AGOURA HILLS PUPILS LEARN THREE R'S OF SAVING THE PLANET.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

Pupils at Willow Elementary School have brought in old cans and watched them turned into money for field trips and plants for the schoolyard.

They've learned about pollution and spent a day at the beach picking up garbage.

The third- through fifth-graders have become fans of the planet, thanks to a program called KidsFACE, or Kids For A Cleaner Environment, which teaches pupils that being kind to the environment pays off in the end.

``The kids have ownership of what they're doing,'' teacher Anastasia Fayne said. ``It means something to them when they see the results. They learn that one can recycled saves enough energy to run a television for three hours. We try to have it come full circle.''

The nationwide program got its start on the West Coast at Willow, and parents at the school have volunteered to keep it alive for each new set of youngsters to come to the campus.

``It's been a great deal of fun,'' said parent Pam Rettet, who has helped run the program for the past six years. ``It's wonderful to see children learn so much and become so much more aware.''

On Tuesday, the school's monthly recycling day, pupils brought enough cans to fill three vans and make $280, Rettet said.

There are already plans for the money, including a school planting day Oct. 29, a Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy lesson Nov. 1, and a litter-cleaning day at Leo Carrillo State Beach on Nov. 21.

KidsFACE has also created a tradition by raising money to bring a ``Touch Tank'' to the school, Fayne said. The traveling tank, which is brought to the school by the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro, is filled with different fish, fossils and other flora and fauna often found in tide pools. Only fifth-graders are allowed to attend the assembly, making it a program that pupils look forward to every year, she said.

``We're hoping to make our children more environmentally aware and I think they are,'' said Rettet, who has a son in fourth grade at Willow Elementary and a daughter who just left for middle school. ``It's hard to get the attention of fourth- and fifth-graders.''

Last school year, seven pupils spent six months studying for an environmental competition called Nature Bowl.

The event, held at the Los Angeles Arboretum and sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District, challenged student teams from throughout Southern California to answer Jeopardy-style questions on conservation and the environment, Rettet said.

The teams were given materials to read and study so they could prepare for the competition, and Rettet worked with Willow's team.

``It was a blast. We had so much fun,'' Rettet said.

The program started when a 10-year-old girl from Tennessee, Melissa Poe, decided to take action after seeing a television show that predicted sicknesses that would come with more pollution. Michael Landon wrote and starred in the episode of the show, called ``Highway to Heaven.''

Poe and Landon came to Willow in 1990 to help kick off the KidsFACE chapter.