Published: February 29, 2008 10:05 am         

Millersburg school to add outdoor classroom

Spotlight on schools

MILLERSBURG, Ind. — Millersburg Elementary School is trying to get back to nature with plans for an outdoor classroom to be located in the courtyard on the back side of the school.

“We want an authentic place for children to learn science,” Principal Christine Ralston said, “so it makes sense to have an outdoor classroom.”

According to a flyer from the school, “the current grassy courtyard area will be transformed with trees, plants, flowers, a butterfly garden, bushes, a pond, benches, an archaeological dig, a vegetable garden and a teaching area.” Uses for the space include science lessons, descriptive and creative writing and silent reading.

“We started trying to get this project off the ground at least 10 years ago,” Jeannine Suitors, who teaches a combined second/third grade class, said. “It’s just the right time now, I guess. We have board approval on our updated plan, and we’ll be holding a fund-raiser in the spring.”

The fund-raiser will aim for $20,000, $1,000 beyond the cost of the project, according to an estimate from Dave’s Lawnscaping. It will include cash donations and a parent-teacher donation drive, although people may also sponsor specific items.

For student fund-raisers, there are three possible prizes. The top fund-raiser in each class will have an opportunity to climb in the money machine and catch as many dollars as they can. The top fundraising classroom in K-3 and 4-6 will get a pizza party. If the school meets its fund-raising goal, everyone gets a party in the gym with an inflatable obstacle course and bouncing room.

According to PTO president Wendy Nunemaker, there are only a few minor worries.

“Irrigation might be an obstacle, but there have been some teachers who said they would take turns checking it during the summer,” she said.

“There is also some worry of vandalism,” Ralston added. “We’re looking into the possibility of motion sensor lighting or maybe a gate.”

When the project was originally proposed, a rough sketch was made of the layout. The design for the current version is a simplified and slightly altered version of the same sketch.

“I only just found out the original sketch was drawn by former art teacher Carole Chikar,” Nunemaker said. “She was on the original committee.”

Chikar, who taught art to elementary school students in Fairfield Community Schools for 15 of her 27 teaching years, died of cancer in March 2002.

After the fund-raiser is over, work on the courtyard will commence.

“It will be every bit of a two-week project, maybe three. It just depends on how many people I come with,” Dave’s Lawnscaping co-owner Maynard Miller said.

“We’re hoping to involve children and the community in the (post-fund-raiser) process,” Suitors said.

Nunemaker is excited for the possibility that by simplifying the plan as they have, there will be opportunities for future classes and school employees to add to the classroom as the years progress.

“Mostly I’m excited to get it started,” she said.