Rolling Valley Elementary School in West Springfield hosted a unique landscaping activity during Earth Week, as a flock of lambs replaced traditional lawn mowers to trim the school’s grass, according to an April 27 announcement.
The event was part of the Fairfax County Public Schools Get2Green initiative and marked the final celebration of Earth Week at the school. Each grade participated in outdoor activities focused on environmental appreciation and learning.
Principal Veronica Del Bagno said, “On Thursday, we learned about what the sheep can do, and how we can have alternative means to accomplish routine tasks. So instead of a lawnmower using gas or energy, there may be some outside-the-box methods that are available to us to complete work in a more sustainable way. That is when they learned the Lamb Mowers would be coming, to show us that concept in action.”
Students engaged in various projects throughout the week. Kindergartners planted flowers; fourth graders constructed bee houses from recycled materials; and sixth graders tracked birds after hearing from an ornithologist. Karen, a sixth-grade student and Green Team member at Rolling Valley, said she had anticipated meeting the lambs: “Lambs clipping the grass by eating it is better for the school environment than lawn mowers that use gas or other kinds of energy,” she said. “I thought they were really cute – I got to feed them, they licked my whole hand, which felt weird, but it was also all very cute.”
Sustainability efforts have expanded at Rolling Valley this year with staff and students working together on multiple initiatives. Multilingual learner teachers Jennifer Marsala and Sally Milian lead Get2Green activities at Rolling Valley and highlighted four different gardens maintained by students: pollinator garden, flower garden, vegetable garden, and sensory garden. The school also introduced milk carton recycling this year.
Milian said about this program: “Our amazing custodian set up a bucket where kids who are done with milk can put their empty cartons into a recycling bin. Without buy-in from the cafeteria and custodial staff we wouldn’t be able to pull this off. It is really a whole-school effort.”
Marsala reflected on bringing farm animals into students’ lives: “We did this in the hopes that it would create some core memories. We may have students who have never seen farm animals before,” she said. “There is definitely a connection to the curriculum as well. They will go back and write about this, and some will do some research on sheep. It all comes together.”
