| Outdoor Classroom for South Columbia Elementary |
|
Vision:
To provide an outdoor environment for the students and staff at South Columbia Elementary that will help to facilitate both individual learning and guided instructional opportunities.
Reasons for an Outdoor Classroom:
To provide an environment for hands-on opportunities for learning in science.
To provide an environment that will stimulate imaginative writing processes for language arts.
To provide an environment to display student works of art created in art class.
To provide an outdoor environment for presenting reports and other presentations for individual classes for all subject areas.
To provide a place for quiet reflection of the world around us (the sights, sounds, and smells of our environment).
To provide a learning environment other than the everyday classroom.
Projected Timeline for the Construction of the Outdoor Classroom at SCE:
This project is one that will have to be installed in many phases over a number of years. The initial part of the project will be the installation of the concrete patio, irrigation system, and fencing. Once those phases are complete and funds are available we will then begin to create the various gardens that are planned for the area. Some of the gardens will include:
A sound garden (water feature, wind chimes, some miniature outdoor musical equipment)
A butterfly and bird garden (bird feeders, bird baths, plants specific for the needs/attraction of butterflies and birds)
A tactile/hands-on garden (plants of different textures, materials of different textures like sand, pebbles, soil, etc., a fossil dig, and more)
A reading/reflecting garden (a quiet area of the garden with benches)
Annual and Perennial gardens to show the progression of plants in the different seasons
Student artwork will be displayed throughout the gardens as a mini gallery
There will also be a complete weather station for our school morning news program to use for their daily weather segment.
Proposed Construction Features For the Outdoor Classroom:
Painting of murals on the main building wall and PE bldg. walls by our art teacher and students
Irrigation system
Privacy fencing with one double gate going around perimeter of garden that is not flanked by the existing buildings
15 ft. x 25 ft. concrete patio with bench seating around three sides
90 gallon garden pond
Plantings for the various gardens
Currently we are waiting on word from various grants that have been submitted to see what kind of funds will be available to us in order to begin our project.
We are very excited about the development of an outdoor classroom for the students and staff at South Columbia to enjoy. By creating this outdoor classroom we hope to increase our students creative learning experiences by providing an environment that will allow them to participate through their learning and not just observing and reciting factual information. This outdoor classroom will take our students learning experiences out of the confining walls of the school building and into the natural learning environment of our surroundings.
If you have any questions about the outdoor classroom email
Coach Meg McGowan at margaret.mcgowan@ccboe.net |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
CCBOE home
|
Student Learning
|
Student Support
|
Our Schools
|
CCBOE Depts.
|
CCBOE Tools
|
i-Parent
|
CCBOE Calendar
