International School Grounds Alliance - Latest Blog Entries

Images from the UK - see blog below to find out more

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:24:00 -0500

Images copyright Julie Mountain, Play Learning Life

Getting busy in the UK for International School Grounds Month

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:05:00 -0500

Play Learning Life is thrilled to be supporting International School Grounds Month and we have had a very busy May so far, celebrating the diversity and potential of school grounds with schools and early years settings throughout in the UK. We have

Collaborated with staff in an Essex Foundation Stage Unit on early years outdoor playground improvements
Worked with children at a Hampshire primary school on pond improvements and a new fire pit
Introduced action research projects to a group of early years practitioners in Dudley, examining the elements that contribute to high quality outdoor learning and play
Created banners with children at a London school, to celebrate progress on their grounds development project
Worked alongside school architects to establish how best to integrate good quality grounds into their own projects.
Reflected on outdoor practice and provision with early years practitioners at a London Children’s Centre.
Explored the potential of school grounds, on a very rainy day, with children at a Liss school

These projects are just a tiny snapshot of what’s happening across the UK; in Scotland, Grounds for Learning have been supporting parents with outdoor play in the natural environment and Juliet Robinson has been blogging the crazy photographs her classes took of their school grounds using iPads. In Northern Ireland, Kierna Corr’s nursery class enjoyed a wet but fiery Friday and in Wales, Learning through Landscapes have been working with the very young.

For my part, I visited ‘Middle Earth’ in the English Midlands: Featherstone Primary School, where part of their school field has been transformed with the help of Timotay Playscapes into a magical child-sized play environment. I’d wanted to visit for a while, so the CPD trip to nearby Dudley provided the perfect excuse. Headteacher Edris Gaibee welcomed me to the school and Early Years lead Helen Beach very kindly gave me a tour of the garden, named Dreamy Hollow.

The focus of the garden is a stunning ‘hobbit hole’ underground classroom, complete with circular door and very low ceilings! Light floods in from a quirky lightwell – a cottage on the hill above. The garden undulates and occupies its space with character and purpose, providing the whole school with myriad learning and play opportunities.

Building work taking place adjacent to the early years classrooms means that their outdoor space is currently out of use, so Helen explained how they are managing to provide regular outdoor time for their youngest children by bringing them up in groups for lengthy periods of time in Dreamy Hollow. Whilst there, children are able to explore dens and willow tunnels, look at picture books and hear stories in the story circle or in the hobbit hole, tend veggies in the allotment area, ride their bikes around the tricky gravel pathways allotment gardens or play freely on the lush grass or wildflower meadow above the hobbit hole.

Helen talked to me about the importance of child initiated play as well as adult supported experiences, and described how joyfully her young children explore, take risks, co-operate and communicate with one another when placed in this unconventional corner of the grounds. At a recent seminar, early years pedagogue Jan White talked about the importance of ‘abundance’ and ‘generosity’ of materials in early years play spaces, and this garden certainly has eccentricity in abundance. It will be fascinating to watch how it develops its character as a playspace in coming years as the natural elements (trees, willow, wildflowers) begin to take hold.

I loved the potential of the ‘mirror’ circle, the casual arrangement of railway sleepers for clambering and the rocks and stones that half-shield the hobbit hole (from Orcs, presumably). There’s a richness of texture, tone and shape here, and (other than the bikes and trikes, which wouldn’t normally be here) most of the landscape, its features and the resources in it reflect the school’s intention to introduce more natural materials to children’s outdoor play and learning.

It’s unusual to see such an ambitious and such an obviously ‘designed’ landscape garden in a school, but this one reflects the needs of the children and staff and is clearly cared for and appreciated by all who use it. Collaborating with Timotay meant the school was able to influence the design right from the start, understanding and accepting the maintenance implications and planning ahead for these. For Helen, the only thing she’d change if they did the project again would be the surface of the path, which coupled with the hilly nature of the site, makes wheely toys very difficult to manoeuvre. However, she recognises that the garden wasn’t designed with these toys in mind, and once the youngsters have their own early years space back, it won’t be an issue.

School is already exploring ideas for another grand playscape around the new early years unit and I plan to be back in a year or two to see how they get on.

Julie Mountain

Director, Play Learning Life CIC

Holkens förskola - getting outside for International School Grounds Month

Wed, 08 May 2013 08:47:00 -0500

Find out more about this pre-school at http://www.lund.se/Forskolor/Forskola-Holken/

This is what they told us about what they have been doing and will be doing during May.

During spring we have been talking and learning about the cycle of nature. In may we´re going to construct a small garden where the children are going to plant flowers, potatoes and carrots.

We´re also going to plant sweet peas in used milk cartons.

We have taken pictures of different animals and flowers that we have found in our preschool-ground. We have put the pictures in laminating-sheets and then we have put them in our preschool ground so all children and teachers can look at them.

Abruzzi Higher Secondary School, Parkistan celebrates International School Grounds Month

Wed, 08 May 2013 08:34:00 -0500

The village of Siankhor in the Shigar valley, sits on the road to Askoli, the starting point to treks in Pakistan's Karakorum mountain range. It is home to the Abruzzi Higher Secondary School.

Visit www.abrizzischoolgarden.com to learn about the history of the school and in particular its teaching garden.

This year they will be marking International School Grounds Month. Class 6 and 7 have been designing and planting fruit trees, vegetables, flowers and a compost bin in their allotted space in the garden. Their garden activity focuses on English and Math respectively.

Request for speakers for the International Green School Ground Conference

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:57:00 -0500

The 2013 International Green School Ground Conference, hosted by Evergreen and the International School Grounds Alliance, will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on September 23-25, 2013! We have received a lot of great stories, project information and ideas for the conference. Thanks to those who have sent them along to us and please keep the ideas coming!

At this time Evergreen is soliciting speaker applications, as described below. This information is also posted on the Conference website.

We hope you will join us at this exciting event. Please help to spread the word around the world!

REQUEST FOR SPEAKERS

Evergreen, in partnership with the International School Grounds Alliance, is soliciting applications for speaker presentations for the 2013 International Green School Ground Conference. If you would like to grow professionally, meet interesting people and share your stories, please apply to speak at the conference. For speaker opportunities and information please email conference2013@evergreen.ca

San Francisco Bay Area presentation about beneficial risk in children's environments

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:14:00 -0500

We are pleased to announce that ISGA Steering Committee member Bernard Spiegal of PLAYLINK in England will be giving a presentation in San Francisco, California, USA on May 1st. His talk will address the beneficial aspects of risk in children's outdoor environments and examine the ways in which common sense thinking should be incorporated into our management practices and standards for children's play environments. Please join us for this event which is also on the first day of ISGA's International School Grounds Month!

Presentation title: A British Perspective on the Rewarding Risks of Outdoor Play

Presenter:   Bernard Spiegal, PLAYLINK, England
Date/Time: Wednesday, May 1, 2013 from 3:30 - 5:30 pm
Co-Hosts:   San Francisco Children & Nature Forum
                      Bay Tree Design, inc. (ISGA Steering Committee)

Location:     The Presidio's Golden Gate Club
                      San Francisco, California USA
                      (click here for directions)

RSVP appreciated: Charlotte Hill - charhill@sbcglobal.net by April 26th

More information about the speaker:

Bernard Spiegal is principal of PLAYLINK, based in the UK, working with statutory, voluntary, housing and social enterprise sectors. He fulfills both advisory and consultancy roles with a range of institutions: public authorities, schools, parks. He developed PLAYLINK's Play Policy and commissioned independent Counsel Opinion (non-binding yet authoritative legal advice) to test its rationale and interpretation of 'reasonableness'. He also took PLAYLINK into the direct design of 'playable spaces' working with play knowledgeable landscape architects.

Bernard is co-author of Managing Risk in Play Provision: implementation guide, an acknowledged seminal work that introduced (or 're-introduced') the concept of risk-benefit assessment. He has had a number of articles published and now has his own blog: bernardspiegal.com

Bernard’s commitment to play – both as a mode of being and as a way of relating to the world – is both visceral and political. It is based on the values of freedom and autonomy. Collaborating with others, Bernard has promoted different ways of thinking about play space, in particular the need to ensure that children and teenagers are woven into – and their presence legitimized within – shared public space, whether in parks, streets or residential areas.

Announcing International School Grounds Month!

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:25:00 -0500

The International School Grounds Alliance is pleased to announce the first annual International School Grounds Month. During May 2013 schools around the planet will celebrate their school grounds which provide stimulating opportunities for children to learn, play and form lasting friendships.

This is a special opportunity to engage children in outdoor experiences in a variety of meaningful ways. They might include making a bean teepee playhouse, creating a school grounds celebration song, planning and planting a ‘nibbling’ garden, geocaching, or designing and flying carp streamers. Activities may range from one hour to one month. The possibilities are limitless!

Please plan to join thousands of schools from countries around the globe to celebrate the richness and diversity of school grounds and then register your school's projects here to share your work. For more information, resources, and activity ideas please visit the International School Grounds Month information page.

2013 ISGA conference announced!

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:26:00 -0600

Exciting news! We are holding a conference September 23-25, 2013 and hope you will come!

Evergreen Learning Grounds and the International School Ground Alliance (ISGA) invite you to join us in Toronto this September for the 2013 International Green School Ground Conference, the first significant gathering of the ISGA since its founding less than two years ago.

This three-day conference will be a rare opportunity to share best practices, case studies and innovations in play and learning on school grounds. The conference will feature presentations by visionary leaders of the school ground movement as well as intimate group sessions with hands-on training, skill building and local tours.

We hope you'll mark your calendars now and plan to join us for this exciting event! Please help us spread the word by posting this announcement far and wide. Thanks!

Follow this link for more information!

Asphalt to Ecosystems Honored by American Society of Landscape Architects

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:40:00 -0500

ISGA is excited to announce that ISGA co-founder Sharon Danks's book Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation received an ASLA 2012 Professional Award in Communications.

The American Society of Landscape Architects' awards website offers an illustrated in-depth full page for Asphalt to Ecosystems which describes the book:

"This inspiring, comprehensive book about the vibrant, international green schoolyard movement is a call to action to improve children’s school environments for learning, play, and ecology, and a celebration of 150 successful examples around the world. Compiled from the author’s decade of research and experience, the book speaks to both design professionals and community members, and brims with design ideas, practical tips, and strategies for engaging school communities as stewards of their shared public space."

The ASLA Professional Awards honor the top public places, residential designs, campuses, parks, and urban planning projects from across the US and around the world, with particular focus on the environmental sensitivity and sustainability of the projects. Asphalt to Ecosystems has been awarded honors in the Communications category, which recognizes achievement in communicating landscape architecture works, technique, and theory.

The Awards Jury pronounced it “the most comprehensive and usable book. It’s got great ideas that people can actually translate into practice.” ISGA would like to congratulate Sharon Danks on this prestigious acknowledgement of Asphalt to Ecosystems’ viability as a blueprint for a new paradigm of play and learning.

The September 2012 issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine featuring the award winners will be available in stores September 14, and can also be found online. Asphalt to Ecosystems is published by New Village Press, and the book can be purchased at a discount through their website page.

Exciting New Video about School Grounds Around the World!

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:02:00 -0500

We are thrilled to announce that the International School Grounds Alliance has just released a new 8 minute video, produced as a result of the September 2011 Engaging Our Grounds conference, held in California! Entitled, Voices from the International School Grounds Movement - California, 2011, the video includes interviews with individuals from seven countries who provide a wide variety of perspectives on the growing school ground movement around the world. The piece includes photographs of school grounds in Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Individuals interviewed for the video include (in order of appearance):

Cam Collyer, Program Director, Evergreen (Canada)
Dr. Petter Åkerblom, Landscape Architect, Movium (Sweden)
Prof. Robin Moore, Director, Natural Learning Initiative (USA)
Manfred Dietzen, Landscape Architect, Coordinator, Grün macht Schule (Germany)
Dr. Ko Senda, Landscape Architect, Environment Design Institute (Japan)
Ayesha Ercelawn, Garden Educator, Tule Elk Park Early Education School (USA)
Arden Bucklin-Sporer, Executive Director, San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance (USA)
Julie Mountain, Director, Play Learning Life (United Kingdom)
Mary Jackson, Development Manager, Learning through Landscapes (United Kingdom)
Helen Tyas Tunggal, Director, Learnscapes Planning and Design (Australia)
Sharon Danks, Principal, Bay Tree Design, inc. (USA)
Bernard Spiegal, Principal, PLAYLINK (United Kingdom)
Birgit Teichmann, Dipl. Ing., Landscape Architect, Teichmann Landschafts Architekten (Germany)

Voices from the International School Grounds Movement was filmed and edited by Erika Brekke. It was co-produced by Erika Brekke and ISGA conference director Sharon Danks. The 2011 conference in California was co-hosted by New Village Press/ADPSR, San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance, and Bay Tree Design, inc.

Please JOIN US and help us to spread the word about this exciting piece!

ISGA Press Release!

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:01:00 -0500

New international group forms to address an increasingly sedentary and risk-averse generation of children disconnected from nature.

Growing school grounds movement gains international voice with formation of The International School Grounds Alliance.

Berkeley, California (April 24, 2012) – Organizations working to enrich the lives of children through outdoor learning and play have a new global school ground network where they can turn for ideas and support.

Leaders in the school ground movement from Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States have formed the nonprofit International School Grounds Alliance (ISGA) (www .internationalschoolgrounds .org), which brings together a wealth of experience in the fields of school ground use, design, education and management around the globe. The ISGA invites like-minded organizations and professionals to become members and collaborate to nurture and grow the international movement to help schools make the most of learning and play opportunities on their grounds.

“Children around the world, growing up in very different environments and cultural settings, all need engaging childhood learning and play experiences for healthy development and enjoyment,” says ISGA co-founder Sharon Danks of Bay Tree Design in California. “The ISGA is not only a resource, but is also a call to action for teachers, parents, and students to go outside, improve their school grounds and explore the world first-hand.”

The ISGA believes that school grounds should:

provide powerful opportunities for hands-on learning
nurture students' physical, social and emotional development and wellbeing
reflect and embrace their local ecological, social and cultural context
embrace risk-taking as an essential component of learning and child development
be open public spaces, accessible to their communities

The ISGA does this by:

focusing on the way school grounds are used, designed and managed
facilitating a dialogue about innovative research, design, education and policy
fostering partnerships between professionals and organizations across the globe
organizing international conferences, gatherings and other programs
advocating for student and school community participation in the design, construction and stewardship of school grounds
promoting the value of enriched school grounds as uniquely positioned, engaging environments for children

To commemorate the founding of the ISGA, the organization has launched a website (www .internationalschoolgrounds .org) and just released a brief new inspirational video, entitled Voices from the International School Grounds Movement, which includes perspectives from leaders in the school ground movement and inspiring photographs of school grounds around the world. (www.greenschoolyards.org/blog).

Context

School grounds are crucial childhood landscapes, both in terms of the considerable time spent there and the messages to children (both explicit and implicit) that come from their design and care. They are located in almost every neighborhood, town and city around the world, and often act as important community gathering places in addition to their roles as places of learning and play during the school day. For many children, school grounds are the primary place they play outside—so what they experience there resonates with them and helps to shape who they are.

“In this rapidly urbanizing century, there has been a substantial erosion of children's outdoor time both for play and learning in the space of a single generation. The reasons for this decline - as well as the negative repercussions - are numerous. With ISGA we want to address these issuesand reverse the trend.” says ISGA co-founder Cam Collyer of Evergreen in Canada.

In today’s world, children’s opportunities for outdoor learning and play in nature are disappearing around the globe, due to a variety of influences that include:

cities that are poorly designed for both children and natural systems
overprogrammed childhoods that leave children with little free time
powerful parental fears of "stranger danger" and an increasing fear of risk and liability
school grounds that are barren expanses with little to support children’s play and learning

ISGA co-founder Mary Jackson of Learning through Landscapes in the United Kingdom says, “As research from around the world tells us, learning and play outside can have a truly positive impact on our children. Their results improve, they concentrate more in lessons, they develop their interpersonal and social skills and have improved mental and physical health. Already many schools around the world are seeing this is true as they develop and use their grounds for the benefit of children, but there is still a long way to go and we want to be able to share lessons learned with schools across the globe. The ISGA is a great way of sharing these lessons.”

Join the Movement!

We invite organizations and individuals to join us and declare their commitment to creating and caring for these special environments that support children and young people’s learning, play and wellbeing. Membership is free. Join the ISGA to help build this global movement:

Visit our website - International School Grounds Alliance: www .internationalschoolgrounds .org
Sign up to become a member - www.greenschoolyards.org/home/join_us
Watch the video - Voices from the International School Grounds Movement: www.greenschoolyards.org/blog
Join the discussion in our LinkedIn group: “International School Grounds Alliance -- Public Forum” www .linkedin .com /groups ?gid =4139778&trk =hb _side _g

The next ISGA conference will be hosted by Evergreen in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in Fall 2013.

For More Information

Please contact Sharon Danks at info (at) internationalschoolgrounds.org or 510-644-1320
Inspiring, full color images of school grounds around the world are available upon request.

Conference a Beautiful Success!

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:53:00 -0500

After attending the 2011 Engaging Our Grounds: International Green Schoolyard Conference last month in Berkeley and San Francisco, California, I can say with confidence that the worldwide movement to enliven school grounds is thriving and gaining momentum! Our conference keynote presenters and participants from across the United States and around the world, spent a memorable and exciting September weekend discussing the latest developments in this field and the amazingly rich mosaic of school ground activities taking place near and far. What a wonderful, rare opportunity to engage in discussions about the ways in which we can work together to collectively shape this movement and help it reach “the next level”.

The Engaging Our Grounds conference was attended by roughly two hundred people from twenty states across the USA, and six countries around the world. Conference participants included teachers, parents, school administrators, designers, nonprofit organizations, foundations, corporations, environmentalists, and community members. The conference was co-hosted by New Village Press/ADPSR, the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance and Bay Tree Design, inc.

Engaging Our Grounds, held September 16-18, 2011, brought visionary leaders of the school ground movement from Europe, North America, and Japan to give presentations to share the latest trends and innovations in this field, as well as case studies, best practices, and creative thinking in green schoolyard design, maintenance, curricula, and advocacy. Each of the six keynote presentations was inspiring, passionately delivered, and packed with ideas that are relevant for schools around the world. We plan to post summaries of each of these presentations on this blog in the coming months, and we are also working on a short video piece that captures the essence of this movement from our speakers’ diverse perspectives.

In addition to the six keynote presentations, the conference included a resource and networking fair on our opening gala evening, and tours of outstanding local school grounds on the two weekend afternoons. On Saturday, September 16th all of the conference participants boarded buses for tours of four exemplary green schoolyards and school gardens in San Francisco, California that have made major investments in transforming their previously paved landscapes into greener environments. The schools we visited included: Alice Fong Yu Alternative School, Commodore Sloat Elementary School, Sherman Elementary School, and Tule Elk Park Early Education School. On Sunday, September 17th, the schoolyard tours were held in Berkeley, California and included the Edible Schoolyard’s flagship garden and kitchen classroom at King Middle School, the community-built green schoolyard and school garden at Rosa Parks Elementary School and the City of Berkeley’s child-built Adventure Playground. (To learn more about each of these outstanding sites, please follow this link for written notes about each location.)

Engaging Our Grounds was the first international green schoolyard conference held in the United States, and the second in a new series of international school ground conferences. The series began last summer with a three-day symposium called The World Outside the Classroom, hosted by Learning through Landscapes in Winchester, England. It will continue in 2013 with an international school ground conference organized by Evergreen in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Stay tuned for more information about this in 2012!)

The international dialogue that’s sparked by these conferences and the ongoing conversations that will occur between the events, enriches practice, unites the members of this field in our work to improve children’s environments across the globe, and enhances the resulting children’s landscapes that we collectively produce. It’s so important to share our work with one another, learn from each other, and share our passion and energy to help this movement grow and prosper in the coming years.

I’m thrilled to announce that the 2011 conference has resulted in the formation of a new, fledgling organization called the International School Grounds Alliance (ISGA), dedicated to supporting the worldwide movement to improve children’s learning and play environments. We invite you to join the conversation by participating in the new Public Forum set up by the ISGA on LinkedIn.

We are at the forefront of a new paradigm that blends education, imaginative play, ecology, urban sustainability, and community stewardship of school grounds. We invite you to join us and become an important part of this exciting movement. If you would like to participate in helping with post-conference projects, please let us know! We hope you will join the conversation that is beginning on the LinkedIn discussion group, and visit this blog regularly to receive more updates about related projects.

To all of our conference participants, near and far, we send a warm THANK YOU for taking the time to join us and sharing your work, expertise, and ideas with your colleagues during the event!

To the conference committee, hosts, and volunteers, a personal note of gratitude and THANKS for the time you devoted to making this event so special!

To our conference sponsors, we send a warm and heart-felt THANK YOU for making this memorable and important event possible. You have truly helped to support the movement and encourage it to grow. It will continue to blossom in the coming years, and will bear fruit for the next generation.

Sharon Danks
Conference Director, Engaging Our Grounds
Principal, Bay Tree Design, inc.
Berkeley, California, USA

Interview with Mary Jackson, Learning through Landscapes

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:14:00 -0500

Engaging Our Grounds conference director, Sharon Danks, recently had the pleasure of interviewing Mary Jackson, Development Manager for Learning through Landscapes, based in Winchester, England. Mary and her colleague, Julie Mountain, will be giving a presentation about their organization’s work at our conference in mid-September. Their presentation will discuss Learning through Landscapes’ outstanding programs and projects in more detail, while showing the audience colorful slides of these school grounds in action. We hope you can join us!

Sharon Danks: Learning through Landscapes (LTL) has been working in the school ground field for more than twenty years. Can you tell me more about your organization’s mission and approach to this topic?

Mary Jackson: LTL’s vision is that every child benefits from outdoor learning and play throughout their education. We do this in a number of ways: by influencing policy makers, by undertaking research, by supporting schools and early years settings through membership, training and conferences, publications and through a range of programmes. We also train and support those who work directly in schools themselves and we have a network of approximately 100 accredited professionals who we have trained and quality assured who deliver advisory visits, training and programmes on our behalf.

Sharon Danks: Can you tell me about the schools you serve?

Mary Jackson: We serve schools throughout the UK – and also have some overseas members who receive our resources online. In Scotland we are known as Grounds for Learning and in Wales LTL Cymru. Our head office is in Winchester but we also have an office in London. We work in all educational settings for children aged 0 to 19 so that can include nurseries, children’s centres and even child minders based in their own homes, and schools – both private and state funded.

Sharon Danks: What types of programs is Learning through Landscapes working on now?

Mary Jackson: We always have a range of programmes running at any time. One of our key programmes at the moment is called Fruit-full Schools and is all about recreating traditional orchards in school grounds. We have started by working with secondary schools where pupils have learnt how to graft different varieties onto rootstocks and have just completed their designs for their orchards. At the other end of the age range we are just starting a programme for a group of early years settings to develop music making in their outdoor spaces – incorporating music into their everyday practice. Whilst in Scotland there are projects focusing on natural play, in England we are working with Play England and South Gloucestershire Council to run two events also focusing on play in primary schools.

Sharon Danks: How do schools in the UK integrate their curricula with the outdoor environment around them?

Mary Jackson: Some UK schools are great at incorporating the outdoors into their delivery of the curriculum – but many still have some way to go, we are by no means perfect! All early years settings have to use the outdoors to deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage which is a play-based curriculum for that age group. So there is a lot of really good practice in this sector – from den building and water play, to creating large art works outside. A lot of early years settings are also incorporating forest skills into their practice – often through the Forest Schools Programme. In primary schools we’ve seen some really creative work outside; rocket science, lots of pond work and with what we call minibeasts (beetles, bugs, spiders etc), creative writing outdoors, quiet contemplation and some lovely arts projects. Secondary schools find this all a bit harder – with constraints from the curriculum and less cross-curriculum work, however, where they do get outdoors some of their ideas are excellent. We know of schools teaching parallax outside, more rocket science, forensic science, looking at pollution, and yet more great art works too. We’ve seen rivers created in both primary and secondary school grounds and many sensory features in special schools in particular. In addition the process of developing school grounds is a great opportunity for delivering many aspects of the curriculum – whether writing questionnaires, measuring out the site or costing the price of work to be done.

A recent article in the New York Times asks "Can a Playground Be Too Safe?"

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:24:00 -0500

On July 18th, the New York Times published an article that highlights the changes that have occurred in playground design to decrease perceived risk, but at what cost?

From the article:

"“Children need to encounter risks and overcome fears on the playground,” said Ellen Sandseter, a professor of psychology at Queen Maud University in Norway. “I think monkey bars and tall slides are great. As playgrounds become more and more boring, these are some of the few features that still can give children thrilling experiences with heights and high speed.” "

"The old tall jungle gyms and slides disappeared from most American playgrounds across the country in recent decades because of parental concerns, federal guidelines, new safety standards set by manufacturers and — the most frequently cited factor — fear of lawsuits."

Grey to Green: The San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance's Work to Improve School Grounds Across the City

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:04:00 -0500

Grey to Green Video by Rick Bacigalupi, provided by the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance. Used with permission.

The San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance has been working to improve school grounds across the city of San Francisco, California for the past ten years. This video explains the organization's origins and approach, and includes glimpses of some of the schoolyards we will visit on our conference tour on Saturday, September 17, 2011. We hope you will be able to join us for the tour of San Francisco school grounds to see them first hand!

It Takes a Village: A School Community Collaborates to Enhance their School Grounds

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:24:00 -0500

Video: Turning Nature Into Classrooms, by Erika Brekke, OnEarth Magazine (OnEarth.org), May 18, 2011, used with permission.

In January 2006, the Rosa Parks Elementary School community in Berkeley, California began a participatory schoolyard design process with families and teachers, led by parent and environmental planner, Sharon Danks of Bay Tree Design, inc. Working together, the school community created a green schoolyard concept plan that expresses our collective vision for the future of the school grounds. The plan is intended to guide the future physical development of this environmental science school’s gardening program, outdoor classroom spaces, and play areas over a 10 year period.

The overall goals for this ongoing project are:

to enhance the existing schoolyard to create an even more vibrant and engaging environment for children’s work and play;
to improve the schoolyard’s ecology and impact on the surrounding neighborhood;
to make the school grounds more comfortable and beautiful for the whole school community to enjoy.

Since the concept plan’s completion in Fall 2006, the Rosa Parks Green Schoolyard Committee and the wider school community have been working hard to improve the school grounds. Each semester we build or plant something new and hold work days to maintain the elements already onsite. Bay Tree Design, inc. has been the catalyst for this project, from its inception, and has shaped the overall design of many of the projects implemented to date. However, “it takes a village” to be stewards of a school. The projects listed below and shown in the video above are the result of the collaboration and hard work of many people across the school community.

Over the last five years, the green schoolyard project has become the broad, unifying “umbrella” for many school wide efforts ranging from renewable energy education to hands-on art installations and sustainable means of transportation to school. These and other projects spring from our community’s deep and diverse talent pool, and are led by the individuals and groups that dream them up. Some of the themes and projects installed onsite include:

Food systems: a teaching garden for use during garden class and a “nibbling garden” for use by the children, at recess
Water systems: rainwater infiltration and stormwater collection
Energy systems: 1 kW grid-tied solar array and an interactive, solar powered pond pump system
Waste-as-a-resource: recycling, composting and use of recycled materials
Curriculum ties: outdoor classroom spaces; boulders for geology studies; a human sundial for observing the passage of time; a wonderful annual science fair
Imaginative play: nooks for quiet conversation and creative, nature play; a pond to explore; art-at-recess opportunities
Beauty and comfort: seating, shade, flowers, children’s artwork
Community stewardship: schoolyard work parties are held each semester to keep the schoolyard looking its best and to add new features. Parents, teachers, students and community volunteers all participate.

The Rosa Parks Green Schoolyard Committee has been responsible for maintaining the project’s physical components over the years and for adding to the site each semester. Teachers, school staff members, our principals, parents, students, and community members have all contributed to making this project what it is today, and will be the ones to carry it forward in the future. This collaborative, ongoing design and building process is dynamic, exciting, rewarding, and educational, for both the children who use this schoolyard every day, and for the adults who help to shape their environment.

Our conference tour will visit Rosa Parks School in Berkeley, California on Sunday, September 18, 2011. We hope you will join us to see this inspiring project first hand!

Why "green" school grounds?

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:26:00 -0500

Sharon Danks, author of Asphalt to Ecosystems, was recently interviewed about green schoolyards by Juliet Robertson for her blog, "I'm a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here!" (Scotland, Feb. 23, 2011).

Sharon Danks: When you think about “school grounds,” what type of image first comes to mind? For many people, school grounds are places covered by paved surfaces and uniform sports fields, adorned with a few nondescript shrubs and trees, and one or two ordinary climbing structures purchased from a catalog. Most school grounds in a given city or region look like all of the others, with very little variation to reflect unique aspects of each school community, the neighborhood’s environmental context, or the teachers’ preferred curricula and teaching methods. At the same time, children’s domain—the areas they can roam on their own outside of school—have been shrinking over the last few generations, leaving many children with only the schoolyard to explore to discover how the world works. If what we are providing them is limited and bland, how will they develop their curiosity, their sense of adventure, and a well-rounded world view?

A movement is growing around the world to give our children a richer environment at school—to provide places for teachers to teach their lessons in a hands-on manner outside; places for children to explore a corner of the natural world to see how it functions; and places to run, hop, skip, jump, twirl and play in active, challenging, and creative ways.

To read the full interview, please click here.

School gardens in San Francisco and beyond

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:30:00 -0500

Excerpts from "Growing School Gardens: An Interview," October 13th, 2010, by Twilight Greenaway for Civil Eats and CUESA

School gardens are as old as schools themselves. As Arden Bucklin-Sporer and Rachel Pringle see it, however, their return might just be the key to a modern education. Bucklin-Sporer and Pringle are the executive director and programs manager (respectively) of the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance (SFGSA) and authors of the new book How to Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers. I spoke with them recently about the book, their network, and what it will take to change education—one green schoolyard at a time.

What is the school garden landscape like right now?

ABS: Even in this time when resources tend to be shrinking, the green schoolyard landscape is thriving. In San Francisco, that’s largely thanks to Prop A, which provides bond funding to build green schoolyards. We have about 80 school gardens here and the nice thing is that they’re connected through SFGSA, so they can speak with one voice, and we can advocate on behalf of everybody.

RP: And that’s something we’re seeing not just in our city but also in Berkeley, in LA, in Boston, and in Texas; these regional networks are popping up all over. I have a Google alert for school garden, so every day I get a whole list of things that are happening across the country and around the world. But the thinking around school gardens is also really expanding into nutrition, connecting kids with nature, and outdoor education.

There’s this renewed focus on agriculture and on where food comes from and I do think the recession has had a big hand in it. We’re in a society where we’re removed from how things come to be; there’s so much technology and everything just happens for us and it’s incredible, but I think people are really interested in the inner workings.

Especially when they have more time than money.

ABS: Exactly. So instead of looking outwards, more people are looking in their own back yards and in their schoolyards for adventure.

Green School Yards are also places to teach the practices of sustainability. For instance, we have rain water harvesting in some gardens now, and other ways we incorporate discussions of percolation and ground water–these concepts are really important for kids to get.

For more of this interview click here.

For more information about the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance, visit www.sfgreenschools.org

The importance of risk in children's play environments

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:02:00 -0500

Sharon Gamson Danks is an environmental planner, principal of Bay Tree Design, and author of Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation. She was recently interviewed by Sarah Henry of Lettuce Eat Kale about green schoolyards. Here are excerpts from the article, "A planner who favors edible, eco education--and risks," that appeared in Berkeleyside, March 25, 2011.

Sarah Henry: Can you give some examples of model green schoolyards around the globe?

Sharon Danks: At the Coombes Primary School in England the children have woods to explore, a pond, and a fire pit in their play area, which is near a large patch of stinging nettles. On the day I visited, the children were making stinging nettle pasta on an outdoor stove. The only people who got stung were the adults. As the director points out: how will we raise capable, responsible humans if we don't present them with some risk in their environments? Americans confuse safety and liability but these are not the same things.

Sarah Henry: While on that subject, it’s amazing that a place like Adventure Playground survives in such a litigious country. How do you rate that play space?

Sharon Danks: I love Adventure Playground and am happy that it exists here in Berkeley. My two daughters’ favorite things to do there are ride the zip-line, climb the net structure, and use various built pieces as forts. It provides a wonderful, unstructured environment for kids that allows them to play in challenging ways and express their creativity and imagination as they explore the site. I think it’s great the playground provides real tools for children to use, and an appropriate environment to use them in.

To read the full interview, please click here.