St. Luke's Lutheran Preschool is a certified Outdoor Classroom from Nature Explore.
Interest Area Highlights
Stage: Our Stage is a versatile space where teachers and students can learn, create, and have fun together. Teachers use the Stage to read stories connected to their unit of study or conduct a class experiment. Students may also re-enact or sequence a story from a book the class has previously enjoyed. During free exploration time, students can use the Stage to sing, dance, explore new costumes or play games like charades. It provides a wonderful space for children to express themselves, use their imaginations, and engage in hands-on learning. We recently purchased new seating poufs, giving each child a comfortable spot to sit while listening to a story or watching an experiment unfold. We are excited to continue improving this space in the near future by replacing our existing deck and adding new shade coverings. We look forward to creating an even more inviting and engaging area for our students to learn and explore.
Water/Sensory Area: Our Water/Sensory Area is a favorite space for hands-on discovery and exploration! With six large sensory bins and two smaller bins, students have endless opportunities to engage their senses, experiment with different materials, and learn through play. We love watching our student’s curiosity grow as they explore the sensory bins!
Fall: Farm Crops and Seeds - In the fall, students explore crops grown on farms, including rice, popcorn kernels, oats, and cornmeal. They enjoy feeling the different textures while using scoops to measure and pour. Students also discover how seeds travel through water, observing how some seeds move faster than others. They even get to plant pretend seeds and watch them “grow” into beautiful flowers!
Winter: Snow and Floof - During the winter months, our sensory bins transform into snowy wonderlands filled with fake snow and floof—a fluffy, squishy material that feels like snow! This activity is a favorite across all our classes, especially for students who have never experienced real snow.
Spring: Habitat Exploration - In the spring, students learn about different bodies of water and the animals that live in them, from ponds to oceans. Plastic animals are added to the bins to encourage imaginative play and further exploration. Our STEAM classes explore the world of insects by digging through soil to find them and describing what they discover. They also learn about animals that live in trees by building bird nests using sticks and leaves.
Summer: Water Play and So Much More! - As summer approaches, students enjoy scooping, pouring, and measuring water with cups and other tools. Our younger classes practice sorting by color using colored water and plastic balls. To round out the fun, students become little paleontologists, digging through sand to uncover dinosaur bones with brushes!
Maker's Space
Our special Maker’s Space is a place where students can let their imaginations run wild, explore new ideas, and invent like little engineers! With a variety of art supplies for cutting, gluing, drawing, and designing, students have endless opportunities to bring their ideas to life. Our space also features a LEGO wall, car ramps, a magnetic gear board, and two small tables dedicated to building and creating. These hands-on activities encourage students to experiment, think creatively, and discover new ways to use everyday materials to make something entirely their own. The Maker’s Space offers so much more than fun! Students strengthen their fine motor skills, explore STEAM concepts, develop problem-solving abilities, and learn through trial and error. It’s another wonderful space in our school where curiosity is encouraged, creativity flourishes, and children learn through hands-on exploration and play!
Outdoor Classroom Lab
Our Outdoor Classroom Lab is a special part of our Outdoor Classroom where scientific learning meets hands-on fun! The Lab is home to our animal friends: Spike, the land tortoise; Einstein, the aquatic turtle; Sir Isaac and Newton, our hermit crabs; and Thumper, the rabbit. Our students love learning all about these special friends, including where they live, what they eat, and, most importantly, how to care for them. Through these experiences, students develop curiosity, compassion, and a deeper understanding of the living world around them. The Lab also features a variety of exciting tools and activities that encourage exploration, creativity, and discovery. Students can use document cameras to examine materials up close, explore inclined planes and ramps on our magnetic wall, and investigate the power of wind in our Flight Lab and wind tunnel. Our Chalk Spinner provides an artistic outlet while strengthening fine motor skills, and our Rainbow Peg Board encourages patterning, design, and creative thinking. Students can also engage their senses with a sensory bin filled with materials such as kinetic sand or visit our exploration counter to investigate fascinating items like magnets and worms. Every class visits the Outdoor Classroom Lab each week, where students participate in hands-on investigations and explore a variety of scientific studies. While some classes are learning about animal habitats and care, others are discovering the world of simple machines. Each experience is designed to inspire questions, encourage experimentation, and make learning meaningful, engaging, and fun! Our Outdoor Classroom Lab is a place where curiosity grows, discoveries happen, and a love of learning comes to life.
Outdoor Explorers Program
The Outdoor Classroom Explorers Program is a science- and social studies-based after-school program that combines a thoughtfully planned curriculum with hands-on exploration in our Pre-K Outdoor Classroom and Lab. Each week, students discover a new scientific topic through engaging activities, investigations, and experiments. From chemical reactions and volcanoes to paleontology and much more, every experience encourages children to ask questions, make observations, explore possibilities, and discover how the world around them works. Young children are naturally curious and full of questions! Our science activities and experiments nurture that curiosity while helping students develop critical thinking, problem-solving, observation, and inquiry skills. By encouraging children to explore, experiment, and seek answers, we help lay the foundation for a lifelong love of learning and an early understanding of scientific thinking.
Created by Mrs. Barbari, the program was designed to extend the joy of outdoor learning beyond the regular school day. It also provides families with a convenient after-school enrichment opportunity right here on our campus, allowing children to continue learning and exploring in a familiar environment while making more time for family togetherness at home. The Outdoor Classroom Explorers Program is an important part of sustaining and growing our Outdoor Classroom. Tuition helps fund the materials, supplies, and resources that make our hands-on learning experiences possible. Through this program, students gain exciting opportunities to learn and discover, while helping support the continued growth and success of our outdoor learning environment.
Volunteer Opportunites
We love welcoming parent volunteers to help with our traditional classes each week! We are also grateful for the families who join us on select Saturdays for our Outdoor Workdays. Whether helping students explore, caring for our outdoor spaces, or lending a hand with special projects, every contribution makes a difference. It truly takes a village to keep our Outdoor Classroom beautiful, engaging, and running smoothly. We are so thankful for the time, energy, and support our families share with us. Together, we are creating and maintaining a special place where children can learn, explore, discover, and grow!