Outdoor Classrooms--Where Nature & Learning Unite!

Our oldest son, Christopher, is a first grader at Abbotts Hill Elementary (AHE) in Johns Creek, GA.  This public school is among the highest rated schools in our state, with a rating of 9 out of 10 stars. But aside from the great school rating, what I’m really excited about is AHE has a school garden--an outdoor classroom where nature cultivates a new way for young children to learn! 

Since I’m a gardener, and a lover of all things garden, you can imagine my joy!  I was thrilled to become a volunteer for the outdoor classroom and it has been the best experience ever. 

Garden gazebo

Started just over one year ago by a parent volunteer and mother of three young children, Erin Barlag is AHE’s garden founder and resident miracle worker.  Through her vision and hard work, the garden has become aflutter with new growth and interest, but best of all it has become a living laboratory for our children to develop academically, socially and as participants in community enrichment.  Erin has opened doors to a new learning culture which inspires a love of science, math, language skills and geography.
 
It is completely befitting that it has been named, “The Jaguar Jungle” since the school’s mascot is the jaguar. The garden area includes a beautiful gazebo equipped with benches lining its perimeter with enough seating for an entire class, a butterfly garden bed that is in the shape of a jaguar paw print filled with plants that play host to valuable pollinators such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. 

It has two planting beds that in the past growing season produced vegetables and currently are growing cold tolerant flowers and ornamental greens.  Plans are in place to create additional planting beds in which one has been slated to become an herb garden. 

Planting beds and birdhouses to the right.

Our Jaguar Environmentalists, a group of 3^rd through 5^th graders, are the school recyclers and green planet stewards.  They generously donated and installed birdfeeders around the garden area to draw beneficial wildlife to the area and also provided birdhouses for shelter. It was noted that some bird families took residence, nested and hatch their young from them!  The kids loved watching and documenting the process.

In October, we hosted a fall workday event.  We relocated some bush hedges, replaced some plants that didn’t survive the hot summer, and added three blueberry bushes, rosemary, lavender, and purple coneflower plants for the butterfly garden.  Pansies and ornamental cabbages were planted for the winter season to add color and interest during the colder months.

November and December were amazing months for the Jaguar Jungle.  AHE was so fortunate to be the recipient of a generous donation from a local landscaping company, Picture Perfect Landscaping.  They provided material, time and labor to install a beautiful brick border around the jaguar paw print bed.  The results were simply amazing.  What started out as an overgrown, rough outline of a paw print that was difficult to see at ground level, turned out to be a literal work of art.  I never really understood the talent of a bricklayer until I saw two of them in action!  Frank and George made bricklaying look so easy, a stark contrast to the back-breaking labor involved in bricklaying.  Each brick was meticulously hand-laid with precision and craftsmanship and the result was astounding.  We are so grateful and thrilled!!

Jaguar paw print bed and pollinator garden.

2012 ushered in a flurry of activity around finalizing the curriculum that will be tied to what teachers have slated for the remainder of the school year.  Two meetings were held with the science vertical team teachers to discuss and review the lessons we have developed for use in the Jaguar Jungle.  The concept is to have all lesson plan materials available, printed and ready for teachers and volunteers to basically grab and go! 

Next up is the Spring Family Fun event, in April, that will be held around the garden area.  This event is great fun and with any luck, it will draw new volunteers and much needed attention to the improvements and beautification of the Jaguar Jungle. 

I look forward to posting our progress as we continue to grow and learn from our school garden.  Do your children’s schools have an outdoor classroom?  If so, feel free to comment and share pictures and information about what’s happening in your area schools.  We would love to hear about what other teachers, students and volunteers are doing!


This post is completely my opinion, and I was not compensated to write it.