The first year of our Schoolyard Habitat project was all about design and installation. Students came up with the idea of creating a rainbow garden on the side of the school. We decided on 6 large beds placed in a U-shape with a path through the center. Each bed was its own color. The students and staff used Outdoor Days to dig, plant, and mulch the space. Utilizing a rotating schedule, classes took turns watering the garden and learning about how to respect and take care of the shared learning space.
In Year 2, Bishop Woods continued to develop the Habitat by adding an Insect Hotel, continuing to add plants, and conducting a composting mulch project. Our expanded Outdoor days included maintenance work, learning opportunities with support from Common Ground educators, and take home projects!
Year 3 was another exciting year. We added garden hexagon beds, log seating, and started to develop our Outdoor Maker Space! We continue to plant, do maintenance work, and enjoy the outdoor spaces during learning and recess!
Year 4 was cut short a bit, however we were still able to complete quite a bit of work! We finished the installation of the Maker Space, added a Life Under Logs area, ate from our vegetable garden, began to construct forts, and continued to work as a school team to take care of our space!
Although a very unusual start to the school year, the outdoor spaces at Bishop Woods are continually being maintained, utilized and expanded upon. We added log seating in the Habitat, installed signage, installed the forts, and held a Schoolyard clean-up to prepare for our students' return.