Ellie quickly took her place in front of the rest of the third-grade class She was eager to talk about her topic the golden-cheeked warbler The bird was nearly extinct and Ellie was determined to save it After all she was a superhero Saving things was her specialty The golden-cheeked warbler is a small bird with yellow cheeks Ellie began It lives in the forest where there are trees and shrubs and other brush The warbler eats insects and pieces of nuts But it’s endangered Too many trees are being cut down Ellie paused and looked at her classmates Not by Ax the Lumberjack I stopped that villain when he tried to chop down my tree house Humans are the ones cutting them down At his desk Ellie’s classmate Dex was drawing a picture of her in his notebook He made her look like a tree
with branches for arms and legs Ax the Lumberjack was chasing her Timberrrr Dex whispered so that Miss Little couldn’t hear But Ellie’s powerful ears picked up his voice loud and clear Ellie narrowed her eyes She was sure Dex was secretly an evil mastermind He’s peskier than a hoverfly she thought Thank you for your report Ellie Miss Little said as Ellie sat back down Trees are removed to build houses and roads Even schools like ours But cutting them down can hurt the environment There are other things that also cause problems for our planet Can anyone give an example Joshua raised his hand If you forget to turn off the lights you’re wasting electricity
Don’t throw away cans and plastic cups Amanda added That stuff can be recycled Across the room Payton held up her key chain which was made out of a plastic bottle cap The cap was painted like a soccer ball I turned a plastic bottle cap into this key chain she said It’s called upcycling Ellie’s hand shot up Miss Little I can fight the planet’s problems she said confidently I took care of Electro Pig last week That super-villain is the biggest energy hog in Winkopolis But the Litter Bug is still dropping candy wrappers around school I’ll catch that critter creep though Superhero’s honor I know Ellie Ultra can save the world Miss Little replied But the planet is everyone’s habitat We all share that responsibility In fact that brings us to next week’s assignment The teacher grabbed a stack of papers and handed them
out to the class Next week is Earth Week To celebrate we’re going to team up to help Earth Ellie eagerly examined the paper It read Team up for Earth Week You and a partner will work on a project that helps the environment Team projects will go on display during our classroom’s Earth Day Showcase Our showcase is next Friday Earth Day Miss Little explained We’ll start working on and setting up our projects Monday You’ll have the weekend to get started on them What do you say class Do you want to team up and help our planet Yeah the students answered excitedly Everybody started to pair up Joshua and Owen bumped fists Payton and Amanda pointed at each other and giggled As the rest of the class got into teams Ellie sat quietly She always saved Earth by herself Why should she ask for
