Third Grade Spring Morning Ex

Third grade students and teachers recently combined their collective efforts and energies to offer two special performances of a Spring Sharing Morning Ex, centering around Earth Day to inspire the Parker community to make positive changes for the environment.

Students opened the gathering with a land acknowledgement, thanking those who have come before them as stewards of the land and marking the enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional territories. The whole grade combined voices in sharing Tom Chapin and John Foster’s “This Pretty Planet.”

Students working in the arts and literacy group used the Heller Auditorium’s overhead displays and sound system to share an Ojibwa creation story called Nanabozho and Muskrat Make the Earth, which they learned in class and later illustrated and narrated.

Another group of students presented a wealth of information on some environmentalists they have been studying in class, including John Muir, George Washington Carver, Rachel Carson, Wangari Maathai and Winona Laduke. Students took turn sharing facts about each person’s life and their instrumental roles in preserving the environment.

Acknowledging the many animals who share our planet, students related information about endangered species, such as the regal fritillary, lake sturgeon, alligator snapping turtle, cerulean warbler and more. They displayed images from their classwork after studying these animals and their fragile balance with humans in our environment and offered suggestions and solutions for helping them thrive once again.

Dramatic action followed, as students presented a series of skits to convey facts about plastic pollution and changes anyone can make to pollute less.

The 3rd graders brought the assembly to a close by performing a moving rendition of Bob Thiele and George David Weiss’s “What a Wonderful World.”

Great work to all involved and thanks so much to the 3rd grade for sharing all they have been learning with their peers!

Click here for photos.