Project Rationale
FAWA’s (Fredericton Area Watersheds Association) schoolyard habitats projects are geared toward middle schools in the City of Fredericton who lack opportunities for outside education due to tight budgets and short class times, preventing students from participating in field trips. The construction of schoolyard habitats, their cross-curricula integration, and the use of “hands-on” learning experiences that embrace these local resources, serve to address this deficiency.

Late in 2005, we met with the Principal and a number of art, science, and social studies teachers at Devon Middle School, all of whom were in enthusiastic support of a full outdoor classroom. The group agreed to work with us to develop a site plan for the school and to identify means by which outdoor activities can be effectively integrated into their existing curriculum.

Utilization of a schoolyard habitat resource also provides participating teachers with a professional development opportunity through the acquisition of the tools and skills necessary to deliver a true hands-on, inquiry-based approach to extending the classroom into the outdoors, while fostering the goals of environmental education.

Beyond the school, the construction of an outdoor classroom also benefits community members by providing opportunities to increase their environmental awareness and knowledge, while offering additional means of participation in both their child’s education and local environmental stewardship.
 

Achievements To Date
Thanks to the support of the Fredericton Community Foundation and in-kind support from School District 18, the City of Fredericton, and JD Irving, we were able to complete the installation of both a tree nursery (50 white spruce trees) and a native wildflower bed (13 species) at Devon Middle School before the onset of the first fall frosts. Students were involved at all stages of the project — design, installation, and maintenance.
 

Site designs by Devon Middle School Grade 6–8 students.

White spruce nursery beds.

Species guide for the current native wildflower species established by landscaping the concrete school sign at the north-east corner of the playground.


Community response to the project is overwhelmingly positive. The installation of the native wildflower bed generated a lot of interest from the public as to the species of plants chosen and their benefits (attracting birds and insects; educational opportunities; and 3-season inflorescence, the colours of which complement the school sign) and what could be possible in
their own gardens.

To date, no vandalism or disturbance of either the nursery beds or the native wildflower landscaping has occurred. This is significant, given that the schoolgrounds receive considerable traffic after hours and have experienced defacement and destruction of property in the past.

We are continuing to work with the educators and administration of Devon Middle School on the development of approaches to integrate this new resource across grades and curricula. Later this year, it is our intention — resources permitting — to further expand the schoolyard habitat facility (see below).


Future Plans
After 1 year in the nursery beds, the white spruce trees will be large enough to be transplanted into the green space behind the school. It is intended that the trees be planted in clusters of 5–7; students at Devon Middle School have indicated that they would like some shade from the sun in this otherwise open space.

In the meantime, the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management at the University of New Brunswick has invited groups of students from Devon Middle School to tour the nursery facilities at the Hugh John Flemming Forestry Centre as well as join existing undergraduate students for lessons in tree identification. Seeds of a variety of native New Brunswick tree species will also be made available to the middle school students for germination in the classroom. After a few months, these seedlings can then be transplanted to the school’s nursery beds, offering a more complete
learning experience.

Monitoring and planting at the native wildflower bed will continue, with student assistance. It is intended that additional species be introduced.

Later this year, with in-kind assistance from District 18 and the Department of Education, a constructed wetland will be installed on the site.
 

Aerial view of proposed constructed wetland.

Plan view of proposed constructed wetland.


We have also been approached by Garden Creek and Connaught Street schools to aid both in the development of a nature trail system and in the production of cross-curricular materials linked to a proposed outdoor classroom, respectively. We hope to pursue these projects in 2008–2009.
 

Proposed trail system at Garden Creek School.

Proposed outdoor classroom at Connaught Street School.

 


Comments

Dianne Murphy-Rodgers

Tue, 13 May 2008 05:30:27

Dave, I arrived here via @rjleaman on Twitter and am so grateful to her for tweeting about your wonderful Outdoor Classrooms!

What a fantastic idea! I think all schools and wider communities would benefit greatly (I love that it has had an effect on vandalism!) and will spread the word locally and on my blogs.

The proposed wetland is exciting ... this whole post is inspirational, thank you!

:o)

 

elephant bean bag

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:48:52

Wow! Its a great article. I think the whole article is inspirational for all college and community who are interested in the gardening. The maps and images are really helpful. Please keep me update with new info. Thanks for the valuable information.

 

Angela Hynes

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:44:31

I am forming a committee to see the inital upstart of an outdoor classroom for the local elem. school (Beachy Cove elem school in Portugal Cove-St Philip's in NL) I lost my 5 1/2 year old in Feb 09 and in his memory will proceed with this project. We may call it Faron's Way in his memory. The school is situated next to the ocean with a fabulous view. www.beachycove.ca
Any advice on where to begin??? By the way, I grew up in Miramichi. I am looking at what Devon Middle school did in Fredericton. All I can say is WOW.

 

Dave Riddell

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:40:25

Angela, many thanks for your comment. An outdoor classroom can be a wonderful resource both for the school and the community, and a very rewarding project of which to be part. It's great to hear you'd like to get something started — I hope you have a lot of joy in pursuing it!

You've likely already done this, but I'd suggest including at least the following people in your committee: a school administrator, a number of teachers and parents, a school district representative, and whomever is responsible for maintaining the school grounds — particularly through the summer break. After that, if there are any local businesses or individuals who are active in the community, invite them to join you — it helps immensely to have some champions for your project.

Getting started, the first thing to do, of course, is to look at the space available at the school: How much is there? Is it all in one block, or distributed around the grounds? Is it on asphalt or soil? Is it easy to access? Is it safe? Look at the environment — is it shaded/open, wet/dry, how deep/rich is the soil? All of these factors can set the scope of the project and help determine what is possible and where.

The next step is to determine the goals and objectives of the classroom. Is the classroom just for the students, or for the wider community as well? Can it provide teachers with professional development opportunities? What do you want the students to learn? What activities will best engage them in that learning? What elements of your outdoor classroom best lend themselves to cross-curricular integration?

Once the possibilities begin to take shape, it's time to get feedback from the students. There're out in that space every day: How do they use it? What's good and bad about the existing space? What would they like to be able to do, but can't? Speak to them about some of the possibilities and get their reactions. Set them loose with paper and art supplies and have them design the space as they'd like to see it. I guarantee the students will come up with any number of ideas and considerations of which the committee hadn't thought!

After these steps comes decision-making, site planning, and fundraising. Canada's "Evergreen" organization is an excellent resource on all of these topics. A good place to start is the resources section of their website:

http://www.evergreen.ca/en/lg/lg-resources.html

They also provide (usually generous) project funds:

http://www.evergreen.ca/en/lg/lg-funding.html

And if you'd like some inspiration for potential projects, you can't do better than this book from Green Teacher:

http://www.greenteacher.com/gsg.html

— an excellent resource.

Best of luck with the project, Angela, and please keep me posted!

 

Jason Flom

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:10:05

Nice job, Dave! RT @pathways: Some advice 2 tchers 2 help start an outdoor classroom http://bit.ly/y8A0c #green #education #playoutdoors

 

Jabiz Raisdana

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:10:57

RT @pathways: Some advice to a teacher to help get an outdoor classroom started http://bit.ly/y8A0c #green #education #playoutdoors

 

Gone Green

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:11:49

RT @pathways: Some advice to a teacher to help get an outdoor classroom started http://bit.ly/y8A0c

 

My Green Education

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:18:00

RT @pathways: Some advice to a teacher to help get an outdoor classroom started http://bit.ly/y8A0c #green #educati... http://ow.ly/15OKCE

 

Bethe Almeras

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:18:46

RT @JasonFlom: RT @pathways: Some advice 2 tchers 2 help start an outdoor classroom http://bit.ly/y8A0c #green #education #playoutdoors

 

suzanne fogle

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:53:38

Great information. I assume this is a public school. How easy was it to convince the administration that this was a good idea. I would like to start an outdoor nursery/kindergarten in Connecticut and I hadn't even dreamed of approaching the public schools. Do you have any advice about this? thanks

 

Dave Riddell

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:09:19

Thanks, Suzanne. Yes, Devon Middle is a public school, as are all the schools with which we currently work.

Getting started with this kind of work was surprisingly easy, and your experience may be very similar.

In the case of Devon Middle School, one of the science teachers had always wanted a pond outside his classroom where he could take his students to learn about aquatic plants and insects during class periods. When we met to discuss the idea and other potential projects with teachers, school administrators, and local residents, everyone was very enthusiastic. As you can imagine, with this level of support, moving the project forward with the school district was very straightforward. Once work began at Devon Middle School, other schools began approaching us to help develop outdoor classrooms and/or curricula for their own students.

It has been my experience that there is both a need and a desire for outdoor teaching resources and curricula, and discussions with other educators suggest that this is equally true in the US. There's certainly no lack of enthusiasm for this work, although raising enough funds can sometimes be tricky; however, this is getting better.

Start with identifying the need. If you have existing connections to parents or teachers, speak with them about how the outdoor space of the school is currently used for teaching and learning, if at all — if not, why? Meet with principals and ask the same questions. Discuss the benefits of an outdoor classroom, not just for the students, but for teachers and the wider community as well. Identify any obstacles and discuss potential solutions. Tour schoolgrounds together and imagine possibilities.

I'd recommend both the Evergreen and Green Teacher resources mentioned to Angela in my comment, above, if you'd like some more information or inspiration. In addition, both Richard Louv's book, "Last Child in the Woods", and website (http://www.naturerocks.org) are excellent and useful references. For a quick, but thorough, overview of project ideas and considerations, see this publication (PDF) from the University of Tennessee:

http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/wfiles/w113.pdf

Hope this is useful. Best of luck!

 

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