Preschoolers celebrate Arbor Day

FINDLAY — Findlay City Schools Preschool and the city of Findlay Shade Tree Commission teamed up Friday for an Arbor Day celebration in which they accompanied a tree planting with jokes, songs, story time and even a dance party. "Welcome to Arbor Day!" principal Jackie Nelson shouted at the beginning of the assembly, and the children enthusiastically shouted back. They began with a song and a reading of the preschool's mission statement, "I am smart, I am brave, I am strong, I am kind." Then they revisited a book they had recently read, "Up, Down and Around." The book is about fruits and vegetables, but they reworked it to focus on trees. A teacher had the children point up, to demonstrate the direction the trees grow, then down, the direction of their roots. She told the kids, "Give yourself a big hug," as they got to the line in the book, "Hug our trees with all our might." Nelson introduced a song after that with, "Do you know what month it is?" "Friday!" one child yelled back confidently. Nelson said it's April, and so one class was going to sing a special song about April. One line was, "On Arbor Day, we'll shout, 'Hooray!'" Next up was a child telling jokes, including, "What does a tree wear to the beach?" (the answer, "swim trunks," got a big laugh from his classmates). No one correctly guessed the answer to "What kind of tree fits in your hand?" ("a palm tree") One child called out, "Tiny!" Another song explored how trees help Earth. It ended with, "Trees are home to birds and bees. Thank you, thank you, lovely trees." Nelson said the preschoolers' "high school friends" had put together some tree facts for them. "But they are at a track meet, where they get to run very fast," she explained. "So later on, we can look at those tree facts." Then Nelson introduced Mayor Christina Muryn, explaining that she had told the children that a mayor was "like the principal of the whole town." Muryn asked the children to think about the fact that the little honey locust tree they were about to plant had come from a tiny seed. She pointed to a much larger tree behind the group and asked the children to guess how old it might be, receiving the response that it must be 10 years old. Trees have been here for a long time, giving us shade and clean air, Muryn said. As we, too, "grow big and strong," we should take care of ourselves and each other, she said. She then divided the group into three in order to have each third yell out one word of the phrase "I love trees!" During rehearsal, some children instead yelled, "I love you!" "Close," Muryn said. "We're going to yell, 'I love trees.'" The children delivered the line perfectly, with gusto, after that. "Now we are going to plant our tree," Muryn said. Nelson explained that the children had learned that dirt, sunshine and air are what trees need to grow. Students Devier Bissell and Kylie Bui came up to assist the Shade Tree Commission, scooping small shovels of dirt onto the tree as classmates applauded. Bui began jumping up and down with excitement, her little gardening gloves accessorizing her Arbor Day outfit of a "Trojan Trot 2026" T-shirt and black tutu. Eventually she lost interest and joined the rest of the preschoolers, who had now moved on to a tree-themed dance party. Bissell, however, continued to work diligently, a serious expression on his face as he dedicated himself to the task. The adults of the Shade Tree Commission, holding larger shovels, lifted more dirt onto the tree, but he was hard at work. As the planting finished up, the dance party became more enthusiastic, with a small child taking each of Muryn's hands and Superintendent Andy Hatton jumping up and down with several dancing children. Then it was time to come inside for popsicles – but not, of course, without doing one important thing first. "Let's say 'Thank you' to our tree planters," Nelson said. Jane Ebersole of the Shade Tree Commission said the city had previously held the event at intermediate schools in the district. This was the first year in preschool.