6. Celebrate Success

© earlyspace

Experienced district professionals suggest that it is important to pause, acknowledge, document, and celebrate as each outdoor classroom opens. Issue press releases, post on social media, and have a ribbon cutting or other ceremony, perhaps with music, food, and demonstrations of how the space might be programmed and used. Offer families, elected officials, and your community an invitation to see and perhaps experience the space, to learn about the value of outdoor learning, and to witness the happiness it will bring to children. This is an opportunity to express gratitude to those who funded the space and to those who worked to make it a reality.

Read about and watch the joy when Monterey Bay Charter School reopened in the spring of 2021 with a big emphasis on outdoor learning.

Join us

We invite you and your district colleagues to join our online “Community of Practice” for schools and districts moving learning outside — a biweekly gathering to share practical strategies for implementing outdoor learning during the pandemic and beyond. Meetings are every other Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m. Pacific / 2:00 p.m.—3:00 p.m Eastern. See upcoming dates and register for 2022 sessions using this Zoom link.

Shortcuts Through the District Pathway

  1. Consider Your Focus: Why Learn Outdoors — children’s health, equity, the environment, long-term change

  2. Include All Voices — gather a team, know your community, clarify your goals

  3. Understand What You Have — inventory each campus, assess teacher interest

  4. Decide What You Need — prioritize comfort, create demonstration sites and pilots, streamline with pre-approved furnishings, consider all needs

  5. Implement Your Program — support administrators, facilities, and maintenance, support teachers, integrate outdoors into curriculum, establish systems, plan for care, consider funding sources, assess and learn

  6. Celebrate Your Success!

 

CREDITS

This article is based on the vast experience, wise advice, and generous contributions of:
Ghita Carroll — Sustainability Coordinator, Boulder Valley School District, Colorado
Yalda Modabber — Executive Director, Golestan Education, California
Dan Schnitzer — Project Manager, Sustainability and Capital Improvements, Durham Public Schools, North Carolina
Brooke Teller — STEM Coordinator, Portland Public Schools, Maine
Sam Ullery — School Gardens Specialist, Office of the State Superintendent of Education, District of Columbia
Katie West — Outdoor Learning Coordinator, Portland Public Schools, Maine
Andra Yeghoian — Director of Environmental Literacy and Sustainability, San Mateo County Office of Education, California
and written by Nancy Striniste of Green Schoolyards America with support from Ida Li and Lauren McKenna.

National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative

The National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative supports schools and districts around the country in their efforts to reopen safely and equitably using outdoor spaces as strategic, cost-effective solutions to increase physical distancing capacity onsite and provide access to abundant fresh air. The Initiative seeks to equitably improve learning, mental and physical health, and happiness for children and adults using an affordable, time-tested outdoor approach to keeping schools open during a pandemic.