Students at Ridgeway Elementary School celebrated Earth Day with a day full of activities that included special lessons and working in the school’s courtyard garden.

Media/Library Specialist Geri Szoke used the school’s new interactive whiteboard to teach a lesson on conservation to a group of fourth graders.  The electronic whiteboard not only allows Szoke to project the image from a computer on the large screen, it also allows students to interact with the program using a special pen-shaped controller.  For instance, students could touch a picture of a lamp or a computer to reveal tips on how to save energy with compact fluorescent bulbs or by unplugging electronic devices when they are not in use. 

“The board is pretty cool because you can write on it and hook up the computer to it,” said fourth grader Kaithlyn S.   

Szoke said the whiteboard was purchased with funds from a $10,000 media center grant from the OceanFirst Foundation, which she won with a proposal that focused on environmental studies.

On Earth Day, those environmental studies concentrated on teaching students ways they can help in cleaning up and taking care of the environment and conserving natural resources.

“I learned how to protect the earth and not make it dirty,” said Anisa G. 

Students also worked in the school’s courtyard garden, cleaning, mulching and planting.  “It needed to be cleaned up,” said Kaeley G.  “That’s what we do every year, clean it up and plant flowers.”