In Spring 2008, Arbor Alliance and Natureworks Landscape installed a comprehensive outdoor space, or "Outdoor Classroom", that provides an actual outdoor destination for learning, teaching and exploring with nature.
The Massachusetts Horticultural Society has provided Chickering with their expertise and knowledge in the development of outdoor learning spaces and this has resulted in a plan for an "Outdoor Classroom" which is located near the Kindergarten wing.
There are seating areas, a potting shed, raised bed gardens, a rain garden, a sundial, anemometers (wind instruments) and many more interesting elements. You may have seen two trees installed this spring in this space – one a teacher retirement recognition and the other is the Fifth Grade Class Gift. These were our first additions to what is the Chickering Outdoor Classroom.
Chickering anticipates a very busy spring, as there are so many exciting projects planned for the children. Some of these include:
a. Cultivating the Raised Bed Gardens. Come and see some of the vegetables and flowers that are growing in the gardens.
DEDA has adopted a raised bed and has an amazing garden with vegetables and flowers. The students and staff led by Lorraine Clough have turned their bed in to a wonderful learning zone. We look forward to watching and eating the fruits of their labor!
There are many other exciting plants growing in the raised beds planted by students from all other grades and the Rain Garden is taller than many of the students! Some of the future anticipated projects for the Raised beds may include:
A Sunflower Garden
A Peter Rabbit Garden
A Scarecrow Garden
An Alphabet Garden
An Herb Garden
A Colonial Garden
A Butterfly Garden
A Fairy Garden
A Pizza Garden
A Zoo Garden
These gardens and their plants provide wonderful opportunities for the children to study the plant life cycle, learn about nutrition and food origins, learn their letters, use math to plan spacing and chart plant growth, understand literature, poetry and art inspired by nature, journal, touch, grow and get closer to the environment.
b. Use of the space for understanding Math, Literature, Science, and Nutrition with such projects as:
- Study of Animal Life with new bird feeders
- Bird watching
- Small creature habitats
- Vermiculture (Worms!)
- Insects and Butterflies
c. Nutrition:
The outdoor Classroom will provide a space for the children to grow edible plants and vegetables. Data suggests that as children spend more time in a garden growing food to eat, they are more likely to eat it! This translates to better nutritional choices and steps towards healthier living. Chickering School is devoted to always providing healthy food options for the children and the gardens allow the teachers and staff to explor the origins of food, how to grow healthy nutrtional options for snacking as well as meal preparation.
d. Stewardship:
Students are able to develop a love of nature, a love of the outdoor classroom and this will translate to a deeper respect and appreciation of our natural environment.
e. Friendships:
Gardens provide children with opportunities for collaborative work, therefore allowing deeper understanding of one another and a greater respect for each others strengths. Friendships will bloom over shared interest in the outdoor classroom and the wonderful lessons about our natural world it is sure to provide.
f. Current Environmental Projects:
Each fall, the second grade at Chickering Elementary completed a wonderful Fall Bulb Planting project. The students added over 500 bulbs to the front of the cafeteria. The Bulbs were donated by Natureworks Landscaping of Walpole Mass. We look forward to seeing beautiful flowers each spring!
