Riley Avenue’s playground tree blossoms along with students
The new tree at Riley Avenue Elementary School has made it through its first winter. Not only has the red sunset maple survived, it has thrived — adding almost five feet of growth in its tenure at the playground.
It was planted at the end of the 23-24 school year as part of the activities of the tree team. While it was a building-wide effort, Charles Gianon, a second-grade teacher and tree team leader, came up with the idea to apply for a grant. Mr. Gianon enlisted the help of Liz Scaduto, an English as a new language teacher, to write the application.
“The grant was a $500 in kind grant provided for the planting of a tree from the New York State Urban Forestry Council,” said Ms. Scaduto. “We purchased this tree with that money, and we put it in our kindergarten playground, which only had one [other] tree. We worked with a local group here that does a lot of landscape design. He found us a great tree — a red sunset maple — and they also included a watering system, because it’s located in the middle of a playground.”
This tree will soon provide shade for the students as they spend time outside. The students have been careful of it as it becomes established, keeping outside of the wooden stakes providing it support.
“The kids have been fantastic, actually,” said Ms. Scaduto. “The kids have been incredibly respectful with the tree … and appreciative of the idea that there will be another shade tree on the playground later on.”
The tree is integrated into many parts of the curriculum, with lessons in science, social studies and character education.
“That’s what’s so interesting when you talk about it. So it’s not just a tree, per se. It’s kind of like a life lesson we take in a situation. This is about a tree, but this is symbolic,” said David Enos, principal of Riley Avenue. “And then what the kids get [in] character education can be integrated with that. [It can] involve the kids caring for something, nurturing it and so on.”
New York State has a goal of planting $25 million trees by 2033 to combat climate change and promote the health of its communities. As previously reported in her 2024 State of the State address, Gov. Kathy Hochul launched the 25 Million Trees Initiative, allocating $32 million in funds from the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act to modernize the state’s tree nurseries and harness technology to track forestation efforts in New York through the new TreeTracker App.
“The students continue to have an authentic learning experience as they learn about how vital trees are to our environment,” said Jeanne Grim, the assistant principal, in an email. “Riley Avenue is participating in the [NYS DEC] seedling program and has received 25 red oak trees that students will plant around the community.”
Mr. Enos sees the playground tree as a metaphor for the progress the children make throughout the year. “We want to make sure it grows as the children do, that it grows and blossoms just like them,” he said.
