Students at Bluff Park Elementary help build 1-acre outdoor classroom
Posted by Jon Anderson -- Birmingham News May 01, 2008 12:05 PM
Birmingham News reporter Tiffany Ray, in Wednesday's Hoover News, told us about a 1-acre outdoor learning center under construction at Bluff Park Elementary School.
 
Here's the complete article:
 
On an acre of land next to the parking lot at Bluff Park Elementary School, a new kind of classroom is taking shape.
 
What started out as a mass of seemingly impenetrable brush is, today, on its way to becoming a series of learning stations connected by gravel paths that will teach young learners about everything from soil and bugs to wildlife and weather.
 
For Bluff Park teacher Pam Conville, the outdoor classroom, called EcoScape, is a way to introduce kids to the wonders of nature on nature's own turf. For her students, it's a chance to play in dirt.
 
"When you're out here, it feels like you're out on a Saturday afternoon," said Zack Chandler, a fourth-grader who, with his classmates, is helping to build EcoScape and, along the way, uncovering hidden caches of salamanders, centipedes, crawfish and other critters.
 
"We've been shoveling out the mud," said Jonathan Prickett, who spent a recent pristine day removing rocks, sticks and other debris from a stream bed while classmates scattered around the site raked, planted and laid bricks.
 
Conville got the idea for EcoScape last year, when she returned from spring break to find the plants and insects she had collected in 2-liter bottles to teach kids about ecosystems had all died. "I could smell this smell and I thought, 'oh no,'" she said.
 
Instead of trying to bring nature into her classroom, Conville decided it was time to take her class into nature. "We want to show these kids how to care for their environment, and this is how we're going to do it," Conville said.
 
Jennafer Collins, a landscape designer whose oldest daughter goes to Bluff Park, helped Conville create a workable plan and pulled together a committee of teachers, administrators and expert advisers to help.
 
Conville enrolled EcoScape in the Alabama Wildlife Federation's Outdoor Classroom program, which fosters the development of such classrooms by providing free technical help.
 
April Waltz, a conservation education specialist with the federation, said the hands-on experience outdoor classrooms can provide appeals to kids' natural curiosity and helps them retain lessons. "A lot of times, the children don't even realize it's a formal activity, they're having so much fun," she said.
 
The federation began piloting the program about 10 years ago in a handful of schools, but it's only in the past few years that it has started to catch on, Waltz said. The number of schools enrolled statewide has grown from about 25 a few years ago to 140.
 
Bluff Park is one of five Hoover schools enrolled in the program and one of 16 in Jefferson and Shelby counties, Waltz said.
 
From an arbor-topped entrance, visitors to EcoScape will travel along gravel paths to learning stations. In the weather center station, kids will use rain gauges, anemometers and other devices. In a garden area, they'll grow fresh vegetables and flowers. A small foot bridge will cross a tiny stream that will feed a wetland at the back of the site.
 
Conville has sought grants and other donations for the $54,000 endeavor from a wide range of sources. So far, the project has generated more than $15,000 cash from the Hoover Beautification Board, Alabama Power Co. and other groups, in addition to donated materials and labor. To pull in more help, Conville launched an "adopt-a-classroom" program for potential sponsors and soon will start selling commemorative bricks. She keeps the community up to date with photos and information online at bluffparkecoscape.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us.
 
The project officially broke ground on Arbor Day. Conville said she hopes it will be complete by next spring.
 
 
click here for a photo
http://blog.al.com/hoover/2008/05/students_at_bluff_park_element.html
 
also more here
http://www.bluffparkal.org/heathers_corner_bpes_arbor_day.htm