The group has been working hard on brainstorming ideas for the Outdoor Classrooms. This past week, a design charrette was held at Operation Breakthrough which included nearly nine Operation Breakthrough staff members. The charrette covered the staff member’s vision of the outdoor classroom, areas of improvement, ideas, four top priorities, and sketches of the proposed site. Input from Operation Breakthrough staff was essential in moving forward with a design. The following are ideas that everyone has come up with for different activities for the children to engage in and bring the site together.
Fence – Vegetation – Native Plants – Focal Classroom Stage – Set Entrance - Rain Garden – Educational Displays – Sound Garden – Art Wall – Climbing Wall – Vegetable Garden – Composting / Recycling – Toddler Area – Bird House and Feeder Area – Rain Barrel – Willow Structures – Worm Farm – Yellow Brick Road – Tree House – Stumps – Benches – Fossil Area – Developing a Curriculum – Butterfly Garden – Naming Contest
There are so many great ideas that will give the children an amazing experience in their outdoor classroom. Although out group won’t be able to do all of them, we can sure begin to turn the space into an educational urban oasis. The Save the Planet Sub-Committee will be working on preparing three different designs of the Outdoor Classroom in the next couple weeks. We are looking for anyone and everyone to participate in our own design session from 12:00 - 1:00 PM Thursday February 12, 2009 in CR 298 of the 9400 Building at Burns & McDonnell. There will be a lot of trace paper and markers for everyone to help sketch how they envision the outdoor classroom.
Everyone is welcome to come and let their creativity run loose, so I hope to see many of you at 12:00 on February 12th in CR 298.
