Happy Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week from the Get2Green Team!
 Save the Date for Summer Get2Green Professional Development
Links to register for Get2Green’s summer classes will be shared in our June newsletter. In the meantime, mark your calendar for any classes that interest you!
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Academy Level 1 Class - July 6-10 from 4 to 7pm daily at Daniels Run Elementary School
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Bringing Streams to Your Classroom - Thursday, July 16, 1-3pm at Frost Middle School Lecture Hall
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Moving Closer to Zero Waste - Tuesday, July 21, 12:30-2:30 pm, Virtual
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Ready to Grow: Planning for a Sustainable School Year - Tuesday, August 11, 1-3 pm Location: Virtual
Go Green for Your School’s End of Year Cleanout
The end of the school year generally sees more trash coming out of our schools than any other time of year. You can help change that! The Green Locker Clean-out Guide (must be logged in to fcpsschools.net account) has strategies and resources for making your end of the year cleanout more environmentally friendly. Check with the Get2Green Leader at your school about whether your school has TerraCycle bins, Trex, or other waste diversion methods in place.
 Bucknell Student's Art Featured on Metro Bus
Sebastian Pedroza Nares, a talented 4th grader at Bucknell Elementary, was selected for his incredible artwork which was selected to be featured on a Metro Bus in honor of Earth Day! His creativity and commitment to environmental stewardship are now rolling through the streets, inspiring everyone across the DC Metro area to go green and take public transit.
City of Fairfax Arbor Day Celebration
 On April 25th, the City of Fairfax was honored by the Arbor Day Foundation. The celebration included recognition of the city's 40 years as a Tree City USA, a poetry recitation by winners of the city's Arbor Day Youth Poetry Contest, a community tree planting, and a tree pick-up event for residents. There were 35 poems that were entered into the contest throughout the Fairfax Pyramid. Each winner read their poem. Congratulations to:
- Daniel’s Run ES: "Beautiful Survival" By: Emerson Harvey
- Providence ES: "Last night, I dreamed....." By: Ayleen Johanna Camacho Ortiz
- Katherine Johnson MS: "Oh What Wonder All Around" By: Clara Kofford
- Fairfax HS: "The Tree" By: Valentina Aye
Chesapeake Bay Foundation School Year Field Trips 2026-27
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is accepting applications for Fall 2026 one-day and multi-day Student Field Programs. Learn more about CBF’s Student Field Programs and schedule yours.
Virginia Naturally Recognition Window Open
The Virginia Naturally (VAN) School Recognition Program is the official environmental education school recognition program of the Commonwealth and is administered by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. The goal of the Virginia Naturally School Recognition Program is to recognize the exemplary efforts undertaken by Virginia schools to increase the Environmental Literacy of its students. If your school has been working to include education about the environment in the curricula, DWR encourages applying for the Virginia Naturally School Recognition Program during the open application period April 1-June 30 each year. Learn more about Virginia Naturally and apply for recognition for 2026.
Marsh Cam Classroom Takeover
The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) Marsh Cam is a maneuverable livestreaming camera located on Hog Island, Virginia across the James River from the Jamestown settlement. Each day DWR staff does their best to point the camera towards the places in the marsh with the most abundant species, but the Marsh Cam Classroom Takeover gives you and your students access to operate the camera's movement throughout the day to find out what’s going on in the marsh. Visit the Classroom Takeover page to sign up for a takeover and see complimentary classroom resources.
Sustain Fairfax Earth Month Youth Art Contest
Fairfax County’s Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC) invites students to showcase how they are taking action for our planet in the Sustain Fairfax Earth Month Youth Art Contest. Students are encouraged to submit original artwork supporting the theme “My Action, Our Climate”, highlighting climate actions they complete and the impacts of those actions, as noted on the Sustain Fairfax Challenge. The contest is open to youth who attend school and live in Fairfax County in grades 4-12. The winning selections will be used in OEEC's marketing and promotional efforts and may be included on social media posts, flyers, giveaways, articles, etc. or physically displayed. The designs may also be displayed at a future environmental awards ceremony. Artwork submissions are due by Friday, May 15, 2026, at 4 p.m. Learn more about the Sustain Fairfax Earth Month Youth Art Contest and submit your artwork.
Chrysalis Fund Applications Open
The Entomological Society of America’s Chrysalis Fund supports creative, hands‑on educational projects that spark curiosity about insects and other arthropods among K-12 children. Whether you're developing a new outreach program, engaging students in field experiences, or building long‑lasting community initiatives, the Chrysalis Fund helps bring your vision to life. Applications are due June 1, 2026 for projects in the next academic year. Learn more and apply to the Chrysalis Fund.
NVSWCD Conservation Poster Contest
Calling all student artists! The Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District is seeking students to design posters for the 2026 Youth Poster Contest. The theme for this year is ‘Soil. Where It All Begins.” This contest is open to all K-12 students in Fairfax County, and scouts are eligible to earn the VASWCD Poster Contest Patch. Students may enter hand-drawn, digital, braille, and additional assistance categories. Entries are due June 30, 2026. Learn more about the poster contest categories and guidelines and download your entry form here.
Consider a Soft Landing
Whether you travel by plane, perform a flawless dive into a pool, or ease yourself onto a picnic blanket or lawn chair, everyone appreciates a soft landing. This is also true for the bees, butterflies, moths, fireflies, and other beneficial insects that delight us and perform valuable services supporting wildlife and garden health throughout the seasons.
Soft landings in the garden are a collection of part shade and shade tolerant native plants intentionally placed under keystone trees to provide a safe haven for pollinators and beneficial insects.These spaces contain decomposing organic matter and include the leaf litter and plant debris under shrubs and around the driplines of trees. In yards, gardens, public areas, neighborhoods and schools, these materials are often cleared and covered with turf grass, bark mulch, or compacted soil. This deprives insects of critical habitat needed for them to complete their life cycles. Many pollinators and beneficial insects begin their lives in or on leaves and tree bark, using them as food sources after hatching into larvae that serve as natural predators or as a food source for birds. Surviving larvae drop to the ground seeking protected areas to pupate and grow to adulthood.
Soft landings reduce the area that requires mowing and mulching and decrease the soil compaction and potential damage to trees from mowers and trimmers. Water infiltration is improved, helping to prevent erosion from excess storm water runoff. Maintenance is minimal, as these spaces benefit from fallen leaves left to decay into humus, further conditioning the soil. Dead flower stems are left to provide habitat for overwintering insects and food for birds.
Creating a soft landing requires being strategic, with an eye toward locating a keystone tree which supports the life cycles of vast numbers of insects and birds. School grounds provide a great opportunity to familiarize students with the keystone species like oaks, maples, and birches planted on their campuses. Adding a soft landing space to your landscape can be as simple as determining the drip line of one tree and beginning a planting space 3 feet from the trunk out to the dripline, avoiding root disturbance. Using plant plugs rather than large containers is less expensive, easier for dense planting, and minimizes soil disturbance. Great choices include flowering perennials like Eastern columbine, wild blue phlox, Solomon’s seal, alumroot, wild geranium, and goldenrod, along with native ferns and sedges. Large selections of native species are readily available at local nurseries and native plant sales at this time of year. After planting, water until plants become well established. Many native species are available at local nurseries now. Water well until plants are established.
As your site matures, observe the creatures that make it their home. Learn to identify different insects, paying attention to their life cycle stages. Note which birds visit the area in the spring seeking food for their young. Look for signs of nesting bees, such as sealed dead flower stems. Your work to restore biodiversity will be well worth the effort.
 Left: Gunston Elementary students had an incredible Earth Week adventure with community partners from the Bureau of Land Management (US Department of Interior). In honor of the theme Building America 250 Years of Independence, students explored what it means to be a steward of the land.
Right: Daniels Run students, parents, and community partners came to school on April 10th and completed so much! They worked with Area2Farm partners to create a vermicompost bin. There were also several garden clean-ups happening in three different locations. A small tool storage closet was also built. The grand finale was a swamp white out tree planting with Fairfax City Urban Forest Manager.
Find fun and exciting Get2Green updates all month by following @fcpsGet2Green on Instagram, Threads, and X.
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