Students at Maple Grove Elementary School turned trash into treasure and put it on display at their Recycled Art Show on May 17. Friends and family members to stopped by to see the art work, all of which was put together by students over the last six weeks using only recycled items.
Working together, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders created a large chandelier made entirely from melted and painted plastic bottles, complete with functional lights. The art work will be a permanent fixture in the school.
The kindergarten class had “found items” collages set up on a table for people to see. The collages were styled after the work of modern artist Louise Nevelson, who would take assortments of found items, lay them down together and paint them all the same color. The kindergarten students did the same thing, mostly painting their collages bright green, blue or pink.
The 1st grade class at Maple Grove made artistic masks out of recycled pieces of foam, cardboard and paper. The colorful and often outrageous faces showed the artistic creativity of small children. 
Maple Grove 2nd graders displayed their flower garden project. The brightly colored flowers were all made from used plastic pop bottles. 
The 3rd grade students also used plastic pop bottles to make decorative fish, which hung from the ceiling.
Silver and gray robots made by the 4th graders lined one whole wall of the cafeteria. The robots were made from recycled materials from home: cereal boxes, cardboard tubes and pieces of foam. After the pieces were glued together, they were painted silver and gray, giving them a perfect metallic look.
The 5th grade class worked together to make the Eco-City display, a model of a small town laid out on a table. The model was displayed collectively, but each student was assigned one building to design and create. Along with the physical model of the buildings, each student had to list ways that building could be more environmentally friendly. One student designed a fire department building with rain collection tubes on the roof that would collect natural water to be used by the firefighters.
