Wild about orangutans

By Bridget Cook
TOORADIN Primary School students are doing their bit to help save wild orangutans.
Class 3-4 C, in conjunction with Scholastic Australia and the Australian Orangutan Project, has taken part in a range of classroom activities to raise awareness to help safeguard the places where wild orangutans can be found.
To celebrate the International Year of Forest, the class is taking on the challenge and set out to score 100 points in the Save a Tree – Save Me initiative.
Book club manager Celina Farrell said orangutans were a critically endangered species and extinction in the wild was likely within the next 10 years.
“Through the Save a Tree – Save Me initiative thousands of students in schools across Australia learned a powerful lesson – small and simple acts can make a valuable difference to our world,” she said.
“The Save a Tree – Save Me initiative developed by Scholastic Australia is a great way to recognise the need to protect the orangutan and its unique habitat, the rainforests.
“What a great way to learn about and celebrate the International Year of Forests.”
Some of the activities the students can complete to earn points include reading and responding to information from the Australian Orangutan Project website, creating an orangutan awareness display in the classroom, using recycled paper to reduce the quantity of paper used in class, sending an email to Parliament calling for clearer labelling of foods containing palm oil and making posters outlining the affects of palm oil on the orangutan population.