Wilson Hill's Energy Fair teaches students how to conserve

 

Wilson Hill Elementary School's fifth- and sixth-graders are "going green" as they kick off a new districtwide recycling program and illustrate ways to conserve the earth's resources.

The school's Energy Fair took place Thursday, Oct. 25, as the culminating event of an energy study by both grades. Staff and students wore shades of blue and green as "earth colors."

"The sixth-graders researched energy projects and made trifold posters giving information about renewable and nonrenewable energy resources," said teacher Pam Brill.

Brill said the sixth-grade students taught younger students about energy in the cafeteria while fifth-grade students facilitated energy games in their classrooms.

"The students played games such as Energy Pie, where a student was given an energy question, and if they got it right, they would get a piece of the pie," she said. "Another game used an energy board. If you match up the energy source with the correct definition, it lights up."

Brill said a part of the energy study was working with the Ohio Energy Project, an educational organization that teaches students about energy conservation.

"They showed us how to do an energy audit of our building," she said. "We went through the building and determined where we were losing air around doors and windows and if the lights were efficient.

"The students learned that fluorescent lights are more efficient than incandescent lights and that compact fluorescent lights are even more efficient," she said.

The fifth- and sixth-graders made announcements to the school about ways to save energy, which included turning off lights when you leave a room, never leaving water running or dripping and turning off computers and monitors, Brill said.

The energy fair also was the kickoff for the districtwide recycling program.

"We were already recycling paper, but will now recycle milk containers, cardboard and certain types of plastics," Brill said. "The fifth- and sixth-graders will also help in the cafeteria, asking kids to dump the milk they don't drink in a bucket so that they can measure how much milk is being wasted."

Superintendent Melissa Conrath said she met with representatives from each of the school buildings to talk about how to enhance the district's recycling program.

"We could only recycle paper products before, but now are recycling all paper products, corrugated cardboard, aluminum and steel cans and most plastics," she said. "The recycling program will look a little different in each of the buildings, but we provided a recycling container for each of the classrooms, and in the cafeterias will be containers for pop cans and plastic bottles."

The extra recycling efforts won't cost the district more and may reduce the cost of waste collection, Conrath said.

"We are not charged for picking up the recyclables, but for the amount of solid waste they take away," she said. "So the less amount of solid waste, the less the cost."