In celebration of Earth Day, one local school created an eco-friendly project that reaches out to the community.

Throughout the month of April, the Apple Valley Montessori School in Winchester has been hard at work, decorating paper grocery bags with a green message.

The students dropped off the bags on Tuesday, for local businesses to use.

Customers at Harvest Moon Natural Foods in Winchester were treated to the extra special bags with their purchases.

The store will be using the Earth Day bags throughout the week, and customers are encouraged to re-use the bag at home.

The Montessori method promotes love of the environment at an early age.

School administrators say it made sense to do this type of project, to emphasize thinking beyond the area around us.

"That's what we, in Montessori, teach our children. Is that we are part of a greater community than our very small one," says Barbara Hineline, Administrator at the school.

The kids were excited for the opportunity to use their artistic talents... And create a worthwhile project.

"We made bags with stuff on them. We had hands holding the earth, and a earth on it, and we even had trees," says Klaudia Largent, a kindergarten student.

The students made about 150 bags, which were used at Martin's on Pleasant Valley Road in Winchester, as well as Little Thinkerz, located at Creekside Station.

This is the first year Apple Valley Montessori School has participated in the Earth Day Bag project, but nationally, the project is in its 15th year..

It started with 42 schools that made about 13,000 bags in their initial year.

Now 1,200 schools are involved, with students making more than 400,000 bags.