How Do You Save 100 Acres?
2006-2007 100 Acre School Stories

Mike Murphy
Woodward Academy, GA - 217 Acres

Holly Calderwood
Navigator School, MI - 145.4 Acres

Signa Raymer & Barbara Glass         
Arroyo West Elementary School, CA - 138.9 Acres

Seth Palmer
Dundee Elementary, MI - 112.9 Acres

Christine Unger
Pantera Elementary School, CA - 102 Acres

Mike Murphy
Woodward Academy, GA - 217 Acres
The students and faculty at Woodward Academy work very hard every year to remain the #1 school in the nation, but also want to make sure they try to help save as many acres as they possibly can. Every year, they strive to come up with new ways to motivate the students.

Last year the 4th and 5th grade students went to Pine Mountain Animal Reserve to view animals that might be found in the Rift Valley area of Africa. They spent the day traveling through the preserve and observed zebra, gazelles, giraffes, lions, rhinos, and other animals. They then discussed what it be like to only see these animals in areas like this. They came away with a better understanding of why it is important that animals have their natural homes.

Each year Woodward students look forward to the campaign. They enjoy looking at the new designs and selecting the shirts they will purchase. They also get excited about finding out which area of the planet they are going to help save, and all the special and unique creatures that call it home.

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Holly Calderwood
Navigator School, MI - 145.4 Acres
Navigator School is so proud to have saved over 140 acres in the Rift Valley of East Africa. These students proved how important it is to set goals. They sold for a shorter period of time than in the past, but saved more acres than ever before making them the number 2 school in the US!!

This is the third year that Navigator students have saved over 100 Acres and they attribute their success to the fact that more students were involved in 2006-2007 than ever before. Once the students learned about The Rift Valley and all the work Jane Goodall was doing to help the threatened animals, they rallied together to save their habitats.

All Navigator students were introduced to the program with a school-wide rainforest assembly. Then the students made school television commercials to educate others about their desire to make a difference in the world.

Different incentives were offered to students like stuffed animals and weekly Navigator Rainforest Café lunches complete with rainforest animal sounds and critters hanging from the trees! They also competed for ice cream socials and class pizza parties.

Navigator School can't wait to further their philanthropic efforts and are eager to get started on the 2007-2008 Osa campaign!

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Signa Raymer & Barbara Glass
Arroyo West Elementary School, CA - 138.9 Acres
The students and faculty at Arroyo West Elementary School in CA, worked very hard to save 138.9 acres in 2006-07! The T-shirts they so proudly wear and display around the school campus are part of a bigger picture: saving rainforest and assuring a better future.

According to sponsors Signa Raymer and Barbara Glass, students set a goal of becoming the #1 school in the nation and worked feverishly for 3 weeks in February towards accomplishing their goal. The T-shirt sale started off with a grade level assembly. Students were shown the rainforest video and students model-walked the stage wearing T-shirts.

This year students joined the "One-acre Club" by selling 10 T-shirts. Joining the One-acre Club meant making the daily intercom announcement and freeing a stuffed animal from the rainforest cage. The students got to keep the freed animal as a gift for a job well done. Students also have their names posted on the One-acre Club chart.

After an initial three week sale, the top selling class at each grade level was rewarded with a pizza party. This service-learning project has given the students at Arroyo West a feeling that they can make a difference in an ever changing world.

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Seth Palmer
Dundee Elementary, MI - 112.9 Acres
The world is a greener, better place thanks to the students at Dundee Elementary School! Success keeps coming! For the seventh year in a row, Dundee has saved over 100 acres of rainforest! Saving 112.9 acres in the Rift Valley of East Africa! It is very satisfying knowing that in a small rural community, Dundee students are making a global difference.

To kick off the t-shirt sale this year, the student government officers put together a Power Point presentation that contained many facts about the rainforest. The presentation was delivered to the entire student body in morning and afternoon assemblies. It compiled information on lush vegetation, diverse wildlife, and the dangers of losing these precious resources with photographs, graphics, animation, and sound. Many photos were taken while advisor, Seth Palmer, was visiting Costa Rica with other teachers as guests of the Earth Foundation. Seeing the pictures up close, as the student government officers narrated, the students of Dundee Elementary gained a deeper understanding of how the loss of the rainforest is a global threat.

Everyone involved was very proud of Dundee's success and the students look forward to making an even bigger difference in their global community in 2007!

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Christine Unger
Pantera Elementary School, CA - 102 Acres
Pantera 4th graders are truly amazing!!! This group of sixty fourth graders managed to surpass their goals once again to make the 100 acre mark! Every year the fourth grade at Pantera Elementary embarks on a mission to help save the protected rainforest land.

Their year begins with a major unit of study in science. Within each classroom, students learn about the delicate state our rainforests are in and spend a great deal of time examining the world wide effects that the destruction of these rainforests are causing. Students move across the curriculum in reading all genres of literature that thematically involve the rainforest as a theme.

When the unit of study is completed, students embark on the mission of saving the rainforest. With their vast amount of knowledge, fourth graders go out into their community and organize before and after school sales of rainforest T-shirts. Daily announcements are given to update the student body in reference to how close they are to meeting their goals. Students that sold at least 20 t-shirts were treated to a special luncheon at "The Rainforest Cafe" and were given a private assembly with some exotic endangered animals. Pantera hopes to meet the 100 acre mark again!

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