Montclair Cooperative Marks Walk To School Day

Montclair Cooperative School celebrated International Walk to School Day Wednesday with students and parents marching up the sidewalks to school. In fact, the Co-op will be walking and biking throughout the month of "WALK-tober" to promote good health and a more environmentally sustainable way to get to school.

Three "Walking School Bus" routes were established, each with an adult "bus driver" to maintain safety, so that groups could walk together. Even families from outside the immediate area were encouraged to park at the start of the walking bus route so they could join the march to school. Students (and even parents) have been excited to get a special "I Walked" sticker commemorating their effort. 

Over one quarter of the Co-op's students have been walking or biking to school this week, with more joining each day. Walking to school eases parking and traffic in the area as well, especially as the school's 100-year-old roof is being replaced (with composite slate-like tiles made with 80 percent recycled content, of course). Upper School students will be analyzing the walk logs to try to calculate miles walked, calories burned, and vehicle emissions saved. 

Montclair Cooperative School, at the corner of Forest and Chestnut streets, is a community of learners in nursery through 8th grade where children learn by building on multi-disciplinary themes and experiences.

Sustainability is woven throughout the spiral curriculum, from building an organic school vegetable garden on school grounds in first grade to wilderness expeditions with Kroka in New Hampshire to living and working in a remote village in Ecuador for two weeks in 8th grade.

For more information, visit www.montclaircoop.org.

This information is from a press release issued by Montclair Cooperative.