Creating an Outdoor Classroom and Schoolyard Habitat

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Creating an OutdoorClassroom andSchoolyardHabit
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Why create an outdoor classroom?

• Allows for application and extension of concepts
  described in the classroom
• Connects students to the real world and
  strengthens their sense of place
• Tangible product, nearly immediate results
• easy to compare before and after
• Empowers students by showing them that they can
  take positive action for their environment
• in their own community
• Healthier students and teachers

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Schoolyard Habitats

• Engage the community
• Beautify the school grounds
• Offset loss of wildlife habitat and greenhouse
  gas emissions
• Reduce energy usage school costs

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Outdoor Extensions

• Integrate learning across subjects
• Deepen students connection to place
• Make abstract concepts relevant and memorable

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Extension Examples

• Kindergarten - September Earth Science How Can
  We Keep Track of Weather?
• Students complete a weather report using
  the instruments outside repeat in December,
  March and June
• Reinforce vocabulary words sunny, cloudy,
  rainy, windy, cold, warm, hot, thermometer, wind
  gauge, rain gauge, season
• Art Extension Students sit outside and
  draw the weather report in their journals or on
  sheets of paper to hang in the classroom

• First Grade May - Life Science How Does a
  Frog Grow?
• One day each week, go to the pond and
  capture tadpoles,
• observe and/or draw, then release
• Reinforce vocabulary words tadpole
• Art Extension Make a poster of the frog
  life cycle using the
• childrens drawings
• Music Extension Have the children sit at
  the edge of the pond
• and close their eyes. Have them listen to
  the frog sounds, then
• try to mimic them in pitch and rhythm to
  create a frog chorus.

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More examples

• Second Grade February - Life Science Home
  for Living
• Things, What is a Habitat?
• Discuss elements of food, water, cover,
  places to raise young.
• Go on a habitat safari on the school
  grounds. Follow tracks and
• other animal signs. Identify elements of
  habitat for different
• types of animals butterfly, squirrel,
  bird. Who is present, who is
• not? If not, where do they go and why? Are
  there ways we can
• help supply something that is missing?
• Art Extension Make some pine cone
  bird/squirrel feeders and
• decorate the outdoor classroom!

• Third Grade September - Earth Science What
  are land forms?
• Take the students outside to conduct a
  landform survey for all or a portion of the
  outdoor
• classroom. Ask them to draw and write
  down what they see for each landform.
• Ask students to demonstrate differences in
  elevations by arranging themselves at different
• positions along a rising path that has a
  retaining wall along one edge. Using a tape
  measure or
• yard stick, measure the elevation of each
  students head from the bottom of the retaining
• wall. Draw or graph the results.

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One More Example

• Fourth Grade November -Life Science Plant
  Growth and Adaptations
• Lesson 3 How Do Plants Reproduce?
• Take a seed collecting walk and talk about the
  differences in shape, size, etc.
• How do the seeds get around and to a place where
  they can grow?
• Plant some of the seeds in the classroom. Limit
  one need for different seeds,
• and give some all they need. Monitor growth.
• Reinforce Vocabulary carbon dioxide, nutrient,
  photosynthesis, dormancy, transpiration, taproot,
  fibrous root, germination, stamen, pistil,
  pollination, spore, tuber

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Habitat

• Habitat is the arrangement of living and
  non-living things which together supply an
  organisms basic requirements for life.
• Every living species has specific habitat
  requirements.

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Habitat Requirements

• Food
• Water
• Cover
• Places to raise
• young

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Food Sources

• Plants
• seeds, nuts, berries, nectar

• Feeders
• seeds, fruit, suet, syrup, corn

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Water Sources

• Simple birdbath
• Butterfly puddle
• Shallow pond
• Moving or re-circulating stream

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Cover Types

• Brush/log piles
• Birdhouses
• Butterfly houses
• Bat boxes
• Toad Abodes
• Plants

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Places to Raise Young

• Brush/log piles
• Birdhouses
• Trees or stumps with nesting
• cavities
• Trees, shrubs, ground cover

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Highest Quality Habitat

• Use native plant species
• Choose local nurseries
• Complement habitats already
• existing in your area
• Go organic

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Community Learning

• Engage the community
• Educate the public

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Potential Ohio Street Habitat Features

• Weather Station
• Bluebird Boxes
• Grassy Meadow
• Shrubby Meadow
• Tree Grove(s)
• Shallow Pond or Stream
• Wetland Meadow
• Open Field
• Birdfeeders

• Arbors
• Benched teaching areas
• Winding Paths
• Stepping Stones

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Partnerships/Resources

• Parents and families!
• Local businesses
• Cooperative Extension Horticulture Staff
• Master Gardener Program
• Soil and Water Conservation Districts
• NYSDEC Division of Wildlife
• Local garden centers and nurseries
• Local garden clubs, scouts, 4H, civic groups

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National Wildlife Federation Schoolyard Habitat
Program

• Certification
• Resources
• Online classes

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National Wildlife Federation11100 Wildlife
Center DriveReston, VA 20190-99191-800-822-9919
www.nwf.org/schoolyard
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Linda GibbsThe Nature Lady
315-783-4250
thenaturelady_at_planetsave.com
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Top Ten Reasons WhyStudents Need Outdoor
Classrooms

• To grow inquisitive minds and active bodies.
• To gain appreciation of all subjects by learning
  practical reasons for the knowledge they gain.
• To be responsible citizens of the world around
  them.
• So they know that learning, knowing, and growing
  can and should happen everywhere.
• To expose them to the Earth's multitude of
  amazing life forms and physical processes.

• Because people only save what they experience.
• To expose them to the natural world and its
  wonders.
• To become better stewards of our environment.
• To understand their connection to the world.
• To expand their minds and sights beyond the four
  walls of
• their small classrooms.

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