WIESBADEN, Germany - Hainerberg Elementary School students love paper.
They like crafting creative messages and enjoy recycling it after it has been used.
Just ask the members of teacher Carmen Hernandez fourth-grade class and kindergarten teacher Lynn Wheeler's Recycling Club.
"They are all so enthusiastic," said Wheeler, about the 30 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders who volunteer to promote recycling at the school.
"Every Thursday we meet as a club and the kids go around and collect the containers and take them out to the recycling bins. … They are a great bunch of kids -- it's a lot of work."
"I saw a chance to help the environment and save a little bit of the world," said fifth-grader Sam Renninger, about getting involved in the recycling effort. "It feels good."
"I get to clean a lot of the paper that people throw out and help keep the Earth clean," added third-grader Yasmine Tejada. "It's important because it keeps the world clean and healthy and keeps people living longer."
Wheeler, who has overseen the Recycling Club at the school for many years, said she has seen a greater effort by everyone to recycle. "It has improved over the years.
"We make sure that all of the classrooms have paper bins, and we supply the plastic bags for can and plastic recycling. Part of our job is to educate everyone in the school," she said.
She added that the school's Parent Teacher Association has been supportive of the recycling effort as well.
Book authors
Fourth-graders in Carmen Hernandez class, on the other hand, have used paper to record their thoughts about growing up as military children.
"The class produced a book about the military child experience," said Hernandez, explaining that the book, "ABC … Kids Serving Overseas," was entered in the Scholastic Books competition. "If the book gets published, they'll print a certain number of copies which will be distributed to libraries nationwide. … Sometimes people in the United States forget we're over here and this shows what it's like for a child overseas."
Examples from the book include "A is for Army," "D is for Deployment" and "L is for Living Overseas" with original written and artistic impressions by the students on each topic.
"We had already written an ABC book about presidents, earlier this year, so the kids had an idea about ABC books. Each student chooses a letter (or letters) and thinks about a topic they would like to write about," Hernandez said.
"I learned to be a better author," said Zach Jankovich, about the process of compiling his thoughts and contributing to the book.
"I got to see what other people did and what they experienced," said Janiah Nicholson, who wrote about "Q is for Quarters." "I wrote about different houses that you may live in while in the Army."
For Aiden Springer, it was a chance to provide his impressions about living in Japan under "J is for Japan." He also wrote about "X is for X-Ray." "We used X-Ray because Soldiers sometimes get hurt while on duty and need to go to a clinic."
Jada Dash said she enjoys writing, especially when she "gets mad or sad. … I like making books."
Likewise for fellow classmate Jasmine Andrews who said, "Sometimes I like writing because I can't really stop."
Hernandez added that the class hopes to hear about the results of the Scholastic Book competition sometime this summer.
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