Truck Farm at Bancroft Elementary, Washington DC. Photo by Sarah Bernardi

NYC public schools will be on vacation for Earth Day on April 22, but plenty of schools are organizing environmental excitement before or after the break. The teachers who run Educating Tomorrow have been doing their part, running teach-ins for teachers who want to bring this knowledge to their students. National Environmental Education Week and other organizations have been plastering the Web with great ideas. But in my neighborhood, many District 3 Earth Day activities have been spearheaded by parents.

AtPS 333 (Manhattan School for Children), the week kicks off with a family fitness night, with sports ranging from baseball to yoga. There will be  in-class screenings of Annie Leonard’s 15-minute video The Story of Stuff, and on-campus “field trips” to show children how the school building uses energy. For grownups in the building, there is a seminar on green cleaning and indoor air quality, as well as a fundraiser selling waste-free lunch materials such as Lunchskins.

A “cafe-to-table” day brings a lunchtime salad bar with greens from Sunworks’ rooftop greenhouse into the cafeteria, mixed with donated vegetables from the local farmer’s market. A local restaurant will incorporate an ingredient from the greenhouse in its menu with the help of PS 333 3rd graders.

PS 334 (Anderson School) will be celebrating Earth Day on Friday, April 29. The theme this year is about learning where our food comes from, presenting different models of urban agriculture and introducing the concepts of sustainable agriculture.<!--more-->

Students in grades K-4 will watch the short film Truck Farm about growing vegetables in the back of a pick-up truck in Brooklyn. Then they will have a real treat as the truck from Truck Farm comes to the school yard and Curt Ellis, one of the film's creators will be on hand to answer questions. Students will also bring in wacky containers to plant seeds to launch the Wicked Delicate 2nd annual gardening contest.

Students in grades 5-8 will watch the film What's on Your Plate? with a follow-up science class discussion about where food comes from, the benefits of locally grown produce, and healthy eating habits.

Lucky middle school students in the Anderson School will visit Brooklyn Grange, a roof top farm on a commercial building in Long Island City, run by farmer Ben Flanner. The students will help out with seasonal chores such as transplanting seedlings, pruning and staking, and turning the compost pile. Other students will plant seedlings in the school’s tree pits during recess.

The goal, parent organizers say, is for students to come away from the day with a better understanding of urban agriculture and sources for healthy food in the city.

What is your school doing for the Earth Day season?