Celebrating Schools for National Wildlife Week: Wildlife in the City

In our blog series celebrating schools across the nation for National Wildlife Week, our 2nd post takes us to New York City. While some might think of skyscrapers and cement, our New York City Eco-Schools have done amazing things to help the environment and the world around them. They’ve answered the call to provide a place for monarch butterflies to flourish, both through classroom activities along with hands-on digging in the dirt. Their work has been highlighted on school websites and the national news. Here are some of the noteworthy activities from Eco-Schools across the state:

At the Brooklyn New School, a NWF Certified Schoolyard Habitat, staff worked to tag monarchs that the students raised. Then they cheered the butterflies on from their pollinator garden before the monarchs’ long journey to Mexico.

PS 84 is now a Certified Monarch Waystation, providing milkweed and shelter for the monarchs. Learning didn’t stop in the garden for these students, as they demonstrated the monarch life cycle through classroom assignments along with a choreographed dance performance.

Students at PS 686 Brooklyn went out into the field to learn about native pollinators, and had the chance to collect seeds which they will later plant. This type of hands-on learning is helping these students appreciate the natural world, which in turn will help protect wildlife and wild places.

PS 179 students were featured on the local news last year for their efforts in supporting the declining monarch population. The students learned about growing plants that are beneficial to pollinators and planted seeds to support that effort.

Learn more about National Wildlife Week and how you can get involved