Pattengill Elementary School fifth graders work out in front of the school cleaning up the grounds on Thursday as part of the Bryant and Pattengill elementary schools' Earth Day celebration.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

About 500 students, teachers and parents took part in the second annual Day of Service at Bryant and Pattengill elementary schools on Ann Arbor's south side Thursday in honor of Earth Day.

The event gets students out on school grounds in shifts all day long to do yardwork like weed pulling, sidewalk sweeping, brush clean-up, trash collection and flower planting.

The Day of Service is the brainchild of Pattengill mother Patty Barry, who proposed the service day last year as a way to show kids that community service work is valuable even when there's no obvious reward involved.

"Oftentimes when children are asked to do something, there is always a reward associated with doing it," Barry said. "I wanted to see examples at the schools, for my children and others, of things that you can do without getting something back for doing it. I didn't want it to be a contest. And in doing service, little things add up to big things. Today, if all 500 people do their part, we'll get a lot accomplished."

Teachers also used the Day of Service to teach students about such things as the difference between perennial and annual flowers or how to measure the width of a hole being dug for a new tree.

Thursday's sunny, mild weather also helped ensure a healthy turnout at the event. Barry said the day ran smoothly and was "very quiet, with lots of teamwork going on."

Kaitlyn Stout, daughter of AnnArbor.com Community Assistant Pam Stout, took part in the Day of Service at Pattengill. She wrote about her experience and shared it on AnnArbor.com's Community Wall. 

Check out a slideshow of photos from the event from AnnArbor.com photographer Lon Horwedel:

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