Students in the art club at Braelinn Elementary created a mural of the American Flag using more than 3,000 recycled bottle caps.
As a way to teach the fourth and fifth graders about art and recycling, Braelinn Elementary teacher Dr. Ellen Mitchell worked with students to handcraft the mural using plastic lids from bottled water and juice drinks, and aluminum pop-tops from soda cans.
Soon, students throughout the school caught the spirit of collecting lids, and a school-wide race ensued to see which homeroom could collect the most. Lids started pouring in from far and wide.
“One student’s Arizonian grandmother collected lids from her neighborhood; other students’ parents collected them at work. Many students campaigned throughout their neighborhoods to gather the precious gems,” says Mitchell.
Also, plastic bags were passed down the lunchroom tables, and students soured the playgrounds, walkways and bushes gathering lids.
All totaled, 14,000 pop-tops and plastic lids were collected. The winning homeroom was that of fourth grade teacher Freda Phillips whose students turned in a total of 3,209 lids. Her students received free ice cream for their efforts.
Mitchell says the leftover lids from the American Flag mural will be used in future recycled works of art.
