Making an outdoor classroom

by Rachel Henderson
(Oregon, USA)

The Creslane School Garden program sustains an organic garden and landscape. Students engage in hands on lessons that connect principles in gardening, food and nutrition, academics, and ecology. We were carving out our grass to plant some fruit trees and decided to make an outdoor classroom using the sod we dug up. The kids had so much fun making an untraditional classroom setting to go to and being outside and getting their hands dirty! We also made a "living" roof over our tools so they wouldn't rust.

The program is linked to academic content standards across all subject areas. It inspires personal and social responsibility in students and provides an example to other schools.