Learning about sustainability young

Jackie Tesoriero informing her students about the upcoming food drive.

Tiny desks and chairs fill the middle of the classroom while the perimeter walls and windows are covered by growing plants and student’s artwork in Public School 31 Greenpoint, Brooklyn’s  greenhouse classrooms. 

Public School 31 is making the initiative to save the planet by teaching their students about sustainability. Sheri Sankner and Jackie Tesoriero teach students the importance of growing food, recycling goods, and saving energy.  

“Our student can tell you why it’s bad to have plastic straws ‘BECAUSE TURTLES HAVE THEM STUCK UP THEIR NOSES!’ they could tell you that stuff,” said Sankner.   

Sustainability coordinator Sankner, 50, said she has always been environmentally conscious and driven toward helping the planet. After reading about plastic and climate change it resonated with her and she wanted to share the importance of environmental movements with her students. 

“We’re just trying to make the student smarter, braver and more aware of what’s going on in the environment,” said Sankner.

The students helped their school become a zero-waste school by utilizing reusable water bottles and recycling old computer parts and books. This means that only 10 percent of their trash ends up in a landfill. Before the education effort to turn things around in 2014 at, PS 31, 94 percent of their trash ended up adding to the massive landfill in Fresh Kills, Staten Island, NY 

 Elementary school teacher, Tesoriero, 51, spent 16 years teaching third grade and 3 years teaching science. Now she is the facilitator for the green teams and runs the school greenhouse class, which is a room dedicated to teaching the students about sustainability.

Public School 31 is one of four Public Schools, including PS 34, PS 110 and Middle School 126 that received a grant from the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund. This funding supports the environmental program of  PS 31. According to the National Wildlife Federation  over the past seven years the school reduced waste by an impressive 96 percent, electricity by 12 percent, and water usage by 5 percent.  

Four Waste Warriors having fun organizing the trash.

The Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund provided needed financial support to the school to hire sustainability coaches. Allison Schuettinger, was the sustainability coach for PS 3 until 2017 when the grant ended. She helped Sankner and Tesoriero teach students about the importance of greening. Schuettinger taught how plants cleaned the air of harmful toxins. She also taught Tesorior how to maintain the greenhouse classroom. Even though there is no longer a sustainability coach at PS 31, it continues to be a zero waste school. 

Public School 31 accomplished becoming a zero-waste school with the help from The Green teams and Waste Warriors. The Green Teams are a group of students from each grade that create new ways to fix sustainability issues. The Waste Warriors are students who protect and regulate where other students place their garbage. For example, in the lunchroom the older students show the younger students that their unwanted food goes into the brown compost bin and that plastic goes into the blue bin. These teams encourage mentorship and a collaboration between the students making learning about the environment both practical and fun. 

The younger students are not the only people who are being watched by the Waste Warriors. Teachers and staff classrooms get visited twice a year by the older Waste Warriors and receive a letter grade based on their effective participation. Which means having healthy plants, the correct trash bin, and the smart board turned off if not in use.  

“The students are learning not only about how to keep their school more sustainable but it’s also carrying over into the environment and what they want to do with their careers,” said Sankner 

Two students Victoria Sul and Julian Crawl who are known to be interested in the sustainability of the school said that they want to work in a field where they can help the environment. 

“I want to be a Marine biologist,” said Sul. “It changed from four topics but it’s desert animal anatomy and biology,” said Crawl. 

The school found an empty lot on 61 Franklin St. With the help of the grant the students built, expanded and grew the lot into what is now called the Franklin Community Garden. The students also assisted the neighborhood Java St Community Garden by visiting for an hour a month to take care of  the garden’s garlic and ginger.  

Five years ago, Sankner and her students turned a small piece of the ashy concrete in the school’s playground into “The Garden of Happiness.” The eco-friendly school’s next project is to expand this garden to include more fresh vegetables like lettuce and tomatoes. The school has a partnership with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and they are working with the fifth-graders on new designs. Even with the recent closure of all New York City schools because of the Coronavirus pandemic they plan to continue with the expansion.   

“We are in the works of a redesign and once we are back, we will pick up will pick up right where we left off,” said Tesoriero. 

While in the pandemic shutdown Tesoriero meets with the students digitally once a week and together they go on virtual field trips. During the Genovesi Environmental Center virtual trip the students learn about taking care of animals such as Hedgehog and insects like Earth Warms.

During physical classes to make things fun for the children Sankner and Tesoriero have students work with their hands. For instance, the fifth graders made an organic bug spray to keep the insects off the plants in the greenhouse classroom.   

“This way they learn to become problem solvers. Some students had the idea to use string to support a plant, so it teaches them to be realistic problem solvers.” said Tesoriero. 

Fifth grader Victoria Sul who took part in the Green Team for five years said that she likes helping her school make decisions.  

“I just feel like it’s a really fun experience to get to be more connected to your school,” said Sul. “It’s more of a student choice and a student voice because we get to give ideas to make the school a better school.”  

To help students learn along with having fun they go out to help in the community.  The students visited a local retirement home to help decorate for last Christmas. They recycled old items like CD’s and glass bottles to make Christmas ornaments. They also went to the Franklin Street Community Garden to help plant in the garden.  

“It is important to teach children about sustainability as they become adults so they make the right choices,” said Tesoriero. “They realize that even though they are one small person every choice they make can save the earth.”