JAY – Now all they need is some rain.

About 150 schoolchildren planted 300 four-year-old balsam fir trees in a half-acre of town recreation land Friday. Throughout their school years, students will measure, prune and nurture their plantings as part of their lessons on environment and forestry. Then, when they are seniors, they’ll harvest them.

“It is really fun,” student Emily Acritelli said. “It is really great for us and the little kids because later on they’ll get the trees.”

The plot, set up in grid fashion, gives each tree a 6-foot by 5-foot space to grow.

Teacher Rob Taylor, his wife, Julie, high and middle school students, educators and other volunteers helped with the plantings by second-, third- and fourth-grade classes.

School custodian Brian Shink used his equipment to rototill the earth. Taylor and volunteers Ryan Crocker, Ron Deering, Shawn Riley and Larry Thornton dug the holes. Members of Taylor’s Explorer Post 897 also assisted.

Students Jake Lord and Melanie Robitaille used a meter stick to measure the height of trees third-graders planted, while Acritelli recorded the numbers. Esa Maki packed the soil as Mallory Doiron held the tree.

“I think its going to be cool,” Doiron said.