MARLBORO — Children who attend the Goddard School, Route 520, recently got a lesson in going green to help the environment.
With the World Wildlife Fund’s 2009 Earth Hour scheduled to have been held at 8:30 p.m. March 28, administrators at the Goddard School decided to hold their own event and to extinguish the lights at the school on March 27.
Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when 2.2 million homeowners and business owners switched off their lights for an hour, according to the program’s Internet Web site.
In 2008 the initiative went global with 50 million people switching off their lights.
For 2009 the goal was to have 1 billion people go dark for an hour on in order to show their concern about global warming. In the week leading up to Earth Hour, an estimated 2,848 cities, towns and municipalities in 84 countries had pledged to participate.
Pupils at the Goddard School worked with teachers to create a light switch to shut off the lights at 10 a.m. The children participated in games and lessons that were designed to provide education about conserving energy.
Educational Director Christina Caron said the lights were out for an hour in the building. Teachers planned activities appropriate for the different age groups, since the children at the school range in age from infants to kindergarten pupils.
Activities included energy bingo and flashlight tag to help teach the children about green initiatives, recycling and ways to conserve energy. A large banner was created and each child left his or her mark on it by placing a “carbon” footprint on the sign.
Caron said administrators did not expect the younger children to be frightened of the dark while the lights were out for an hour or so.
“The teachers are going to turn it into a game,” she said, adding that some of the classes would be going outside.
Administrators are hoping the lessons will get the youngsters to start thinking about the need to conserve energy and help the planet. Caron said the hope is that some children will bring their lessons home and get their family members to spend more time outdoors as opposed to watching television.