Get ready for Health, Wellness, and Green Space Climate Action Day!

Lessons & Activities

Climate Action Days > Lessons & Activities

Choose Your Own Adventure Roadmaps

The Climate Education Leadership Team developed lesson and activity ideas for your school to choose from. These are suggestions - you can follow them exactly, or take inspiration to modify them or make your own!

How to Use Roadmaps

How to use the roadmaps:

Choose a schoolwide action. This is a simple action that your whole school can participate in. To implement it, it's as simple as making morning announcements and emailing your colleagues to let them know!
Select a roadmap with lessons and activities to support your schoolwide action:
- Choose based on the time-commitment required: Mild (1-2 hours), Medium (3-5 hours), or Spicy (5+ hours)
- Then choose a type of activity: learning, project-based actions, or advocacy
- Your roadmap gives you a breakdown of steps you can take to plan and implement climate action in your school. Remember, these lessons and activities all lead up to your schoolwide action on Climate Action Day!

Waste

Energy

Health, Wellness, and Green Space

Water

Roadmaps with Spanish Resources

Energy Collective action: Lights Out Hour

Is your school ready to save energy? All classrooms can turn off overhead lights and use natural light for an hour, or the whole day.

We'll estimate how much energy we saved across all NYC Public Schools! Plan to count how many classrooms participated at your school to add to our grand total.

Schoolwide Action Ideas for Energy

Lights Out Hour – use natural light instead of overhead lighting
Walk/Bike/Take Public Transportation to School
Minimize Use of Computers, Smart Boards, and other Electronics

Energy Pledge – create a pledge for staff, students, and families to commit to conserving energy
Power Down Lunch Hour – lunch period without screens

For elementary schools – pick an Energy-themed book for World Read Aloud Day

Students hold signs showing pictures of a bus, demonstrating how they got to school

Go Further: Actions for your Green Team or Class

We have ideas for more meaningful activities that your class or Green Team can participate in to engage in citywide impact!

Students pick up litter to clean a street catch basin.

HEALTH, WELLNESS AND GREEN SPACE CLIMATE ACTION DAY: STREET TREE STEWARDSHIP

For Health, Wellness, and Green Space, we are encouraging schools to participate in some Street Tree Stewardship!

Roadmap - Street Tree Stewardship

WATER CLIMATE ACTION DAY: CATCH BASIN CLEAN UP

For Water, we are encouraging schools to participate in a Catch Basin Cleanout! This aims to reduce litter making it's way into our sewer system, and prevent flooding on the street during rain storms.

Water Roadmap - Catch Basin