“Cleaner and Greener” – Outdoor Classroom
Vision
Through many discussions with my grade 7 and 8 science students, our project ideas went through multiple iterations. We landed on building an outdoor classroom that would benefit the entire school moving forward, taking an area that we refer to as, ‘the junkyard’ and turning it into a green-er space.
Action
For our Spring Science Symposium, the grade 3 class constructed models of mock outdoor classrooms, proposing ideas for the layout and items to include. They also held a bake sale where they raised $330.75 for additional resources!
As of June, 2024 we are still at ‘Stage 1,’ due to the area needing to be cleaned and levelled, which will take place over the summer months. The plan is to have the basic structural components set up for September, using the lumber we sourced from Ledwidge Lumber in Enfield, Nova Scotia; then involving students and their creative concepts to help complete the area in the autumn months. We are a private school that ranges from pre-primary to grade 9; our on-going plan for the outdoor classroom space is to create comprehensive, cross-curricular programming that offers access to environmental and climate education, spanning multiple grade levels. I will continue to add updates and photos as the project progresses!