Washington adds outdoor classroom
Posted on Saturday, November 29, 2008
(Editor’s note: This is the first story in a two-part series about recent outdoor classroom projects in area schools. Sunday’s story will focus on a new outdoor classroom at Greenland High School.)
There has been much talk lately among Fayetteville Public School officials about 21st Century learning, and at Washington Elementary School, space was found on campus for a new kind of classroom. Students will soon be able to enjoy a new “outdoor classroom” space on the far northwest side of the building. The structure is substantially complete and almost ready for student use.
Some fencing, landscaping and a little bit of concrete between the outdoor classroom and the playground are the main things left to be done, Principal Ashley Garcia said.
“Like any project, you have last-minute details,” Garcia said.
The two main areas with the outdoor classroom include a main deck with a wooden and a separate deck space without an awning.
On the far south side is a small built-in bench with a box area for plants on top. The box area currently features bamboo.
To create the barrier walls surrounding the classroom, wood boards were stacked and cement was poured over them, she said.
The cement walls are admittedly different architecturally than some of the old stone retaining walls on the campus. One of the stone walls is west of the outdoor classroom near some of the school’s playground equipment.
“I like to say there’s our history and there’s our future,” Garcia said.
West of the site up a hill is the school’s playground equipment, bordered by an old stone retaining wall.
The classroom includes a wooden ramp and walkway that is handicap accessible.
The outdoor classroom does not feature desks or tables, but instead it is an open “multi-purpose space,” Garcia said.
Spaces that can be used for multiple projects and purposes has been described as a design feature for 21st century schools.
While the outdoor classroom was not designed as a playground, Garcia said it will most likely be open to students during recess time.
“Our intention is to be open during those free times,” Garcia said.
The Washington Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization has contributed more than $35,000 toward the project. The school also received a grant from the Billie Jo Starr Foundation to help finish the project, Garcia said.
Most of the labor for the project was donated by University of Arkansas architecture students, who helped develop and build the outdoor classroom as a learning project.
The architecture students gathered input from parents and the PTO on features the design should include before work was started.
“The applause, or the credit, belongs to the parents and architecture class,” said Fred Turrentine, recently retired district director of school plant services.
Work on the project started in the fall of 2007. The architecture students are now finished with their contributions to the structure, Garcia said.
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