Down-to-earth lessons

By MICHELE MILLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2000

With Earth Day approaching on Saturday, students throughout the county have been focusing on the environment. Programs abound to adopt an endangered species, purchase a slice of rain forest or simply pick up some trash on school grounds.

Students at Quail Hollow Elementary School in Wesley Chapel celebrated on Monday with a tree planting ceremony and the doling out of 10-by-10-foot garden plots to classroom pods. Students were also given seeds to plant so they could learn firsthand about the pride that comes with successful gardening.

At Deer Park Elementary, students have been decorating paper bags with environmental messages in the national Earth Day Groceries Project. Those who shop at the River Crossing Publix will be reminded of the importance of recycling, along with other earth-saving tips.

Those wanting information on what they can do to celebrate Earth Day can check out some earth- and kid-friendly Web sites: http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/earthday/links.html and http://www.earthdaybags.org.

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