School assemblies are festive whole school or grade gatherings held in a large common space like the auditorium, gym, or cafeteria. They provide a key venue to share information, build community momentum to work towards a common goal. School assemblies are a great way to kick off a program or new Challenge or Contest at a school. 

An outreach campaign at the beginning of the school year can promote walking, bicycling, carpooling, and taking the bus to school. Families set transportation habits during the first few weeks of the school year, and back-to-school-orientation aims to help form good habits from the start.

Orientation events are particularly valuable for the parents of kindergartners, who are attending school for the first time and forming new travel habits.

Walking, bicycling, carpooling, and taking transit reduces air quality emissions and minimizes congestion. Climate change education makes a connection between personal and community transportation choices and climate impacts. Resources in this section address more facets of sustainability and climate change than transportation, including air and water quality, waste, and energy consumption.

Green teams and other school clubs are organized groups of students exploring a shared passion. Clubs are opportunities for students to get directly involved in air quality and transportation issues through their own initiative. Clubs can meet during lunchtime or after school and provide a range of activities, from learning about transportation and climate change issues, to taking actions at schools.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for physical activity recommend that children and adolescents should do 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily.

Lessons and classroom activities teach students about transportation options, traffic safety, and climate change. The lessons can be incorporated into health, environment, social science, math, and physics curricula. Many Safe Routes to School Programs in the Bay Area, the state of California, and nationally have developed lesson plans to engage students about safety, transportation options, and climate change.