Peters Township elementary project reinforces value of recycling
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Joe Kretz displays his “Joebot” and Allison Hammond her gumball machine.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
The Pleasant Valley elementary school library is full of students’ recycling creations.
By Harry Funk/Staff writer/hfunk@thealmanac.net
The Pleasant Valley elementary school library is full of students’ recycling creations.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
The Pleasant Valley elementary school library is full of students’ recycling creations.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
The Pleasant Valley elementary school library is full of students’ recycling creations.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
The Pleasant Valley elementary school library is full of students’ recycling creations.
In the days of penny candy, Allison Hammond would have written “1 cent” on the gumball machine she created.
By Harry Funk
Staff writer
hfunk@thealmanac.net
Harry Funk/ The Almanac
The Pleasant Valley elementary school library is full of students’ recycling creations.
On the other hand, the second-grader wouldn’t have had a machine on which to write. Her “25 cents” version is constructed of recycled materials, and that concept didn’t really exist back when a copper coin could buy you something to chew.
“It’s been very popular,” Pleasant Valley Elementary School library media specialist Nancy Barley said about Allison’s creation. “Lots of students want to turn this and help themselves.”
The place where you’d put your coins is just for show, but the gum is genuine.
“I used two plastic bowls and then two plastic plates,” Allison said about where the colorful little spheres are displayed. “And a real oatmeal box, without oatmeal.”
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Harry Funk / The Almanac
The Pleasant Valley elementary school library is full of students’ recycling creations.
Her project is among the record 125 on display in the school library for the sixth year of the PV Recycling Art Show. Kindergartners through third-graders throughout the Peters Township building scrounged around their homes for anything that could be put to better use, and they came through in a big way.
“I felt that this year, they were so creative with their ideas,” Barley said.
Allison, for example, recycled something that already had been recycled for her gumball machine’s cylindrical column.
“It was originally my valentine box,” she explained, with a slot in the back through which to put her Feb. 14 cards. “Then the recycling project came up, and I thought I could use this and kind of remodel it.”
At Barley’s suggestion, some of the students chose to build robots, including second-grader Joe Kretz.
“I went to the recycling bin in our garage,” he said, emerging with a variety of essential parts: empty macaroni-and-cheese and cracker boxes, containers for toys from a fast-food restaurant, a rinsed-out plastic hummus container and even a bag that once contained Mandarin oranges.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Harry Funk / The Almanac
The Pleasant Valley elementary school library is full of students’ recycling creations.
The art show is one of the many exercises to help reinforce in students the value of reusing materials.
“One of their jobs is every Friday to bring the recycling to the bin in the PTA room,” Barley said. “Plus in the cafeteria, the students recycle from their lunch trays.”
Pleasant Valley Principal Gregory Marquis said the art show project integrates the disciplines of STEM education: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“That’s been a big initiative in our building this year as we start to rewrite our science curriculum,” he explained.
As for the recycling component?
“It’s a lifelong skill,” he said. “It’s something that they have to learn and see the value of it at a young age.”