Students at the Lafayette Street School in Newark, New Jersey are protecting rainforests around the globe. Integrated into their school-wide themes of good global citizenship and diversity, the teachers at Lafayette Street School have used the educational resources available on the Rainforest Alliance Learning Site to teach their students about the environment, biodiversity and cultures in Latin America.

Beyond learning about the wonders of tropical forests, Lafayette classes have supplemented their learning by becoming environmental activists. While conducting a coin drive to raise funds for the Toledo Institute for Development and the Environment in Belize first graders learned about money and math. And second grade students organized a yard sale to help support Brazil's Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Management and Certification. Both nonprofit organizations are Rainforest Alliance partners that will use the money to conserve tropical forests in their respective countries. Altogether, first and second grade classes raised $1,126 for the conservation groups.

Seventh and eighth grade students wrote letters hoping to persuade businesses to act more responsibly with regard to the environment. They also wrote thank you letters to companies working to protect the environment.

"This partnership between the Rainforest Alliance and Lafayette Street School has sparked curiosity in many of our students about the environment and what they can do to protect it," said Maria Merlo, the school's principal. "Integrating the Rainforest Alliance curriculum with the Newark Public Schools curriculum has enriched the students' learning. And of course they loved transforming the school into their own private rainforest!"

Read more about how Lafayette Street School worked to become good global citizens.

Learn how your school can participate in an Adopt-A-Rainforest fundraiser to help protect ecosystems in Latin America.

The Nogal Reserve in Costa Rica's Sarapiqui's district is a 250-acre (100-hectare) protected area that serves as a nature preserve and refuge for local flora and fauna as well as the migratory birds that visit our backyards each year. Located on a banana farm, the reserve belongs to the Chiquita Nature and Community Project, a collaboration between Chiquita Brands International, the Swiss retailer Migros and the local community. In addition to preservation, the mission of the reserve is to foster environmental consciousness through local education.

Nogal is just one example of the positive steps Chiquita is taking to protect the tropical ecosystems where bananas are grown. Chiquita began applying the Rainforest Alliance's social and economic standards on two farms in Costa Rica in 1992. The success of that trial was followed by the transformation of Chiquita's other farms. By 2000, all of Chiquita's company-owned farms in Latin America were Rainforest Alliance Certified. Chiquita has since concentrated on helping the independent farmers who supply more than one third of the company's bananas to adopt those same standards.

Chiquita has planted buffer zones along streams, installed systems for filtering wastewater from packing plants, managed garbage and recycled all plastics, instituted occupational safety programs, protected forest patches, improved worker housing, sanitary facilities, storage facilities and other infrastructure, stopped using agrochemicals that posed a risk to workers and aquatic life and switched to low-toxicity "protectors" to decrease the need for fungicides.

Read more about how Chiquita is working with the Rainforest Alliance to help protect tropical forests.

Learn how you can buy Rainforest Alliance Certified bananas grown in well-managed farms.

Ask your students whether they've ever received a certificate for taking a class, completing a program, or doing a good job, and ask them to describe what it means to "certify" something.

Explore the concept of certification more deeply by asking students what qualities and qualifications they would want a lifeguard to have. Explain how certification ensures that a lifeguard meets the necessary qualifications.

• Why do you think certification is important to all the parties involved (in this case, the lifeguard, the swimmers, parents, and the people who manage the pool or beach)?
• Why might it be significant that a "third party" does the certification (in this case, rather than lifeguards certifying themselves)?
• Does it matter where products, such as bananas, come from?
• If any of the bananas at your grocery store are labeled as "certified," what might that mean?
• Why might it be important to certify bananas?

Have partners or small groups create a list of criteria they would include if they were charged with the task of certifying bananas. Ask them to not only consider the healthiness of the bananas for consumers, but also the health of the land on which the bananas are grown, the health of the plants and animals in the nearby rainforest, and the well-being of the farm workers. Ask them to share elements from their list with the class.

Give students a copy of the "Rainforest Alliance Certification" student page and read aloud the standards for banana certification. Ask students to compare the Rainforest Alliance certification criteria to the ones they developed. Are there any criteria students didn't include in their lists? Are there any they would add?

Drawing on what they have learned, have the students create a brochure that educates consumers about banana certification. The brochure should explain (1) what banana certification is, (2) the criteria included in Rainforest Alliance certification, and (3) the benefits of banana certification for the consumer, the rainforest, and other people.

Send the Rainforest Alliance copies of your students' brochures for us to post on our Web site.

View our seventh and eighth grade units for other lesson ideas that will have your class going bananas.

Learn more about the importance of buying certified products such as bananas, coffee and chocolate.

The American Forest & Paper Association School Recycling Awards recognize K - 12 schools, colleges and universities that have successfully implemented a school-wide recycling program. Winning entries will receive an award, including a monetary prize and framed original artwork. Deadline for submitting an application is February 16, 2007.

River of Words, in collaboration with the Library of Congress Center for the Book, is holding an international art and poetry contest for youth. The theme is watersheds and the contest encourages young people to explore the places they live and creatively express their observations through art and poetry. To enter, students must be between the ages of 5 - 19. They can work on their own or as part of a group. Eight grand prize winners, in four different age categories, and an international winner are selected to attend an awards ceremony in Washington D.C. Entries within the United States must be submitted by February 15, 2007. International entries are due by March 1, 2007.

Action For Nature acknowledges young people between the ages of 8 and 16 who are working to preserve the environment around them. The International Young Eco-Hero Awards recognizes outstanding accomplishments in environmental advocacy, environmental health, research or protection of the natural world. Winners will receive cash prizes of up to $500 and a special certificate. Applications are due February 28, 2007.

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© 2007 Rainforest Alliance