Teacher Julie Cote’s first-grade class at Lakeville Elementary wants to make sure U.S. troops overseas are not forgotten ? and they’ve got the dirty hands and smiling faces to prove it.
Students got very messy (and had a lot of fun) Monday making 500 special Earth Day necklaces which will be sold for 25 cents each over the next two weeks. Proceeds from the sales will be used to buy special ‘hard-to-find? items for our brave servicemen and women stationed in the Middle East.
Mixing a combination of top soil and glue together, the students formed tray after tray of small balls. One paper clip was then inserted in each ball and they were left to dry and harden.
Once that happened, the balls were painted blue and green to resemble tiny earths, and pieces of yarn were fastened to the paper clips so they could be worn around the neck.
The result ? Earth Day necklaces.
Cote said her class made and sold the necklaces last year, raising nearly $200 for troops. The necklaces were very much in-demand items around school.
‘It was like a sweatshop in my classroom,? she said jokingly. ‘We were making them like crazy last year. We sold all of them. After three weeks, I said, ‘No more!??
Cote and her class decided to bring the necklaces back again this year due to their immense popularity and the need to keep remembering our troops in harm’s way.
‘Last year, everyone was raising money for the troops and it seems like we kind of forgot about them this year,? Cote said. ‘So we decided to do it again.?
It was especially important for Cote’s class to remember the troops because two students have relatives serving overseas in the Armed Forces.
Kanon Hulbert’s uncle, Staff Sgt. Tracy Henrikson, is currently stationed in northern Baghdad, Iraq with the U.S. Army’s 1st Calvary.
Samantha Richardson’s father, Sgt. First Class William Richards, of the Michigan National Guard, is stationed in Sinai, Eygpt with the Multinational Force and Observers, a peace-keeping force who’s mission is to supervise the implementation of security provisions relating to the peace treaty between Eygpt and Israel in the Sinai Desert, Strait of Tiran and Gulf of Aqaba.
Money generated by the necklace sales will be divided 50/50 and used to purchase supplies such as decks of playing cards, wipes, Band-aids, Kleenex, Q-tips, pens, pencils, paper, stamps and any other other ‘hard-to-find? items the troops may lack where they are.
Half of the items will be sent to Henrikson and the troops serving with him, while the other half will go to Richards and the soldiers serving with him.