Today we celebrate Earth Day and all the wonders of nature and our planet and how to protect and nurture them.
At Kirby Hall School, our stewardship of the planet doesn’t just happen today, it happens every day.
Learning about the earth through dedicated time in our school garden, our weekly trash walks (first grade) and recycling program (in the cafeteria and throughout the building), nature/environment-centered service learning, and the Families in Nature curriculum all contribute to our students’ understanding of and compassion for preservation and sustainability.
Kirby Hall’s School Garden
Although we are housed in a uniquely urban location, we have a dedicated garden adjacent to our school building that is brimming with native plants like peach and fig trees as well as home to an abundance of produce students have planted and cultivated themselves, like kale, arugula, peppers, and herbs. We are also fortunate to care for three egg-laying chickens who are lovingly looked after by our students and staff. The garden is open throughout the school day for classes to visit and also in the afternoon for an elective/gardening club run by our parents. Next year we plan to expand the garden program with the addition of an Outdoor Learning Specialist to our faculty.
The KHS garden is a Certified National Wildlife Federation Schoolyard Habitat, and we are also recipients of a 2025 City of Austin Bright Green Futures School Grant.
First Grade Feature: Weekly Trash Walks and Community Education
This year, our first graders have played a key role in the school’s efforts to clean up not just our campus but surrounding areas as well while also educating our neighbors about recycling. Each week, students embarked on walks around school grounds and the Adams-Hemphill Park behind us, collecting trash, sorting it, and then learning about its effects on the environment–for example, how plastic can linger in the environment for hundreds of years before breaking down or that paper in most forms is more gentle on the earth and biodegradable.
Students also made and hung posters encouraging neighbors and passers-by of the school and park to do their part to help the environment by picking up trash too and stopping littering altogether. Earth Day will culminate in a schoolwide endeavour with first graders leading each of our classes around on a trash walk and sharing tips for recycling.
Environmentally-Centric Service Learning and Field Trips
Hands-on learning out in the community is an integral part of a Kirby Hall education. Our fifth grade and middle schoolers visit McKinney Roughs Nature Park annually to help clear invasive brush and study organisms and vegetation growing there. Other grades spent time recently learning about the role and benefit of community gardens at the Sunshine Community Gardens, and regular field trips are scheduled at the Austin Resource Recovery Center to learn about more ways to recycle and make less waste.
If your child loves to learn outside, maybe get a little dirty, and celebrate the earth’s gifts and Mother Nature’s bounty every day, not just on Earth Day, we would love for you to visit us at Kirby Hall School (PreK4 to 8th Grade)!
