Arbor Day celebration held at elementary school

submitted by Johanna Tooke

Ekalaka Elementary spent the afternoon celebrating Arbor Day with art. Afterall, without trees, there'd be no pencils for drawing, paintbrushes for painting, paper or canvas for the landscapes to showcase the artist's scene and erasers for fixing mistakes. Granted, now that synthetics have been invented trees no longer are the sole supplier of these staples for an artist. Betty Cline, Jay Hoversland, and Susan Tooke shared their artistic talent with groups in the grade school on Friday, April 29th.

Mrs. Tooke had kindergartners and first graders lapping up her art. Quite literally tongues were drug across the art. With corn syrup and food coloring used to create iridescent butterfly wings on freezer paper, taste testing was a given. The students did learn all about the color wheel and mixing primary colors to create secondary colors. The vibrant insects are now fluttering in the school's hall.

Second and third graders got to experience watercolor on professional watercolor paper. Mrs. Cline taught all kinds of techniques which produced fabulous results. Birch trees were the focal point of the pictures painted, which were then finished off with a mat provided by Mrs. Cline.

Mr. Hoversland, an art teacher from Baker, came down and brought with one of his advanced placement students, Jaxson Tronstad. The duo spent time with fourth, fifth and sixth graders. In a time where more things are digitized and down time usually involves a screen, the hope was to give kids a different outlet that involved creating rather than passive playing. Mr. Hoversland and Tronstad showed their group how to draw realistic trees. Sketches and examples were left for the kids to use on their own.

When the drawing and painting session was over, Betty Cline and Susan Tooke transitioned over to the "Art of Music." Once again, at one time, trees provided a primary source of materials for musical instruments. One of Ekalaka's local musicians, Phil Cook, strummed his guitar and blew his harmonica while Cline played accordion. Tooke helped teach the lyrics that Cline wrote to the tune of, "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing." In honor of Arbor Day, "If Everyone Would Plant a Tree" was sung heartily. A call back of "Plant Hope" and "Plant Change" was repeated throughout the song. Ms. Hamblin of the music department at Ekalaka Public Schools lent some of her instruments for students to take part in accompaniment.

Katie Tooke took the group who wasn't learning Mrs. Cline's song. They played a version of the Lorax, but instead of truffula trees, cones dotted the gym floor. One team stuffed cones with tissue paper (truffula seeds) while the opposing team did their best to sneak off with them. The timing was just about right, since some of the planters were just about to the point of exasperation when it was time to go on to the next activity. This was precisely the point of Katie Tooke's exercise; planting trees isn't for the faint of heart, especially in an arid climate such as Southeast Montana's.

High school students then joined elementary students for a dedication of trees to Mrs. Barb Elmore and Mrs. Ande Kortum for their years of service and dedication to Ekalaka Public Schools. Mardee Guyer had her own rendition of "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E" where she recounted over 25 years of memories, changing the letters to "M-R-S. E-L-M-O-R-E." Clearly, Carter County isn't lacking in talent.

The afternoon of Arbor Day continued to showcase the pool of talent with Lora Tauck and Amy Walker taking turns sharing only a fraction of the duties Mrs. Kortum has juggled at the school for so many years. The theme in the end was clear, no matter who you are, if you have a question, you're probably going to ask Mrs. Kortum. "After all," Tauck stated, "Even Branson has a question for Ande at least once a week... and he's a brainiac!"

Mrs. Walker and her classes created a tree made with clusters of cupcakes. Cookie trays donned the sides of the cupcake tree. This might be a stretch with weaving trees into every single part of Arbor Day, but here's something to ponder, "Which came first, the cookie you munch on, or the wood cookie that you craft on or read the age of the tree upon?"

The weather wasn't conducive to planting Colorado Spruce on Friday, but Arnold Rychner and Southeast Electric have prepared spaces for the trees. Rychner even took the snowblower out a couple of times to make way for them. Current plans are for the trees to be planted on the last day of school.

To make the day of celebration at the school a success, a lot of people, and even students, pitched in. First and foremost, the third grade class, who like to call themselves "Third Grade Thunder," were an integral part in making sure each guest was situated, carts were prepared, cans of water and rags were on hand (just in case a small child found themselves stuck to the floor in corn syrup), chairs and desks were set up, thank you cards were written and a whole myriad of other tasks were complete. Unfortunately, "Fabulous in Fourth" wasn't mentioned last year. They were no less instrumental in helping host the Arbor Day celebration at Ekalaka Elementary.

There were, of course, many people who helped ake the day a success and were "volun-told." Third Grade Thunder's teacher's aide, Heidi LaBree, found out several of her tasks while overhearing phone conversations. Mrs. Dagen aka Mrs. Oma helps with any task on a daily basis and preparing for Arbor Day was no exception. Mrs. Jordan Medearis and Mrs. Ashley Conroe graciously adjusted their schedule to help the third graders get ready to help with hosting the guests who came. Breanna Christensen and her crew not only came to the rescue more than once. Then, of course they cleaned up whatever was missed at the end of the day. Mrs. O'Connell gave free rein to her art supplies. Mrs. Guyer was head photographer in between assisting Mrs. Cline with blow drying the watercolor paintings. Certainly, there are more people that could be added to this list. Thanks to all of these folks, a delightful day was had by all.