PS57′s tiniest Green Team members celebrate Earth Day in the garden.  

NWF’s Eco-Schools USA program is aligned with the USED Green Ribbon Schools program. In 2012, one quarter of all Green Ribbon Schools were also registered Eco-Schools. Eco-Schools USA’s seven step framework and program “Pathways” support all three of the Green Ribbon pillars.  To win both the federal Green Ribbon and the Eco-Schools Green Flag, PS 57’s students and faculty tackled a number of sustainability initiatives, including reducing their building’s energy use by 25%, teaching students about climate change and renewable energy, and creating composting, recycling, gardening, robotics, and ecology programs. The composting and recycling efforts have diverted 30% of the school’s waste and kept more than 10,000 pounds of paper and milk cartons out of landfills.

PS 57 students grow fruits and vegetables for the school’s cafeteria in the garden.  Flowers are grown in the greenhouse, which students built out of 1,500 recycled plastic bottles.  The structure is “lined” with netting so butterflies can be released inside it.

On Earth Day, NYC Staten Island Parks Department staff and rangers were on hand to deliver free soil and help PS 57 students plant hundreds of native plugs and grasses donated to the school by American Beauties Native Plants company, an NWF partner. PS 57′s 5th graders transported soil to the garden in wheelbarrows, pre-Kindergarteners dug in the dirt, and 2nd through 5th graders planted in pots and watered. Native grasses were planted in Eibs Pond — a 17-acre wetland park across from the school where students care for trees, conduct summer pond clean-ups, and collect water quality data for the U.S. EPA.

NWF Eco-Schools USA’s award program provides recognition for schools, like PS 57, that are modeling sustainability education. We know that there are many schools out there with fantastic green programs that deserve to be recognized for their achievements. If you are not a registered Eco-School yet, sign up online and begin tracking your progress towards certification on the fun and interactive Eco-Schools dashboard. If you think that your NYC school is, or could be, a Green Flag winner, I want to hear from you!  Please contact me at fanoe@nwf.org so we can arrange a tour of your school!

All photos: Emily Fano

Rainbow the calf visits PS69′s garden, 2010. Photo courtesy Jill Weingarten.

PS69′s garden produce. Photo courtesy Jill Weingarten.

PS69 student weeding in the garden. Photo courtesy Jill Weingarten.

In the summer of 2012, to diversify the garden and create habitat for wildlife, Weingarten added a pond, dogwood shrubs and perennials. Last fall, second graders planted a birch tree and a magnolia tree near the pond, and also planted ten trees around the school’s perimeter with MillionTreesNYC. As the weather warms this Spring, they will plant additional trees and shrubs.

Weingarten says that, since starting PS69’s garden and planting trees, she and her students have noticed more wild visitors including Quaker parrots, starlings, mourning doves, as well as squirrels, butterflies, and “lots of bees.”  Weingarten recently applied to have the school’s garden certified as a wildlife habitat through NWF’s Schoolyard Habitat program.  She will be working with NYC Eco-Schools and ioby to raise the funds needed to enlarge PS69’s pond, add fish, tadpoles, water striders, and dragonflies, and create a drinking source for birds and beneficial insects.

The garden is a constant source of inspiration for Weingarten, who left her career as an advertising agency art director to become a teacher. Weingarten has been able to use her experience and connections in the television industry to get her students to engage with science in new ways. “We pick topics from the science curriculum and teach the children how to write and create animations about them,” she says.  The first animation, about simple machines, stars a wheelbarrow in the leading role – inspired by the wheelbarrow that delivered compost to the garden.  The second animation about the water cycle won the 2012 ASIFA East Excellence in Education Award. For the third, The Food Chain, she enlisted the talents of animator Jose Moldinado and writer Pammy Salmon (who created an episode of PBS’s beloved Martha Speaks television program) to help the kids create story treatments, a script and finally a storyboard.  Students have learned to use animation software to reinforce science concepts.

PS69 students make musical instruments from recycled materials. Photo courtesy Suzanne Robinson.

Students at PS69 will soon be ramping up their energy conservation efforts too. Weingarten currently raises the shades in her classroom to use natural sunlight and makes sure that her students turn off the lights when they leave a room. But the school just received a $500 mini grant from NYC Eco-Schools to implement the Cool School Challenge  - a program that engages schools in practical strategies to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions school-wide. As part of the program, students perform energy audits of their classrooms and then create a plan to reduce energy use and emissions. Weingarten says that NWF’s Eco-Schools’ program materials and resources have helped her understand how much her school needs to do to reduce waste and conserve resources. “It’s all about students experiencing first-hand how they can impact their environment, and having the tools to combat the serious environmental problems we all face,” she says. Weingarten credits PS69′s Principal, Sheila Durant, with having the vision to nurture and encourage the incorporation of sustainability principles into PS69′s curriculum.  “We’re very appreciative of Principal Durant’s support,” says Weingarten.

Please be sure to tell us about what you’re doing at your school to save energy, recycle, and help wildlife!  Register to become an Eco-School and take advantage of NWF Eco-Schools’ free online resources to green your school!

PS 166 composting bins, painted by 5th grade student council. Photo: Emily Fano

In 2012, my colleagues and I helped to launch a composting pilot program in eight Upper Manhattan schools that reduced the volume of cafeteria garbage by 85%. The City of New York replicated our model and expanded it to 60+ schools in September 2012, with another expansion planned for 2013. PS 166 has won a few awards, some money, and received a proclamation from Albany.  It feels good to be recognized for your efforts.

And that’s exactly what the Eco-Schools program does. Through the Bronze, Silver and Green Flag award levels, the program recognizes and celebrates a school community’s green achievements. I’m betting that several schools in NYC will be candidates for the Green Flag.

Already, I’ve met some amazing teachers and principals who are dedicated to greening their schools and curriculum. There’s Kyesha Ruffin, Park East High School’s passionate science teacher and Sustainability Coordinator. Ruffin started a science club and has set her sights on an underutilized space in the school that she would like to turn into a garden/outdoor classroom.  She is working with Solar1, an Eco-Schools partner, to do an energy audit of her school, is getting her whole school involved in recycling, and plans to jumpstart a cafeteria composting program with her students’ help.  Park East High School is now an Eco-School and I look forward to working with Kyesha on these great projects.

In the Hunts Point section of the Bronx — one of the poorest Congressional districts in the United States – is St. Ignatius, a NYC Eco-School serving 90 middle school students, most on full scholarships. John Omernik is St. Ignatius’s dedicated Principal — dedicated to his students and the principles of sustainability. Omernik’s students are planting vegetables and flowers in their school garden, doing community cleanups with neighboring schools, and recycling. They are partnering with HEART, a non-profit that integrates humane education into the school curriculum, motivating students and teachers to develop compassion and respect for all living beings and the environment. In the Fall of 2011, St. Ignatius teamed up with NYC Parks Natural Resources Group and the Urban Park Rangers to participate in the Citizen Science Salamander Monitoring Project. Students trekked through the brush in Bronx’s Pelham Bay Park to find and measure red-backed salamanders, helping scientists study the health of the salamanders’ habitat.  How cool is that, and how great are these educators?

St. Ignatius students engaged in neighborhood cleanup, Bronx, NY. Photo: Courtesy of John Omernik, 2012

Did you know that Central Park is home to 230 species of birds?! Just the other day, on a walk around the Reservoir, my kids and I identified 12 species of birds in 45 minutes, including hooded mergansers, grebes, mallards, gulls and blue jays. The Wild Bird Fund, NYC’s first licensed wildlife rehabilitation facility on the Upper West Side, helps many of those birds. In 2010, the Fund relocated a wild female mallard duck that had made her nest and given birth to five babies in PS 166’s noisy school garden! It was a great learning experience for the children.

School gardens are a great way to get kids outside; 51.5% of NYC Eco-Schools surveyed in 2012 have created outdoor classrooms. Don’t have a garden, space for one, or plans to start one?  That’s OK.  Schools can plan day trips to any one of NYC’s 1,700 parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities across the five boroughs. This guidebook has some great ideas to help you plan. 

Teachers who want to weave outdoor themes into their curriculum can use Eco-Schools’ Biodiversity Pathway, and have their students participate in a Wildlife Watch to record the species of animals they see where they live, take pictures, and then write about it in class.  This not only satisfies NYC English Language Arts requirements, but gets kids moving, breathing fresh air and engaged in the world around them.  Studies show that outdoor learning actually boosts academic performance. More importantly, early experiences with nature and animals can really shape children’s views of the world and instill a sense of curiosity, compassion and respect for nature and wildlife.  Now, more than ever, we need to be instilling those values in our children and I look forward to contributing to that goal.

Are you at a NYC school that has had some great outdoor learning experiences, or has a great green project? If so, I want to know about it! Tell us about it in the comments below. Maybe I’ll feature you in an upcoming post!  And if you’re not already a registered Eco-School, please sign up!