ya Simba, Tanzania in the original In Our Village book.

As you see, SLC can change many things. SLC is an opportunity some kids get to have a chance of having fun.

Character, Service Learning, and Citizenship in Albion Elementary

By Miss Rog and the 3rd-5th Grade Student Leadership Council

In Albion, citizenship is very important. Both character education and service learning help us demonstrate our active citizenship and our dedication to others around us. The Elementary Student Leadership Council has talked a lot about these three things. We believe they are very important to who you are as a person.

CITIZENSHIP Citizenship is not just about being patriotic. We show great citizenship in many of the things we do in our school. At Albion Elementary School we show citizenship in the following ways: Class Elections Respecting Students and School Property Setting a Goal and Following It Participation in Class Recycling School Assemblies Saying the Pledge of Allegiance Asking Questions Following Classroom Rules Listening to Announcements Helping Others Attendance at School Keeping the Classroom Clean Service Learning/Community Service Projects CHARACTER Character is how we know and show what we are made of. We always try to do right by others and follow the school’s three guiding principles of respect, responsibility, and optimism. “What is character in our school?” you might ask. It looks like this: Character is helping Community Action [a local non-profit agency] by having a food drive Teachers helping students Putting things back where they belong Character is helping people younger than you Collecting and donating for PAWS [a local animal shelter] Walking quietly in the hall Being respectful and responsible even when no one is looking Sitting and speaking quietly on the bus Helping a new student Helping people pick up their papers if they drop them Working with reading and writing buddies

SERVICE LEARNING Service Learning is a way of teaching that allows you to learn your academics, but where you also help the community through what you know. There are four main processes in service learning: Preparation: This is where the process begins! In this stage, students and teachers work to identify a genuine community need, investigate what they know and need to know about it, and decide what to do about it.

Action: In action, students carry out the plan of action they developed during preparation. This is where they might collect items or recycling, beautify a local hiking trail, or a million other plans.

Reflection: Reflection can be done formally in structured times and activities, or informally during spontaneous teachable moments. Students and teachers should be reflecting before, during, and after the service learning project.

Demonstration: Demonstration allows students an opportunity to celebrate what they know in a public presentation.

It connects them to the idea that everyone can become an expert in community change.

What do students say about service learning? The Student Leadership Council had this to say: Group 1

Service is important to our school. Every grade does it. Service helps kids socialize. It helps kids become more responsible. Service helps the community. It helps the environment and society. It also lets kids feel important. It helps kids fit in, and improve their behavior. Plus, it helps kids be more respectful to others.

Group 2

Service learning is important to our community. The kids take the lead in all service learning projects. It teaches many things, such as respect, responsibility, optimism, leadership, and caring for others. Kids respect others during projects. They need to listen and speak politely. During projects, kids should be patient with others. Also, it can help kids turn into leaders by making them be the teacher. Service learning also teaches optimism. It mixes learning, fun, and games together.

Leadership is taught as well – kids can take control and be a role model. Students help others while still learning and they still keep their grades up.

rd

Healthy Eagles

Mrs. Arnold’s 3 Grade and Mrs. Kovaleski’s Pre-K Classes

“Here comes one Healthy Eagle!”

March, two, three, four...eat healthy and read some more. Something very exciting has been happening in Albion Elementary School this year! Mrs. Arnold's third graders have paired up with Mrs. Kovaleski's Pre-K classes to adopt and execute a healthier lifestyle. Each week these classes joined efforts in making healthy lifestyle choices, from taking brisk walks together, recognizing quicker heart rates, exercising, dancing, participating in physical games and activities, creating healthy snacks (enjoying fruit and yogurt parfaits), and reading together.

In order to encourage our Albion community to take on our healthy attitudes, we established the “Healthy Eagles Walking Trail” in our building for the community to benefit, too. During the process of measuring the designated walking trail, these buddy pairs wore what some of our Pre-K friends called “thermometers” (a.k.a. “pedometers”) and rolled a measuring wheel to assist them in the accurate measurement and mileage equivalents.

We then brainstormed some healthier lifestyle choices to assist others and posted signs around the walking trail, such as, “Instead of parking close to a store, you could park farther away and walk for exercise” and “Instead of watching SpongeBob on TV, you could be riding your bike through the Mount Albion Cemetery.” Accompanied by each of these Healthy Eagle Tips is another “Fun Facts” sign which offers interesting trivia tidbits, like “Eating a salad daily increases your life span by two years” and “When buying cereal, look for ten grams of sugar or less.”

To celebrate what we know in our Service Learning Project, we received Healthy Eagle t-shirts that communicate the importance of our philosophy, being “healthy minds, healthy eating, and healthy bodies”, which we depicted with a book, an apple, and a sneaker along with the proud phrase...

“There goes one healthy eagle!”

Students reflected on their project and came up with some very interesting answers:

What were the main things you talked about?

1. We keep our brains healthy by reading and doing things that make you think.

2. We keep our muscles healthy by exercising our legs and abs.

3. We eat healthy snacks so we don’t get sick. And if you don’t, if you eat unhealthy foods, you might be sick and vomit.

What was the best part of the project?

When we got to spend a lot of time with our buddies and we learned a lot.

Avry, Age 8 We tried to be healthy eaters because we are supposed to be healthy and not sick.

Jahmeek, Age 4 We eat good and we eat really healthy.

Hannah, Age 4 I learned how to read by Michael.

Christian, Age 4 We went to the mini-farm on a healthy walk and learned about animals for our healthy brains.

Leah, Age 5 Why is the project important?

We put the walking trail up and when people walk it they can find fun facts – there was one that said if you eat salad everyday it will add 1-2 years to your life. The signs help other people to learn.

Ben, Age 9 It is important because it is healthy.

Jasmine, Age 8 How did you help people with your project?

We read to get smarter and learn about different things. Sometimes we read to other people to help them understand what the things are like. If they wanted to learn about animals, then reading together would help them if they were stuck.

Kali, Age 9

ABC Tip Book

By Nick Reed, Evan Steier, and Darien Payne, 4th Grade We do service learning in class. One day in writing we were working on our service learning binders. We discussed how we do homework. We thought it would be helpful for other kids to let them know homework expectations in higher grades.

We used our own homework tips. We decided to use the ABC book. First we had to write at least 26 hints. Then we each took a letter and picked a hint or tip to go with that letter. In the middle of the page, we drew a picture of the hint. At the top of the page was the letter with the hint written next to it that starts with the letter. At the bottom of the page, we wrote a sentence to better explain our hints and tips. That is how we made the ABC tip book.

We hope to present it to our Board of Education and hand them out next year at open house.

Autumn Activities

By Cam Tucker and Taylor Johnston, 4th Grade We did a service learning project because we had fifty extra trick-or-treat buckets that were donated

by TOPS, a local supermarket chain.

We did two pamphlets, a fall one and a Halloween one. The fall one is for people who do not believe in Halloween and it included knock knock jokes and fire safety tips. The Halloween one is for people who do believe and it featured tips on how to be safe on Halloween. We brainstormed fall ideas, created a pamphlet, made a presentation, and gave it to every preschooler, kindergartener, and first grader.

WE did many things to make our fall presentation by brainstorming ideas, creating a pamphlet, and much more.

Service Learning on Halloween!

By Xashia McKenzie and Lauren Freeman

Our class did a service learning project. We made a Halloween pamphlet. We also did a Halloween skit. We mad the pamphlets for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and 1st Grade. WE did a lot of skits. The skits were on Halloween and fire fighters’ safety.

We brainstormed what to put in our pamphlet. We decided on Halloween history, a matching game, Halloween jokes, and directions for safely carving a Jack-O-Lantern. We also had Halloween trivia and a Halloween crossword puzzle. One group researched non-scary Halloween children’s books and movies. We had a police officer come in and share Halloween safety tips.

To find information our class looked on the computer and at the library. We also wrote down some of the not scary movies and books that we know. We used the computer to type up the pamphlet and we gave them out at Beggar’s Night.

Beggar’s Night is when you go to all the businesses in town Trick-Or-Treating. We gave the little kids our Halloween pamphlet we made along with plastic Jack-O-Lanterns that were donated from TOPS.

Science Fair: Students Teaching Other Students

By Mrs. Scott’s Class

Each spring about sixty students, ages 8 to 12, from various classes work together to plan, develop and present a Science Fair to the students and staff of the Albion Elementary School. Before the presentation of the fair, the students gather together to develop research questions and find the answers to their questions to develop their presentations and teaching materials such as posters and models. The students also assist in the incubation and care of the creatures being presented. This spring the children worked in nine groups studying nine different egg laying creatures – chickens, geese, ducks, quail, butterflies, praying mantises, ants, frogs and ladybugs.

During the two-day Science Fair, the students use the information they have learned during their research and the teaching materials they have developed to teach the visitors at the fair. At each station the student “teachers” greet the visitors, present information about their creature, answer questions, ask questions, maintain order and allow for safe viewing of the creature featured.

Comments from the student “teachers” about the Science Fair: Kali (age 11): I liked talking about the ducks.

Tyler (age 9): I made a poster of an ant hill.

Brook (age 9): The butterflies were cool! I taught them about the proboscis, antenna and the scales on the wings.

Da'Juantre (age 8): It was cool! I liked that the students asked good questions. I needed some help to answer their questions but I did it!

Dakota (age 12): I thought the students were good listeners!

Morgan (age 11): I showed kids our ladybugs and answered their questions.

Shyheim (age 10): Teaching was really cool! We got to show the kids the models of the chicks developing inside of the eggs. Some kids thought they looked like aliens! They were grossed out!

Andre' (age 12): I enjoyed greeting the science fair visitors and telling them about all the animals they would see. It was fun!

The Science Fair

By Emily Bourke, Dustin Weese, Vladimir Mendoza, Cole Wilder, 5th Grade Students Have you ever heard of the Albion Elementary School Science Fair?

There are animals, bugs, insects, healthy tips, and numerous more amazing things to learn about. To start off, at the Albion Elementary School Science Fair, there’s a lot to learn about. For example, did you know that Praying Mantises are going extinct? Or maybe that you have to brush your teeth for more than two minutes? You also should wash your face at least twice a day.

There are still a multitude of facts to learn.

Lastly, all the above statements are true, but there are many more things to be learned. So stop down at the Albion Elementary School's Science Fair next year!

Camp Rainbow

By Mrs. Zambito, Music Teacher, and the 2nd Graders Second grade did a Service-Learning Project where they made instruments, a songbook and then recorded a CD of them singing the songs in the book and playing the instruments for Camp Rainbow. When asked why they did this for Camp Rainbow, these were their answers: Mrs. Werner's Class We wanted to give people stuff to do, like musical chairs, so they won't be bored all the time and laying around. We wanted them to have a lot of fun without being lazy. If they want to play with their friends, they can turn on the music and play along.

Mr. Plewinski's Class Instead of buying new things and wasting money, we made them things from household items, like coffee cans. This helps our community because we recycled household items to make the instruments. We saved money and this helps our government have more money to help the less fortunate. We made them from the heart, and that is nicer.

Mrs. Snyder's Class We think we are doing this to help campers learn a song because music is fun!

They don't have a lot of money to do stuff at Camp Rainbow so giving them this stuff will help keep them open longer so people can go there if they want.

Mr. VanCamp's Class We wanted to make their camp a better camp by making them instruments and singing them songs. This makes camp more fun and exciting so more kids will come. The kids can get exercise and make more friends.

Mrs. Rightmyer's Class We thought it would be special so they could learn more about music in case they want to be a music teacher or in a rock band someday.

Mrs. Beach's Class Our class would like to help children at Camp Rainbow enjoy music by creating colorful instruments.

Mrs. Miesner's Class We want nice kids to have a very nice camp. We wanted to let other kids sing along with the “Bingo� song and, if kids don't know it, they can learn it. We want to keep this camp open because it's fun. If people are at the camp and miss their family, they can sing a nice song to make them happy.

Mrs. Mergler's Class We're doing this to help them learn music because we love music. We think singing with the music makes it sound better. We're doing this to be kind and help them have more music. We are making them a CD so they can listen to the music whenever they want. We made the instruments to help them save money, be a good friend, and give more music.

Caring for Critters

A Project by Mrs. Faraci’s Kindergarten Class and Mrs. Krull’s Pre-K Class Kindergarten students care very much about animals, and they wanted to help out local shelter animals that need homes. They partnered with a local animal shelter, PAWS, and collected needed materials for the cats and dogs there. Students collected things that made the animals feel at home – towels, blankets, throw rugs, and even stuffed animals!

Students also used their writing skills to help advertise for homes for the animals. They wrote a description of the animals waiting to be adopted and attached a picture to it: I am a cat. I am soft and have pink ears and whiskers. I am loveable.

John Schreiner I am little. I am cute. I have extra toes. I have yellow eyes.

Cheyanne Paige My name is Sunshine. I have blue eyes. I am loveable. I am soft. I have orange fur. I am a boy.

Abby Gardner I am a cat. I have soft hair. I have a hairy tail. Hi mom, take me home.

John Schreiner I am a girl. I have grey fur. I am sad. I don’t have a collar.

Alivia Fidanza I am a girl cat. I had a baby. I am furry. I want a home.

Jakob Talbot I am a girl. I came from my mommy. Hi mommy, I say. I want a home.

Gavin Reid

Students also reflected about their experiences during the project, many students were sympathetic towards the animals: I felt really sad because the cats do not have homes.

Emani Poole It made me cry when I helped the animals.

Cheyanne Paige And other students knew they made a BIG difference in the lives of many animals: I am happy because I helped the animals.

Adriana Maldonado I felt happy because I got a house for the cat.

Gavin Reid I was happy because it has a home.

Aisha Drisdom Students were very glad they were able to help the animals at PAWS. Whether they used the donated items or were adopted, the animals benefited because of our Caring for Critters!

Earth Day, Every Day!

By Mrs. Burrell and Mrs. Arnold and their 3rd Grade Classes Earth ambassadors in Mrs. Burrell’s and Mrs. Arnold’s third grade classes enthusiastically implemented a service learning project which embodied their philosophy that it’s our responsibility to conserve and preserve our wonderful home, the Earth! Their mission for this project has been to spread awareness and share their knowledge with the community members, beginning with the students and teachers in the elementary school.

The two classes worked diligently to emphasize to our Albion school and community the importance of our attitudes and actions on the condition of our planet. After reading The Wartville Wizard and Wump World, we listed positive ways that we can improve our earth by changing our daily routines to make more earth-friendly choices. From that list, we then designed a packet for our entire school to take to their homes, which challenged and invited each family by grade to decide upon actions they could take in their own homes. For instance, families of third graders were encouraged to change the negative action of wasting water into the positive action of conserving water. Suggested activities within this category for third graders were: I will conserve water by turning it off in between every spit when I brush my teeth; I will take a ___ minute shower to conserve water (must be less than you use now); I will conserve water by filling a container with as much water as I plan to drink; and I will conserve water by not letting the faucet run a long time to get really hot or cold water. As part of the third grade challenge, a field trip to the Albion Water Treatment Plant was arranged and our two third grade classes enjoyed learning about the path of water from Lake Ontario through the water treatment facility to our homes. We read The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks before the field trip and compared and contrasted the book with our own treatment plant.

Other grades had different responsibilities. Pre-K, kindergarteners, and first graders were responsible for changing littering into recycling and putting trash where it belongs. Second graders had the responsibility to help by conserving paper instead of wasting paper. Fourth graders were challenged to conserve electricity instead of wasting it, and fifth graders accepted the challenge of reducing noise pollution.

Students returned their color-coded “Earth Day, Every Day Contracts” after making these decisions with their families. Our classes, in turn, hung these contracts to create a colorful, rainbow graph in the cafeteria that appeared to grow as the contracts flooded in each day. The students were so excited to see which grade level color had the most each day. We made announcements in the

morning to the school with our progress and hung “Earth Eagle Tips” to share from these announcements. These tips came from students all over the school.

As a culminating reflection activity, students wrote their own stories using their choice of issue. The stories will be read to the community in the form of an Authors' Tea in literature circles. A soft cover book titled, Counting on You!, is being published to hand out to community offices and facilities as a book for helping others. Our students researched different facts they wanted to include in the book and illustrated each page 1 – 10. For example, number six stands for 600 gallons – the amount of water you can save in a month when you fix a small leak in your faucet.

In learning about the many threats to the health and balance of our planet's condition, students have become concerned and committed to doing their part to take positive actions to be conscientious inhabitants of our Earth. Our students have a lot of things to say about the experience: Hailey Bader said: “My Earth Day, Every Day project is important because we are spreading the word to people not to litter or waste electricity.”

Kyanara Canales said: “My project helped people in this building even people who helped make this project.”

Caitlynn Snook said: “It is important because I need people not to cut down trees so that I can breathe.”

Nikolas Green said: “I helped about 100 people and they are doing a lot better.”

Miranda Smith said: “When people work together, they make a big difference so you can breathe. Plus it is fun!”

Elisabeth Baker said: “My project helped all the people on our planet.”

Taylor Walczak said: “My project helped by saving the earth, saving people, and made the Earth a better place to live and lots of clean air to breathe on. Also to help people with medical excuses like asthma.”

How We Made Albion a Better Place

By Miss Lemp’s 1st Grade Class

The earth is what we all live on, it's the place we call home. As a class, we wanted to get our school involved to help make our community a better place. So, as a class we discussed different ways we could do that, and decided that Earth Day was the direction to go.

First, we made daily announcements, reminding our school that EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY in our community! We also gave out helpful tips which told students how to help out at home.

Next, our class started making bookmarks. These bookmarks went to all students and teachers who went out on Earth Day and helped clean our community. We ended up making and handing out over one thousand bookmarks.

Then, Earth Day finally arrived!! We had over thirty-six classes sign-up to go out and clean. We counted out and provided every student and teacher their own pair of gloves and bags for collecting.

Together as a school, we collected a total of one hundred and two bags of garbage throughout the Albion Community.

Finally, as a class, we came up with six T-shirt designs. We displayed all six logos for the school to look at. As the weeks went by, students and teachers voted on their favorite Earth Day design. After two weeks, the logo “Keep Our Earth Smiling” won. The winning design was then chosen to be on the t-shirts handed out at our Albion Community Clean-up Day. Our class enjoyed working together on this service learning project. We are very proud for what we accomplished and that we were able to get students, teachers, parents, and other community friends involved. As a team, we came together and made Albion a better place.

Community Angels

By 3rd Graders Nathaniel Smith, Derek White, Richard Daniels, and Mrs. Sheehan Mrs. Sheehan and Miss Deiboldt’s classes organized a food drive in February to collect food for Community Action of Albion. To kick-off the program, we coordinated our event with a play that the high school students performed called “Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch”, based on the book

by Eileen Spinelli. We thought this would be a good introduction to our food drive because the play is about a man who lives alone and thinks that he does not matter to anyone.

After the play, we sang a song called It’s All Up to You that was written by Miss Deiboldt and her father. It is about working together as a community to help each other. When the song was over, our two announcers told the school what our plan was. While the announcers were suggesting different things to donate, we had students dressed up as food items!

We spent a week collecting food and hygiene items from each class. We collected so much because we made posters to hang in the school to tell people about the food drive. As we collected, we graphed our results so the school could see how much they donated. When the food drive was over, we spent two days delivering the donations to Community Action. We really enjoyed bringing the food in and stocking the shelves. As students shared, “It felt good to help our community.”

The Community Action staff was so impressed by our effort they invited us to attend their Annual Luncheon. We walked from our school to the American Legion and when we got there, we announced to the audience how many products we collected. We also sang the song “It’s All Up to You” to the audience. Afterwards, our teachers were awarded a certificate for our classes’ work and a special “Angel” award. We stayed for lunch and then walked back to school.

Some comments made by students after the luncheon: “I was surprised by the number of people at the luncheon who help Community Action.”

“I felt like a big help to people who need help.”

“I was proud of our efforts.”

“I was surprised by the amount of donations we collected.”

The Thinklinkers

By Madison Flor, Donato Rosario, and Mr. Epperson’s 4th Grade Class Our band is called the Thinklinkers. Our songs are about reading, writing, and getting good grades and scores. We all just have so much fun. If you have Mr. Epperson, you will keep rockin’, rollin’, and readin’. We change the words of original songs which took a lot of work. However, it was still enjoyable. Below is an example of one of the songs. It was originally called Heart of Gold by Neil Young. We changed it to The Book Was Sold. We learned about many other groups from this experience like the Beatles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, the Monkees, Simon and Garfunkle, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The Book Was Sold

Sung to the tune of Heart of Gold by Neil Young

I want to read, I have that need I’ve been searchin’ but the book was sold It’s all these questions I never know That keep me searchin’ but the book was sold Which I’m getting told.

I’ve been to bookstore, like Barnes and Noble I’ve searched the malls but the book was sold It’s been on my mind, it’s got such fine lines That keeps me searchin’ but the book was sold Which I’m getting told.

I keep on searchin’ but the book was sold I keep on searchin’ although I’ve been told I keep on searchin’ I’ll put it on hold I’ve been lookin’ but the book was sold.

Albion Elementary Earth Eagles

By Andrea Nauden and Riley Seilstad

We are the Earth Eagles from 3rd Grade in Mrs. Perry’s class. Our job is to recycle and save the world. When you recycle, you pick up paper, plastic, and all sorts of trash. You put all the trash into a garbage can and paper you put in a recycling bin. They take the garbage and bury it, and it pollutes the earth but if we recycle, they take it to a place where they turn something into something else!

For example, used paper is made into fresh paper we can use. Even if you don’t have a recycling program at school, you still can do it at home – you can make a clubhouse out of cardboard boxes.

You can also wrap presents with newspaper and reuse the backs of used paper to draw and write on.

Students were asked why recycling paper is important…

Recycling paper is important because we save thousands and hundreds of trees. First, if we do not recycle, people will cut down more trees then we will not have rainforests for the environment.

Next, I love animals, so for that the animals need trees. Last, recycling is very fun. You could try it some day.

By Kendall Eibl Recycling paper is important because if we didn’t, a lot of trees would be cut down right now. The people who cut down trees hurt our environment. It would be better if we recycle than cut down trees, right? So you see that is why recycling is so important.

By Destini Hurlbert Recycling is important to all of us because if we did not recycle, then there would not be any more trees. And we love the trees, don’t we, because without trees then the poor deer would have no place to live. That is why our job is recycling.

By Cody Grabowski Recycling paper is important. I like recycling because I save the earth. You can save a million pounds of paper if you recycle. If you recycle a lot, it feels like an everyday thing. So you see that’s why it’s so important to recycle.

By Stephen Zayac Thank you for reading our suggestions about recycling!

People to Know About Many people in our school are important – two people in particular came to the minds of our students when we created our In Our Village book, and are great examples of respect, responsibility, and optimism in our everyday life!

The Nurse’s Job!!!!

By Cassie Casanova, Brandon Lindke, Donte’ Burgio, Skyler Everett, 5th Grade Students Have you ever met our school nurse Mrs. Zicari? Many people think she is really nice, however some disagree - she can't always help kids such with as a splinter! Also, she can't take them out, remember it's not her rule, it's her bosses! When she can't do that she gives them a hug and sends them on their way back.

She starts off with TLC, this means Tender Loving Care. Mrs. Zicari tests all children's vision, hearing and weight. The Nurse also teaches people how to use all types of medicine. The nurse’s real job is actually to keep all kids in school healthy and safe.

Now you know the nurse’s real jobs and what she does to help kids of all shapes and sizes.

Service Outside of School: A Student Example Your school doesn’t do service learning in class? Never fear, there are plenty of opportunities outside of school to participate in service and help make your community a better place! Just ask Josh Metzler, a 5th grade student here in Albion Elementary School. Josh volunteers his time in many places outside of school, and completes service in his free time after school and on the weekends – he was even awarded for his efforts with the New York State Comptroller Achievement Award. He exemplifies our school’s mission, “Achievement, Character, and Success for Life” completing service not because it is a class assignment, but because it helps him connect to the community and make it a better place for everyone to live. In the last year, Josh has volunteered for the annual Walk for Life, at the Special Olympics, and in Community Clean-Up Day, and has also built wood duck houses for a wetlands restoration project, as well as volunteered in a local animal shelter. “Why does he do it?” you might ask. “To help the community grow, and make the community a better place to be,” he says.

Flag Day at Albion Elementary Americans celebrate a holiday called Flag Day on June 15 each year. The tradition started in 1916 and in our school we hold a ceremony to honor the flag. Students in the band play patriotic music and everyone sings songs about our country. Students in the photo also read poems they created – these poems are below and show how important the flag is to our school and country.

Our Flag

By Alexis Manning, Grade 5 Our flag is red, white, and blue and soars in the sky, High above me and high above you.

It is a symbol for our country, it has always been that way.

There are fifty stars for the fifty states, And there’s no debate.

I like our flag, but do you?

Flag Day

By Shannon Broda, Grade 4 Oh how lovely red white and blue, Waving in the air always true.

There it stands gleaming bright through the day and through the night.

Here we stand with our friends, Its wonderful spirit will never end.

The American Flag

By Alyssa Downs, Grade 3 You are the symbol of our country, Who shines oh so bright, Who carried the soldiers to win the fight, Your warmth and independence keeps our spirits up, When you fly through the air oh so happily, We pledge to you with loyalty and trust, As we are one nation who stands tall, With liberty and justice for all.

By Kirsten Struble, Grade 2 Up on the flagpole Flying high and true With colors of freedom Red, white, and blue In its own majestic way Our flag waves in glory Symbolizing beauty Telling us a story So let’s salute our flag Our nation stands tall With liberty and justice For one and all.

Our Flag

By Ella Knaak, 1st Grade There is no other country I would want to live in more than America.

I love America so much because it brings us freedom.

I am proud to be an American because I can grow up to be whatever I want to be.

America!

Thank you for being a good home for me and all of these people.