School Program

Schools are an important component of a healthy Barnegat Bay watershed. You can help to ensure clean water for drinking, swimming and fishing, healthy soil for gardening and growing, and essential habitat for wildlife by engaging students and the entire school community in planning, designing, and creating a Jersey-Friendly Schoolyard. Get Your Schoolyard Certified! Learn […]

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SCHOOL PROGRAM

Take positive steps towards a healthy Schoolyard!
Plan, design, and plant a Jersey-Friendly garden project with your students and the entire school community.

Schools are an important component of a healthy Barnegat Bay watershed. You can help to ensure clean water for drinking, swimming and fishing, healthy soil for gardening and growing, and essential habitat for wildlife by engaging students and the entire school community in planning, designing, and creating a Jersey-Friendly Schoolyard.

Requirements Fulfilled: 3-LS4-3

Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Core Ideas
  • LS4.C: Adaptation – For any particular environment, some organisms survive well, some less well, and some not at all.
  • LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans – Populations live in a variety of habitats, and habitat change affects organisms.
Rationale

This connects classroom lessons to the garden, showing how plant survival depends on matching species to habitat. Discuss the effect of soil on certain plants and why certain plants prefer different soil conditions. Example – Carnivorous plants in the Pine Barren Bogs.

Requirements Fulfilled: MS-LS1-5

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.

Core Ideas
  • LS1.B:  Growth & Development of Organisms – Genetic factors as well as local conditions affect the growth of the adult plant.
Rationale

Examples of evidence could include drought decreasing plant growth, fertilizer increasing plant growth, different varieties of plant seeds growing at different rates in different conditions; etc.

Requirements Fulfilled: 3-ESS3-1

Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of climate change and/or a weather-related hazard.

Core Ideas
  • ESS3.B: Natural Hazards – A variety of natural hazards result from natural processes. Humans cannot eliminate natural hazards but can take steps to reduce their impacts.
Rationale

Green Infrastructure implementation (i.e. rain gardens) and planting native plants helps deal with increased precipitation due to climate change and groundwater recharge.

Requirements Fulfilled: 5-ESS3-1

Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources, environment, and address climate change issues.

Core Ideas
  • ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems – Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments.
Rationale

Watershed Ambassadors can bring in benthic macroinvertebrates or the Enviroscape to demonstrate the human impacts on stream ecosystems (when NJWAP is active).

Requirements Fulfilled: MS-ESS3-3

Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment

Core Ideas
  • ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems – Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. But changes to Earth’s environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things.
Rationale

Watershed Ambassadors can bring in benthic macroinvertebrates to demonstrate the human impacts on stream ecosystems. They can be used for monitoring non-point source pollution in freshwater streams (when NJWAP is active).

Requirements Fulfilled: 2-LS4-1

Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

Core Ideas
  • LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans – There are many different kinds of living things in any area, and they exist in different places on land and in water.
Rationale

Students can explore how planting native species increases biodiversity and supports local wildlife, such as pollinators, birds, and beneficial insects. Example: Comparing wildlife presence in a turf grass area versus a native wildflower patch.

Requirements Fulfilled: 4-LS1-1

Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

Core Ideas
  • LS1.A: Structure and Function – Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.
Rationale

Discuss features of native plants (e.g., deep root systems, flower structure) that provide habitat or food for wildlife. Example: Milkweed’s structure as a host plant for monarch caterpillars.

Requirements Fulfilled: MS-LS2-2

Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.

Core Ideas
  • LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems – Organisms and populations are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors.
  • LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience – Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time.
Rationale

Students examine how adding wildlife-friendly features (e.g., pollinator gardens, birdhouses, bat boxes) impacts ecosystem interactions in the schoolyard. They can monitor changes over time and connect them to concepts like food webs and habitat availability

Requirements Fulfilled: 3-5-ETS1-1

Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

Core Ideas
  • ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems – Possible solutions to a problem are limited by available materials and resources, as well as time. The success of a designed solution is determined by considering the criteria and constraints.
Rationale

Students work collaboratively to plan and design a Jersey-Friendly garden or habitat improvement project on school grounds. They will define the problem (e.g., lack of pollinator habitat), identify constraints (budget, size, sunlight), and propose solutions.

Requirements Fulfilled: 5-ESS3-1

Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources, environment, and address climate change issues.

Core Ideas
  • ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems – Human activities have major effects on the environment, but individuals and communities are taking action to protect natural resources and ecosystems.
Rationale

The completed project—whether a rain garden, native plant bed, or wildlife habitat—demonstrates the school community’s role in environmental stewardship. Students share their work with the school and larger community to inspire further action.

Requirements Fulfilled: MS-ETS1-2

Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Core Ideas
  • ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions – A solution needs to be tested, evaluated, and improved to meet the criteria of the problem.
Rationale

Students compare different project ideas (e.g., pollinator meadow vs. bird-friendly garden) and evaluate them based on sustainability, cost, maintenance, and educational value. After implementation, they monitor results and propose improvements for the next growing season.

What Are the Benefits of Certification?

The Jersey-Friendly Yards School Program

  • Incorporates stewardship of the Barnegat Bay watershed into the school curriculum,
  • Helps protect water quality, conserve water, and create wildlife habitat in your schoolyard,
  • Increases student engagement through outdoor learning experiences,
  • Provides opportunities for students to participate in community science projects,
  • Complements the Sustainable Jersey for Schools program,
  • Promotes a positive relationship between the school and community, and
  • Recognizes schools that achieve certification (e.g., through signage, media announcements, and an award ceremony).

Get Your Schoolyard Certified!

Learn about program requirements and how to submit the documentation needed for certification.

How to Get Certified

Questions? We’re Here To Help!

We are here to provide technical support and guidance, and to answer any questions along the way.

Contact Our Certification Team

Already participating in
Sustainable Jersey for Schools?

The Jersey-Friendly Yards School Program recognizes related Sustainable Jersey for Schools actions already completed by your school, making it easier to achieve certification in our program.