Thank you for Attending the Title 1: Earth Day Clean Up and Nature Walk Around Lake Pentucket with Team Haverhill

Posted on April 7, 2026

Thank you so much for attending the Title 1: Earth Day Clean Up and Nature Walk Around Lake Pentucket with Team Haverhill!  

Please click on this link to complete the Title 1 Event Evaluation:  https://forms.gle/xsLcBQPALGvybMgk8.  Your feedback is appreciated and helps us plan future family engagement events. 

Below are family resources and activities you can complete!  

Sincerely, 

The Pentucket Lake and Walnut Square Staff

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Dear Families, 

Thank you for being part of our Title 1 Event Sign Up: Earth Month Cleanup and Nature Walk around Lake Pentucket with Team Haverhill.  Today, you didn’t just walk a trail; you acted as a steward for our community.  By removing litter and enjoying the Lake Pentucket trail, you helped ensure this space remains beautiful for everyone.  As we embrace the arrival of spring, we want to reflect on the incredible power of combining outdoor exploration with community service.

In our busy lives, we often overlook the beauty surrounding us.  Immersing ourselves in nature while working to improve our neighborhood has a profound effect on our families’ well-being and our children’s character.  Research consistently shows that spending time outdoors greatly enhances both physical and mental health.  However, when we add a service element like today’s cleanup, the benefits are even greater.   Engaging in community service helps children develop empathy, a sense of responsibility, and the realization that they have the power to make a positive change in their world.

The physical benefits of outdoor movement cannot be underestimated.  Activities like hiking and cleaning up our local trails encourage fitness and promote a healthy lifestyle for all ages.  Beyond the physical, the sights and sounds of the outdoors create a soothing atmosphere that reduces stress and sparks creativity.  For children, today’s “hands-on” experience cultivates a sense of wonder and stewardship for the environment that is crucial for their development.

To help your family build on the momentum from today, we have compiled the following resources and activities.  Whether it is exploring a new trail, starting a small garden, or performing a “mini-cleanup” in your own neighborhood, every small act helps our planet and strengthens our bond as a community.

Thank you for being a “Haverhill Hero” today. We hope these resources inspire many more family adventures ahead!

Sincerely, 

The Pentucket Lake and Walnut Square Staff

Nature Walks and Hikes:  Haverhill is rich with conservation land.  Which one will you visit next?  Find local trails or parks and embark on a family hike.  Observe the surroundings, listen to the sounds of nature, and perhaps even bring a field guide to identify local plant and animal species.  Here’s a few trails in Haverhill to enjoy!

Ways to Extend Today’s Learning:

  • The “One-Bag” Walk:  Whenever your family goes for a walk, bring one small grocery bag.  If every family in Haverhill picked up just one bag of litter a week, our city would be the cleanest in Massachusetts!
  • Native Gardening:  Planting even one pot of native flowers helps our local pollinators (bees and butterflies).  It’s a rewarding way to teach children about responsibility and the cycles of life.  
  • Nature Journaling:   After a walk, ask your child to draw one thing they saw and one way they helped the Earth that day.  This helps cement the connection between nature and service.
  • Share Your Story:  Talk to neighbors about the Lake Pentucket cleanup!  Encouraging others to keep our trails clean is a powerful form of community leadership.
  • Participate in Haverhill’s Citywide Earth Day Clean Up on April 25, 2026!  

 

Reading helps children connect with the environment on a deeper level. These titles are hand-picked to align with our Wit & Wisdom curriculum while celebrating nature and community service.

Kindergarten – Grade 1: Observing Our World

  • The Listening Walk by Paul Showers:  Perfect for practicing the “silent hiking” skills we used today!
  • Earth Day Every Day by Lisa Bullard:  A great way to explain to younger children why we help the planet.
  • The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats:  A reminder of how the seasons change our environment.
  • Seed, Soil, Sun by Cris Peterson:  Learn the “recipe” for life that we saw starting to sprout today.
  • Thank You, Earth  by April Pulley Sayre:  A beautiful “thank you” letter to the planet.

Grade 2 – Grade 4: Taking Action

  • The Curious Garden by Peter Brown: A story about a boy who starts a garden on an abandoned railway and transforms his city.
  • One Plastic Bag  by Miranda Paul: The true story of how a group of women recycled plastic bags to save their community’s animals.
  • We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom: A powerful book about protecting our lakes and rivers—just like we did today at Lake Pentucket!
  • Shark Lady by Jess Keating: Encourages kids to be brave explorers of the natural world.

 

Books from “Wit and Wisdom Tips for Families”  Books to Read at Home:

 

Kindergarten 

▪ Rain, Manya Stojic

▪ The Listening Walk, Paul Showers

▪ The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats

▪ Hello Ocean, Pam Muñoz Ryan

▪ Owl Moon, Jane Yolen

▪ Little Fur Family, Margaret Wise Brown

▪ No One Saw, Bob Raczka

▪ Every Second Something Happens: Poems for the Mind and Senses, Christine San José

▪ Seed, Soil, Sun: Earth’s Recipe for Food, Cris Peterson

▪ The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families, Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore

 

Grade 1 

▪ Creature Features, Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

▪ Sisters and Brothers: Sibling Relationships in the Animal World, Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

▪ How to Clean a Hippopotamus: A Look at Unusual Animal Partnerships, Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

▪ Where in the Wild?: Camouflaged Creatures Concealed … and Revealed, David M. Schwartz and Yael Schy

▪ Where Else in the Wild?, David M. Schwartz and Yael Schy

▪ Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth’s Strangest Animals, Michael Hearst

▪ A Bird or Two: A Story about Henri Matisse, Bijou Le Tord

▪ Starfish, Edith Thacher Hurd

▪ Sharks, Kate Riggs

▪ Amazing Animals: Dolphins, Kate Riggs

▪ Gentle Giant Octopus, Karen Wallace

▪ The Wind Blew, Pat Hutchins

▪ Katy and the Big Snow, Virginia Lee Burton

▪ Hurricanes!, Gail Gibbons

 

Grade 2 

▪ The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice, Wendy Pfeffer

▪ The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice, Wendy Pfeffer

▪ Poppleton in Winter, Cynthia Rylant

▪ Frog and Toad All Year, Arnold Lobel

▪ Henry and Mudge in the Sparkle Days, Cynthia Rylant

▪ The Little Island, Margaret Wise Brown

▪ Snow, Cynthia Rylant

▪ Over and Under the Pond, Kate Messner

▪ Over and Under the Snow, Kate Messner

▪ The House of Four Seasons, Roger Duvoisin

 

Grade 3 

▪ A Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle, Claire A. Nivola

▪ Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist, Jess Keating

▪ Shark Lady: True Adventures of Eugenie Clark, Ann McGovern

▪ Swimming with Sharks: The Daring Discoveries of Eugenie Clark, Heather Lang

▪ Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau, Jennifer Berne

▪ The Great Wave: A Children’s Book Inspired by Hokusai, Veronique Massenot

▪ Ocean: A Visual Miscellany, Ricardo Henriques and Andre Letria

▪ Tentacles!: Tales of the Giant Squid, Shirley Raye Redmond

▪ National Geographic Readers: Weird Sea Creatures, Laura Marsh

▪ Surprising Sharks: Read and Wonder, Nicola Davies

▪ National Geographic Kids First Big Book of the Ocean, Catherine D. Hughes

▪ Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea, Steve Jenkins

▪ Sharks, Seymour Simon

▪ Seymour Simon’s Extreme Oceans, Seymour Simon

▪ Giant Squid, Candace Fleming

▪ Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea, Janet Halfmann

▪ Next Time You See the Moon, Emily Morgan

▪ The Stars: A New Way to See Them, H. A. Rey

▪ Planets!, Editors of TIME for Kids

▪ Zoo in the Sky, Jacqueline Mitton

▪ The Planet Gods, Jacqueline Mitton

▪ Once Upon a Starry Night: A Book of Constellations, Jacqueline Mitton

Stay Connected with Team Haverhill

Our partners at Team Haverhill are dedicated to making our city a better place to live, work, and play. To find more community service events, gardening projects, or city-wide cleanups, visit:  www.teamhaverhill.org

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” -The Lorax