Kindergartners care for the earth

Newton - Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970 and Pam Raynor joined that celebration 10 years ago by teaching her students how to take care of our Earth. She has been teaching in the Newton school system for 31 years, currently teaching kindergarten at Merriam Avenue School. On Friday, April 20, she continued her tradition of taking her kindergarten class out to the school playgrounds with garden gloves on and a large black bag. “We’re working to clean the Earth,” she told the kids. “This is the first year the kids have had kid size gloves. They usually have to wear the plastic ones that are way too big,” explained Raynor. “We can continue to use them all year long, too.” “In past years, each kid has filled a bag. It’s quite nice to see things are getting better,” said Raynor. This year, the big black bag was only ½ full. After cleaning the grounds around both playgrounds, the children sat outside to enjoy some Yodels as a special treat- this week they were learning about the letter “Y”. The quilt they sat on for their picnic snack was made by three years of kindergarten classes, finally finished by this year’s class.