Outdoor Learning Part I: Outdoor Gardens

Benton STEM Elementary has developed two outdoor learning spaces for teachers and students to use.  The goal is to provide classrooms with outdoor experiences where students can apply and expand on what they are learning in the classroom.  By taking learning outdoors, students begin to see how skills and content can be applied in a variety of places and situations.  It helps develop students transfer learning which all teachers know can be difficult to get students to do.

All of our outdoor areas were funded through grants and donations.  Grants are a great resource if you are looking to create some additional learning spaces at your school.  You can find out more information about grant writing in an earlier post here.

Elaine Kent Outdoor Garden

The Elaine Kent outdoor garden space at Benton STEM Elementary includes 17 raised beds, 2 green houses, a 3-bin composting system, and rain barrels.  It is named after Elaine Kent, a retired Benton PE teacher to recognize her dedication to the school, students, and staff.

Funding for the construction of this area came from the Verizon Foundation grant.  We also received additional support (monetary and labor) from the following groups:  Columbia Outdoor Classroom, Columbia Area Career Center, Columbia Rotary South, Quaker Oats, Bluebird Composting, Midwest Block & Brick, Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture, Boone County Lumber.

The raised beds are used by classrooms in the fall and spring seasons to plant food and flowers.  Teachers incorporate the use of this space with their Life science unit of study described in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).  Students learn what plants need to grown, the similarities between baby and parent plants, the life cycle of plants, and how to care for a garden.  Teachers use the green houses during the time when planting in the raised beds is not feasible because of weather.

The rain barrels are attached to the side of our trailers and on the front of our school building to collect water.  This water can then be used to water the gardens or for other outdoor tasks.  Our 5th graders also used the rain barrels as part of an engineering challenge.  Students were finishing up their Earth science unit on location and types of water sources on the Earth.  As a culminating project, students were asked to design a water filter to help keep debris out of the barrels.  Students were given an assortment of materials and asked to plan, create, test, and modify a design for the filter.  The students also discussed the difference between filtering drinking water and filtering for the rain barrels.  This was important because the designs for each purpose were different so students had to keep that in mind as they created their filter.

Our 3-bin composting system is also used by students and teachers.  Many classrooms collect leftover food from lunch or their fresh fruits/vegetable snacks to place in the composting area.  The 3-bin system is maintained by students with the support and guidance of the Outdoor Classroom volunteers.  Once the composting has completed, the new soil is then used to add to the gardens and for planting done in classrooms.

Through additional funding by the Whole Kids Foundation Garden grant, we were able to purchase extra tools and seeds to be used in the garden.  We purchased additional seeds, gardening gloves, an outdoor sink, children's wheelbarrows, large rain gauges, and large thermometers.  The rain gauges and thermometers will be used to help incorporate measurement and math skills into the garden.

Pictures below show what our outdoor garden space looks like.  The garden picture was taken after returning from summer break.  Many of the summer school classrooms had planted food and left it to grow over the summer.  It was a great way to show students how much space different plants take up when they are full grown and the importance of maintenance of gardens.