During the first weeks of school, much of our focus is on building community, with the teachers modeling and the children practicing what it means to care for one another. Our Green Apple Day of Service extends that learning into the natural world, reminding students that respect for others includes respect for our environment. Created in 2012 by the Green Schools Council, Green Apple Day helps students worldwide become stewards of their schools, communities, and the planet.

To connect with nature and take their senses on an adventure, the Graders explored the gardens at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center, breathing in the fragrance of herbs, listening for bird calls, and watching for signs of wildlife. For their community service project, they cleared loose rocks from the paddocks shared by the center’s sheep, llamas, and alpacas. While llamas and alpacas are adapted to rocky terrain, sheep prefer grassy fields—and the children were delighted when a curious llama wandered over to see their progress.

In the organic vegetable garden, students learned about composting and practiced sorting materials that can and cannot return to the soil. They also discovered how to identify invasive species such as the red-spotted lantern fly and a type of invasive grass — pulling out as much of the grass as they could and proudly collecting a mountain of it.

Back in the classroom, surrounded by a bounty of green apples, younger students continued their learning as artists and environmental stewards. They planted fragrant herbs, created collages with recycled natural materials, and read stories about what it means to be “green.” One of these was The Wild by Yuval Zommer, a picture book that combines stunning artwork with a powerful fable about giving back to nature. Its message—that the planet thrives when people move from taking to also giving—echoed beautifully with the children’s own work at the SMNC.

A child’s instinctive connection to animals and the natural world is the first step toward understanding how deeply interconnected we are with the earth. Ultimately, the health of the planet depends on how each generation interacts with and cares for nature. We hope our students’ participation in Green Apple Day will help nurture that awareness and inspire them to tread lightly on the earth.

As Jane Goodall reminds us, “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” Here’s to all of us working together to bequeath to our children a clean, caring, and healthy world.

Maureen