Students and staff at Lehighton Area Elementary Center got a hands-on Earth Day lesson last month as they helped spruce up the school grounds. This week, students gave a tour of the project.

A group of staff members, who dubbed themselves LAEC’s “Green Team,” got together in March to begin planning clean up activities that could involve each class, K-5, in the building.

“We knew there were some things that needed to be cleaned up around the outside of the school and that we could tie that into our Earth Day discussions, and the whole building really embraced the idea,” Jan Wentz, first-grade teacher, said.

One of the main projects was the creation of a rainbow rock garden in front of the school.

Leaves were cleaned out of the area, and the bushes were pruned. Each grade chose a different color and every student in those grades took a rock inside to paint.

“It really added some color to the front of the building,” Wentz said.

Scalloped edging stone that was formerly located at Shull-David Elementary School and moved to the Elementary Center was also freshened up and painted.

Students and staff also created four garden beds, one for each season, on the property.

The spring garden includes Easter lilies, tulips, hostas and irises. The summer garden features black-eyed Susan, coneflowers, lambs ear, hostas, sedum and zinnias. pumpkins and gourds will highlight the fall garden bed and Evergreen Christmas trees will make up the winter area.

“Whatever is in those particular beds either gets harvested during that season or will bloom during that season,” Wentz said. “The different flowers are labeled so that the students can track their growth throughout the year. A lot of the staff members have gardens at home or some wonderful expertise that they were willing to share. Everyone chipped in and donated something.”

One of the only items not donated by a staff member, the paint for the rainbow rocks, was covered through a staff dress down day fundraiser. Some of the garden beds, Wentz said, need additional mulch and the staff will also look to raise funds to cover that cost.

In addition to planting in the garden beds, students partnered with the custodial and building and grounds staffs to tackle weeds and other overgrowth around the school property.

“We learned that if we help pick up trash and recycle that our school can look a lot cleaner, said first-grade student Luke Searfoss.

Classmate Gianna Mangos said she “learned how to take care of the school, pick weeds and do hard work.”

To help keep the campus beautiful, LAEC’s green team asks anyone who sees litter on the ground to pick it up and put it in a trash can.

“We really did accomplish a lot with a little,” Wentz said. “I think the students have really learned to take pride in their space. It’s our space collectively and we should all be taking care if it.