 GREENING GREENFIELD is a unique private/public partnership focusing on the transformation of Greenfield School's urban site into an outdoor laboratory that teaches children while they play about micro-climates, indigenous plants, rain water absorption, energy conservation and harvesting, and their symbiotic relationship to the environment. Greening Greenfield not only offers Greenfield students a rich opportunity to learn the important lessons of environmental responsibility but also gives the surrounding community a green open recreation space in the heart of the city.
As the dominant land owner in Philadelphia of impervious asphalt-covered property, the Philadelphia School District has incredible potential, with the support of the Philadelphia Water Department, (PWD), to lead Philadelphia in creating a green legacy for future generations through the implementation of PWD's green stormwater infrastructure strategy to "green" all of the Philadelphia public school yards. Greening Greenfield is a model approach to sustainable site improvement, community involvement, and environmental service learning and curriculum enrichment which can be replicated at other Philadelphia public schools.
 Parents, students, teachers, and school administrators, with input from the Capital Programs Office of the Philadelphia School District, and help from the Community Design Collaborative began the plan in 2006 to transform the exterior of the school property, originally a sparsely landscaped asphalt yard referred to as the "parking lot", into a vibrant green space designed to exemplify ecological stewardship. The project demonstrates that schools can be environmentally responsible, can provide healthy places to learn and play, and can take an active role in community improvement.
students-parents-teachers-phs.jpgIn the four years from 2006 to 2010, the Greenfield students and the Home and School Association raised funds to design and complete the first three phases of construction - the west school yard improvements, the east school yard improvement, and installation of solar panels and a weather station on the roof of the school. The school yard improvements include the installation of a storm water management system with two indigenous Pennsylvania woodland forest rain gardens, porous pavement, permeable recycled play surface, an agriculture zone, and solar shading. The west school yard was completed in October 2009, and the east school yard and solar panel installation were completed in September 2010.
planting.jpgWith the school yard physical improvements complete, the Greenfield teachers are already using the gardens, solar energy system, and weather station as hands-on resources to support the teaching of the Philadelphia School District science curriculum, exposing students to opportunities to lead and serve in environmentally responsible ways.
The Greening Greenfield Committee is supporting Greenfield principal, Dan Lazar, in establishing opportunities for curriculum enrichment though the Greening Greenfield initiatives. Greening Greenfield Committee members are working directly with teachers to apply for grants for specific environmental education projects focused on creative ways to teach the Philadelphia environmental science curriculum: kindergarten fall semester: trees; 1st grade winter semester: pebbles, sand, silt; 1st grade spring semester: organisms; 2nd grade spring semester: insects; 3rd grade spring semester: plant growth and development; 4th grade: Land and Water; 5th grade fall curriculum: solar energy; 5th spring semester: ecosystems; 6th grade spring: environments; 7th grade: leaf identification.
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