Elmhurst Academy Celebrates World Environment Day

Submitted by Elmhurst Academy of Early Learning. Photo: Caring for the school’s garden is only one of the ways students at Elmhurst Academy celebrated World Environment Day 2015 on June 5. Pictured (L to R) are: Hayden Wozny, Charlotte Nguyen, and Wyatt Ridgeway.

The lights were out at Elmhurst Academy but no one was in the dark on June 5. As part of their celebration of World Environment Day, students and teachers turned off the lights in the building and worked by natural light.

World Environment Day is an initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme and was first celebrated in 1972. Since then, it has grown to be a global effort to promote awareness and individual action to do something positive for the environment.

“Lights Off” day was only one of the ways Elmhurst Academy recognized World Environment Day. Through out the school, students and teachers explored ways of caring for the environment.

“World Environment Day was a great success,” said Kaitlyn Berger, Elmhurst Academy Nature Curriculum Specialist. “All of the classrooms talked about the importance of saving energy through things like turning off the lights. Some classrooms also went on nature scavenger hunts or talked out our school windmill.”

Berger noted that Elmhurst Academy uses green methods of caring for the environment on a daily basis, through student activities such as recycling and caring for the school’s vermicomposting worm bin. Student families were encouraged to participate by turning off lights at home on World Environment Day.

Elmhurst Academy is a private, independent Reggio Emilia inspired school, educating students from birth through Kindergarten since 1981. Reggio Emilia inspired schools use an approach developed in Italy that focuses on project-based learning and a curriculum that emerges based on student interests. Instruction encourages students to communicate their thinking through a myriad of expressive languages, as demonstrated in the variety of ways the students celebrated World Environment Day.