Wild classroom: School courtyard turned into science habitats

By Amanda McGregor
Staff writer

June 11, 2008 05:29 am

—

SALEM — Second-graders sipped nectar from flowers and sketched pictures of goat's beard plants yesterday morning in their new "outdoor classroom" at Bentley School.

The school recently reopened its courtyard after a two-year project to build habitats for hands-on study of flora and fauna in science class.

A sprinkler gently rained water on the open, breezy space yesterday morning while birds chirped in the trees. Classes have planted a meadow, woodlands and vegetable gardens ringed with blueberry bushes. They also maintain a compost bin.

"It really is an outdoor classroom," said science teacher Kevin Andrews. "It's lots of little ecosystems to help the students learn."

Yesterday morning, Andrews led a class of second-graders in making field guides. They wrote the names and habitats of three plants on notecards: lupine, columbine and goat's beard. Then he took them to the courtyard to find the plants and sketch them with colored pencils.

"I like that we get to learn a lot about plants and flowers," Jake Little, 8, said as he stood in the sun drawing a purple lupine plant.

"It's been fun to do more work here," Sara Leger, 8, said of learning in the courtyard. "We help the Earth to make sure it can stay living and more animals have a home."

The meadow, which is planted with native wildflowers, attracts more bees and butterflies. There is also beebalm, "which hummingbirds really love," Andrews said.

A woodland area is planted with ferns, jack in the pulpit, a witch hazel bush and other shade-loving plants — all edged with rotting wood under which insects live. The woodland is shaded by an overstory of three Bradford Pear Trees.

"The more heights you have, the more animals you get," Andrews explained.

Andrews, who is the science integration specialist at Bentley and Carlton schools, spearheaded the project two years ago and worked to get sponsors, who donated $9,600 in all for plants, equipment, soil and other materials.

Each third-grader has planted his or her own garden in small, square plots where they grow snap peas, garlic, radishes and other vegetables. "They pick what they grow in here and they maintain it," Andrews said. "They learn that flowers make fruit and seed."

For the project, Salem Harbor Power Station, whose nearby smokestacks are visible in the background of the courtyard, donated $6,000; the Essex County Community Foundation gave $2,500; the Salem Foundation for Public Education donated $500; and the school also received $600 from the 21st Century Grant.

The next addition will be a mini-pond with a solar powered fountain to circulate the water, which will lure more insects and animals to the habitat.

"Some birds only drink moving water, and some insects, too, like butterflies," Andrews said.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.