North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
By Mary Templeton
Friday, December 5, 2025, was a special day for the Budding Ecotots in Kim Holloway’s kindergarten class at Ocean Drive Elementary School. The ladies from the Yaupon Garden Club came to tell them all about Arbor Day.
Mary Templeton discussed the origin of Arbor Day and how important trees are to our environment. Lynne Payne read “The Giving Tree”, which taught the students the many ways trees help provide for our needs. Susan Platt led the students in a tree project with the assistance of Donna Belski, Margaret Graham, Sue Hagen, Joy Murray, Gail Norden, Lynne Payne, Belinda Roy and Mary Templeton.
Each student was given a cup filled with soil. Then they were shown how to plant three acorns in the cup after which they added water. Each cup was capped and the students applied their name label to their cup. The planted acorns will be taken home where the students will care for them and watch the seeds sprout into a seedling. One day in the future their acorns will become mighty Oaks.
Since this was the last meeting with the Budding Ecotots until January, the children were given a special surprise. Santa’s Elves, Lynne Payne and Belinda Roy, prepared a Christmas stocking for each Ecotot. The laughter from the kids was proof that the Christmas season is off to a grand start.
