b'SouthOrange Country Day School Montessori Education Since 1964 PreschoolPre-R Rindergarten Full and Half Day Sessions Tuscan School\'s Beyond the Bell environmental enrichment class posing with formerExtended Day Hours Available Maplewood Mayor Vic DeLuca, who spoke about the new town ordinance banningSchool Year and Summer Camp Session plastic bags.Largest Outdoor Play Spaceout there that felt like I did, wantingSommersclasseshavetackledtopics to see sustainability and more focus onlikewhysingle-useplasticbagsareREGISTER NOW FOR CAMP! current environmental issues at theirharmful for the environment and howsocds.com/programs childrens schools, said Devi Damask,to reduce your carbon footprint. 973.762.6451 who is the coordinator for the parent- If you wait until middle school to rungroup,SOMASchoolsGreenteach how and why sustainable behav-Team. So I did some research and putiors are vital then its likely studentsVisit seeds.comEmail learn@socds.com a call out to bring more parents in towillalreadyhavedevelopedwasteful461 Vose Avenue, South Orange, NJ 07079 share knowledge, ideas and green ef-forts in a collaborative way.SethBoydenhaslongbeenseen as a role model for its on-site garden-ing and composting programs, which many district schools have worked to replicate. Now the Eco Star program atSouthMountaincouldbecomea template for other schools to follow.At Tuscan Elementary School, par-ent Julia Sommer has created anotherFirst grade students, and members of program that could be replicated. Shea group they created called Earth has been teaching after-school enrich- Hospital" speak on the environment at an Eco Star Assembly. Photo credit: South ment classes through the Beyond theMountain Elementary PTA Bell program that provide opportuni-ties for students to learn about theirhabits that are harder to change, says roleincombatingclimatechange.Sommer, who has a fifth-grade son and twins in kindergarten.Damasksaidabig focusfortheSOMA SchoolsGreenTeam this year has been work-ing with the district on aheat-mappingstudy andrecycling;onsus-tainabilityandenergy-efficientstrategies;and onrecruitingparents South Mountain Elementarys Green Team Parent Co- andteacherstoform Chairs, Jennie Aylward (L) and Georgia Madiba (R)), help student Adler Williamson dress to be the EnergyGreenTeamsateach Vampire during an Eco Star assembly on energy con- school. (She urges any-servation while student Eve Schensul hands lightningone who is interested to bolts to represent electricity. Photo credit: Megan Yates Photography join the SOMA Schools feature story /29'