Outdoor Classrooms, Endless Possibilities

This is a story about hope. Hope isn’t always easy to find when you’re living through a pandemic. But it's exactly what first grade teacher Alissa Alteri Shea has found while teaching outdoors at Leverett Elementary School.

Photo: Alissa Alteri Shea.

As with many educators, this has been a challenging year for me.  When COVID-19 struck, I was told to turn my curriculum into one that could be taught from my living room, using my laptop—something I never thought was possible. But I did it. However, teaching six-year-olds remotely for multiple hours a day was not easy.  

So, back in August 2020, when a new school year was beginning, and LES was headed back to remote learning, I knew I had to find a better solution for the young children who would be in my class.  

I talked to the kindergarten teacher at our school. We were facing the same challenges trying to teach young children remotely, and our students were scheduled to be the first to return to in-person learning. How would we implement safety protocols like frequent handwashing, mask-wearing, and physical distancing ?  We knew life in the classroom wouldn’t be the same. Supplies would all have to be stored individually, preventing shared projects or activities. Children would not have the same freedom to move around the room; they would need to have assigned workspaces. There were concerns about ventilation in the school building and whether the air quality was safe enough to prevent transmission of the virus.  

“The Circle of Stones” outdoor classroom space at LES. Photo: Alissa Alteri Shea.

We knew we needed to create a safe alternative to keeping these children inside all day, trapped on their little yoga mat workspaces. I had recently joined the Inside-Outside: Nature-Based Educators of New England community online, where I read lots of examples about teachers and students working together outside, especially in response to the pandemic. This seemed like a good time to give it a try. And that’s how the idea for outdoor classrooms at our school was born.

The first thing we did was reach out to other teachers, administrators, the PTO, and the Leverett Education Foundation to see if we had their support. We knew this would take resources we did not have. They encouraged us to go for it. In November 2020, we organized a Community Work Day to help create six outdoor learning spaces at LES.  

In the midst of a pandemic, which has largely kept us apart, people came together to work on this project for our children. In doing so, it reminded us that we are a community. We can work together to create something beautiful out of a very challenging and sad time. Our talented helpers rallied together to roll heavy tree stumps, nail in plywood, level whiteboards, secure tarps, rake mulch, and clear trails through the woods. This shared effort made us feel hopeful and purposeful again. By the end of the day, we had six outdoor classrooms ready to be used by teachers and students.  

Since then, these outdoor spaces have been alive with children finding safe spaces to work together outside their classrooms’ walls. Looking back, I realize I turned to the idea of outdoor classrooms for practical reasons. I wanted to get my young students away from screens and back together at school in the safest way possible. I knew that is what they needed—socially, emotionally, and academically. This seemed like a good way to make that happen.

Students having snack in “The Clearing,” an outdoor classroom space behind LES. Photo: Alissa Alteri Shea.

Now, after using these outdoor spaces for several months, I have come to see the many advantages of learning outdoors. It’s not just about good ventilation.  

We just finished a unit on winter tree identification, studying the features of all the trees on our playground, and soon we will label them to create our own arboretum. The kids have been writing in their nature journals about what they see, think, and wonder about outside. In math, we’re learning how to count groups of tens—so, one day the kids ran into the woods and worked in teams to collect 100 sticks in about 10 minutes. They were so proud of themselves.  Some days our read-alouds take place under a canopy of tall pine trees. When we are outdoors, the school's environment feels like we are in the setting of a storybook, getting ready to head out on an epic adventure. This really motivates my students to want to learn and explore.

These spaces have always been there: the vernal pool next to the playground, the stream running in the woods behind the school, the wide-open field next to the greenhouse, the tall canopy of pine trees high above us, the large circle of stones to gather around.  It just took a pandemic for me to look outside and discover them as usable learning spaces.  By searching for safe teaching spaces outside, I found natural resources all around our school, ripe with learning experiences that give kids freedom to dive into project-based learning connected to our local environment.  As one of my students recently told me, “Sometimes you need to look for beautiful things in the most bizarre places.”  I am so grateful I looked outside.  Bringing your classroom outdoors isn’t necessarily in the curriculum, but it can be, especially in places like Leverett, full of so much natural beauty.  

Now that spring is here, hope continues. The vernal pool is melting and slowly coming alive with sounds of creatures stirring. There have been warm days for children to run through the schoolyard, throwing coats off into the wind. The PTO asked if I needed anything to help with returning to full school days on April 5th; I asked for nature pails so my first graders could spend more time outdoors exploring the vernal pool, stream, and Leverett Pond, all within walking distance of our outdoor classrooms. Within days these supplies showed up at my door.

Many challenges remain as teachers prepare to open school for full in-person learning. Teachers are continually searching for ways to welcome children back safely into their classrooms, and outdoor education is just one. We are lucky that the landscape at LES allows us that option. There are endless possibilities for what could be developed on our school grounds. Many other schools around the country are experimenting, as well  (see How To Build Your Own Outdoor Classrooms on Edutopia).

For now, we are taking it one step at a time. If you are out and about in Leverett, you may see a group of six-year-olds walking together, swinging their nature pails as they stomp through the woods in search of “The Clearing,” an outdoor classroom next to Dolittle Stream. It will most likely be the LES first graders looking for a bit of hope, learning, and adventure as we make our way through a year of pandemic learning. As we’ve already discovered, “Sometimes you need to look for beautiful things in the most bizarre places.” We’ll be out in the woods looking to see what we can find.

Alissa Alteri Shea  

First-grade students show off their sticks from a “counting groups of ten” lesson at LES. Photo: Alissa Alteri Shea.