Students at Shanghai Community International School wore hats made out of garbage and turned water bottles into drums yesterday to celebrate International Earth Day.

Earth Day was first proposed in the United States in 1969 to celebrate the natural wonders of our planet. The day is now marked in many countries as a time to think about the environment.

At the SCIS's Changning campus yesterday morning, more than 200 students from pre-school age to sixth graders staged a nearly two-hour performance for classmates and parents around the theme of environmental protection.

"The core of Earth Day lies in teaching children to learn to love and protect the Earth we are living on," said Susan Schulman, a school official.

The show began with a group of grade five students putting on a fashion show by wearing hats made from recycled garbage such as newspapers, plastic bags and boxes.
 
Sixth graders followed by dressing themselves as water bottle warriors - using large pure water bottles to play a drum dance.

All the performance were designed and led by music teachers, SCIS officials said.
Students in each class were also required to come up with a resolution to help protect the Earth, including picking up trash on campus, turning off the TV to save electricity and recycling dead batteries.

(Shanghai Daily April 22, 2005)