City of Fairfax Schools Prepare Living Classrooms for Spring

Schools Need Volunteers to Help With Spring Gardening

For many, spring is the time for weeding, mulching and planting. City of Fairfax Schools are no different. On three of our four campuses, schools have 'living classrooms' for students to get their hands dirty.  From kindergartners planting flowers for a monarch way station to 7th and 8th graders building a vernal pond, our nationally recognized programs offer students rich connection to the science curriculum.

Providence Elementary School’s courtyard produced hundreds of pounds of fruits and vegetables last year - enough for every student to taste and also donate almost 400 pounds to a local food bank. The school also plants native trees to be put back into the city once they reach maturity. Currently, PES is combining curriculums by having a brick pathway throughout the courtyard with vocabulary words for students to read. Each brick is sponsored by an individual or group - ranging from parents, teachers and even City of Fairfax School Board members and city school staff.

Recently, Lanier Middle School Eco-Students participated in Earth Force's 'Caring for our Watersheds' contest. Lanier’s proposal was selected as a finalist to present at the School Environment Action Showcase on April 24th at George Mason University.  The students surveyed Lanier school grounds and identified an area around a gutter with erosion. The students proposed installing a rain barrel and building a sponge garden in the area.

For the past six years, Daniels Run Elementary School has been honored by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' Virginia Naturally School Recognition program. Virginia Naturally Schools is the official environmental education school recognition program for the state. In addition, DRES last year became an official monarch way station through MonarchWatch. Monarch waystations provide milkweed, nectar plants and shelter for monarchs throughout their annual cycle of reproduction and migration.

Fairfax High School is preparing for these budding environmentalists, adding their first AP Environmental class.

Volunteer Dates:
(Please contact school for more information)

PES
April 13 8:00 - 12:00

DRES
May 25 9:00 - 12:00
June 22 9:00 - 12:00