Fogelsville Teacher Uses Recyclables For Lesson

art teacher Margarita Daly was educating herself on evironmental issues last school year, when she came across something she thought would be useful in the classroom

The elementary school art teacher found a way to weave her interest into a classroom project for fourth graders that benefitted the Clean Oceans Project, a non-profit group based in Santa Cruz, Calif.

"Personally I am interested in environmental issues and found the Clean Oceans Project online as I was doing research about the plastic gyres for my own education.  I decided to do the art project with the fourth grade last year because they were interested in hearing about how they could make a difference through
their art work for the planet," Daly said.

Students recycled their recyclables into works of art and also wrote essays that were formatted as letters to the editor about the pollution crisis.  Daly then took some of art projects that looked like sea creatures and made them into a line drawing and had them embossed on stainless steel water bottles. They are for sale and helping to raise money for the Clean Ocean’s Project.

"We raised $700 so far and hope to sell the remainder bottles to raise the other half for TCOP.  We are not currently doing the same project this year, but I
do plan on doing a recycled plastic project again, but I am unsure exactly what yet," Daly said.

To find out more about the Clean Oceans Project, visit their website at http://www.thecleanoceansproject.org/