Rainbow Schools celebrate Earth Day

Rainbow Schools will celebrate Earth Day with a number of activities, including participating in the Earth Day Festival at Market Square this weekend.

“In Rainbow Schools, we are teaching our students sound sustainability practices so they become more aware of the impact that their actions have on our community and our environment,” says Jean Hanson, Director of Education for Rainbow District School Board. 

She adds: “Our schools are leading by example. We welcome the opportunity to celebrate the environment along with our community partners at the Sudbury Earth Day Festival and we encourage everyone to visit our displays. Our elementary and secondary schools will also be hosting a number of Earth Day activities.”

The Light Up Costa Rica project will be showcased at Market Square. A total of 17 students from Rainbow Schools traveled to rural indigenous communities in Central America during the March Break, bringing 100 more LED lighting systems to some of the poorest and most remote areas of the world. Students and teachers involved in the project – from Lasalle Secondary School, Lively District Secondary School, Lockerby Composite School and Manitoulin Secondary School – commend the communities of Sudbury, Espanola and Manitoulin for their ongoing support of this effort.

Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School’s Environmental Club will showcase their activities at Market Square on Saturday, April 18th. In addition, they will invite interested members of the public to sign a petition calling on public institutions to ban the sale of bottled water on their premises. 

Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School will host a Spring Clean-Up on Earth Day. Students will clear refuse from school grounds as well as public property adjacent to the school. There will be a booth and display in the school foyer to inform students of the activities of various clubs including the L.E.P. Environmental Club, the Amnesty International Club and Students for Change / Free the Children / Minga for Masaai.  The Environmental Club will raise funds through a bake sale featuring organic and fair trade foods and beverages.

Larchwood Public School in Dowling will celebrate Earth Day on Tuesday, April 21st with a school-wide assembly at 1:35 pm. The school will celebrate their love for the planet and show that students can make a difference. The assembly will include songs, stories and a recycled hat parade. The school will also adopt an endangered animal. There will be a school yard clean up throughout the day and students will compete to see which class can have the least amount of garbage in their lunches.

Caring about the environment is a year long focus at Redwood Acres Public School. The school began composting last fall, after creating vegetable and flower gardens throughout the schoolyard. The school also promotes garbageless lunches. On Earth Day, classes will participate in many literacy and mathematic activities related to sustainability and greening. Staff and students will also clean up the school yard and surrounding community. The entire school will attend a viewing of "Earth" on Thursday, April 30th.

Assiginack Public School will host a Green Day on Wednesday, April 22nd with a variety of events, including a recycling scavenger hunt, recycling relay race and other activities based on the three R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle.

Jessie Hamilton Public School will host a Conservation Fair on Wednesday, April 22nd. Students will create projects from recycled materials designed to improve the environment.

On Wednesday, April 22nd, Northeastern Elementary School will host a Go Green Paying It Forward to the Environment Assembly for the entire school. Classes will go out into the community to participate in the Pitch In Canada clean up your community project.

R. H. Murray Public School will host a community clean up on Wednesday, April 22nd as part of Earth Day. Students will also assemble in the gym to view slides from previous year’s activities and celebrate their contribution to protecting the planet.

Wembley Public School will host an Invention Convention during Earth Week on Thursday, April 23rd. Students from Grades 1 to 6 will create a useful invention made from recycled materials. Students, parents and community members have been invited to attend.
 
Lockerby Composite School will host an area clean up activity and will plant gardens during Earth Week. The Students for Students Committee is planning a small fundraiser to cover the cost of supplies.
 
Lasalle Secondary School will host a schoolyard clean up during Earth Week. Students and staff will have accomplished their goal of providing the African community of Kenya with two wells through the Free the Children Foundation. The wells will be built at two of the schools.

Monetville Public School will be teaming up with the French River Stewardship Committee to plant 500 seedling trees at the French River Visitors Centre on Hwy 69 on May 26th. The Monetville Eagles help to sustain the health of the environment in many ways. The school recycles daily. A dedicated teacher delivers a load of recycling items weekly to the main site in Monetville. The Grade 6 students and their teacher organize the recycling items each week. The school also has a crew of students who take fruit and vegetable scraps weekly to the school’s composter bin.

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Media Contact:

Nicole Charette, Senior Advisor,
Corporate Communications and Strategic Planning,
Rainbow District School Board, 674-3171, ext. 7217.