Green Schoolyards America - Bitly

Title: 2016 School Ground Activity Guides: Combined Table of Contents Editor: Green Schoolyards America Publisher: Green Schoolyards America and the International School Grounds Alliance

Publication date: May 2016

Green Schoolyards America and the International School Grounds Alliance greatly appreciate the collaboration of 123 author-organizations from the United States and 17 other countries. Please see the names of the collaborating authororganizations near the end of this document. We extend our sincere and heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed! Overall publication © 2016 Green Schoolyards America. Photographs and diagrams are copyrighted as noted in the text. Excerpts and images from this publication may not be repurposed and used in other contexts, except by the original authors/ photographers. Any other reuse of this content requires written permission from Green Schoolyards America and the individual authors/photographers. Publication editing, design and layout by Green Schoolyards America. Cover design, header and footer design by Katrina Ortiz. Introductory articles and chapter heading text © 2010-2016 Sharon Gamson Danks, adapted from materials previously published by this author. Citations are included in the Activity Guide’s text using the reference numbers below: 1. Danks, Sharon Gamson. Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation. Oakland: New Village Press, November 2010. 2. ---. “The Power and Potential of Green Schoolyards.” The New Nature Movement: Guest Columns, Children & Nature Network, February 7, 2014. 3. ---. “Living Schoolyards for California.” The New Nature Movement: Guest Columns, Children & Nature Network, August 20, 2014. Green Schoolyards America is fiscally sponsored by Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, a 501(c)(3) corporation.

The INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL GROUNDS ALLIANCE (ISGA) is a global network of organizations and professionals working to enrich children’s learning and play by improving the way school grounds are designed and used. Each year in May, the ISGA hosts International School Grounds Month and invites schools around the world to celebrate their grounds. We also hold international conferences every year or two, and they are open to the public. To sign up for our mailing list, please visit our website:

www.internationalschoolgrounds.org

GREEN SCHOOLYARDS AMERICA is a national organization that expands and strengthens the green schoolyard movement and empowers Americans to become stewards of their school and neighborhood environments. We believe that school grounds are uniquely positioned to enrich the daily lives of children and their communities, occupying both the geographic and social heart of almost every city across the USA and around the world. We provide resources, training and support for pre-K-12 school districts and partner with nonprofits, businesses, government agencies and utilities to effect change across the country. We invite like-minded professionals and organizations to join us in this work and collaborate to nurture and grow the international movement to green school grounds. To sign up for our mailing list, please visit our website:

www.greenschoolyards.org

green schoolyards america greenschoolyards.org SM

International School Grounds Alliance internationalschoolgrounds.org

© Sharon danks

International School Grounds Month and Living Schoolyard Month

M

ay is International School Grounds Month around the world and Living Schoolyard Month in California, USA. Each year, the International School Grounds Alliance and Green Schoolyards America encourage schools to take their students outside during the month of May to celebrate their grounds and use them to support learning across the curriculum, promote healthy lifestyles, and enrich play during students’ free time. School grounds are also wonderful places to foster empathy and social-emotional well-being. They are great venues for the creative arts, community celebrations, and for making connections to your neighborhood’s unique natural, geographic and cultural context. We believe school grounds are very important to children and youth, and shape their experience of the world around them. If you agree with us, we hope you will take some time during the month of May—and throughout the year—to celebrate your grounds by stepping outside with your students to engage in hands-on adventures of many types. There is no right or wrong way to participate in our May events. You could take academic lessons into your grounds, promote play outside, camp out in your schoolyard or invite parents to watch a play outdoors—whatever works best for your school. More information about our three Activity Guides is included on the next page. We hope you will be inspired by the ideas in this set of publications, and will use your school grounds to their fullest in May, and throughout the year.


How to use this publication This document is an extended table of contents that combines the materials found in three companion publications related to school ground celebrations in May. We created this resource to help educators find the perfect activity for their class across the three Activity Guides. The Guides are each divided into chapters by topic. This Combined Table of Contents introduces each topic and explains how it directly benefits children and the environment. The activities fall within these categories, and are sometimes cross-listed. They are summarized below each title in order to provide information to help educators decide which activities best meet their needs. The “Activity Location” in the Combined Table of Contents indicates which of the three Guides contains the activity, and also lists the page number: ISGA = 2016 International School Grounds Month Activity Guide CA = 2016 Living Schoolyard Month Activity Guide California Edition MW = 2016 Living Schoolyard Month Activity Guide

Midwest Edition

For example, “Steal the Native Plant ... CA 17” is located in the 2016 Living Schoolyard Month Activity Guide - California Edition, on page 17.


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© Sharon danks

Download the Activity Guides!

We invite you to download a free copy of each of the three 2016 Activity Guides we produced as a set. They include school ground ideas from the USA and around the world. Their names reflect the locations of their authors, but all three Guides are intended for global use with children 3-18 years old. The 2016 International School Grounds Month Activity Guide includes 50 outdoor activity ideas, written by 37 organizations in 17 countries. It is published by the International School Grounds Alliance and was produced and edited by Green Schoolyards America in collaboration with the ISGA. Green Schoolyards America’s 2016 Living Schoolyard Activity Guide - California Edition includes 59 outdoor ideas, written by 55 organizations based in California, USA. The Midwest Edition includes 38 year-round outdoor activity ideas written by 33 organizations working in the central USA. We hope the variety of geographic and cultural contexts in this collection of Activity Guides will support your work anywhere in the world—during the month of May and year-round. green schoolyards america greenschoolyards.org SM

International School Grounds Alliance •

2016 International School Grounds Month Activity Guide — http://bit.ly/ISGAmay

Green Schoolyards America •

2016 Living Schoolyard Activity Guide California Edition — http://bit.ly/GSAguides

•

2016 Living Schoolyard Activity Guide Midwest Edition — http://bit.ly/GSAguides

Combined table of contents • •

2016 School Ground Activity Guides: Combined Table of Contents — http://bit.ly/ISGAmay Total of 147 activities from 123 organizations!


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© Sharon danks

Celebrate in May! W e hope you will be inspired by the ideas in our Activity Guides, and will use your school grounds to their fullest in May, and throughout the year. After you have participated in International School Grounds Month and Living Schoolyard Month, please share your adventures with us by registering on our website to tell us what you did! We are very interested in hearing from you. Reporting your activities will help us spread the word to other schools, governments and organizations who can help promote and support green schoolyards around the world in the future.

We update our Activity Guides every year. Please contact us if you would like to contribute an activity in the future.

Your celebration Please tell us about your schoolyard adventures in May by sending us the following information: • • •

• •

Name of your school School location: city, state, country A brief description of how you celebrated your school grounds in May (100-400 words) Photo(s) showing your activity in progress. (Please confirm you have permission to use these images and to share them with the public in print and online.) Contact name and email address Age range and number of participating students

•

School or project website (if you have one)

•

Email this to: [email protected] or submit it via our website: http://bit.ly/GSAreg1 Following the event, we will share many of the activity reports we receive by posting them on our websites and social networks. We are looking forward to hearing about your work and hope you enjoy the celebration!



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© Ayesha Ercelawn

Art L

iving schoolyards provide settings and inspiration for creative projects ranging from writing assignments to drawing, painting, mosaic, nature art and sculpture.

Studio Space Students of all ages benefit from art studio spaces that allow creativity to blossom—and that are easy to clean, comfortable, inviting and spacious. Enriched school grounds can include formal or informal outdoor art studios that increase teaching space and accommodate messier art forms that are more difficult to practice inside. Creative EXPRESSION Schools can diversify the recreational offerings they provide to students of all ages during their outdoor free time by including an array of inexpensive outdoor art materials among their supplies. Unstructured “art time” allows students to get their hands dirty and express themselves creatively in ways that are not always possible during the rest of the school day. Outdoor Exhibits Outdoor art installations turn ordinary school grounds into beautiful, memorable places that delight the eye and speak to the heart, while also showing students the school community cares about their environment. Temporary and permanent schoolyard artwork can reflect local culture, highlight regional ecosystems and instill school spirit.2



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Art Activity title activity location Outdoor ART studio space

Make a Create-With-Nature Zone Provide natural materials for students to dream up their own artwork — Zach Pine Nature Sculpture and University of California Blake Garden, Kensington, California, USA

CA 7

DRAWING AND Painting

Make Your Own Vine Charcoal Create drawing tools using traditional methods — Naturskolan i Lund, Lund, Sweden

ISGA 7

The Fine Art of Flower Pounding Use fresh flowers to create flower prints — Life Lab, Santa Cruz, California, USA

ISGA 8

Creative Painting with “Garden Paintbrushes” Use natural materials as paintbrushes — Explore Ecology, Santa Barbara, California, USA

CA 8

Painting the Seasons Follow a plant through seasonal changes — Green Schoolyards America, Berkeley, California, USA

CA 9

Nature’s Watercolors Use natural pigments to create paintings — La Scuola Italian Int’l School, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 10

Schoolyard Nature Lotería Create board game with hand-drawn, nature-inspired cards — Latino Outdoors, Capitola, California, USA

CA 14

The Tree is Like Me! Imagine what it’s like to be a tree and express this with art — TreePeople, Beverly Hills, California, USA

CA 27

Make a Solar Etching Use the sun’s energy to etch designs — Rahus Institute - Solar Schoolhouse, Sebastopol, California, USA

CA 66

Tree Wonder Use scale and geometry to observe and draw trees — Project Central, Kansas City, Kansas, USA

MW 23

Adopt-A-Tree Record seasonal changes with drawings — Prairie Crossing Charter School, Grayslake, Illinois, USA

MW 27

Act Like Leopold Create sketches to record seasonal changes — Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Monona, Wisconsin, USA

MW 28

Textiles, sculpture and Carpentry

Weaving with Plant Materials Use natural materials to learn weaving techniques — Ayesha Ercelawn, San Francisco, California, USA

ISGA 6

Sculpting Soil Balls (Entho-Entho) Learn about soil’s physical properties — Sekolah Alam Nurul Islam, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

ISGA 55

Bird House Building Build a bird house for local species — Waldorf School of the Peninsula, Los Altos, California, USA


CA 12


5

Art Activity title activity location Temporary arrangements of natural materials

Mosaic Pictures with Natural Materials Create temporary mosaics in the schoolyard — Green Schoolyards America, Berkeley, California, USA

ISGA 5

Gaga for Greens Explore traits of fresh vegetables — Horace Mann Elementary School, Washington, DC, USA

ISGA 23

The Secret Picture Communicate with a partner to duplicate a design — Naturskolan i Lund, Lund, Sweden

ISGA 27

Have Seeds Will Travel Use natural materials to make bracelets and bookmarks — Project Learning Tree, Grawn, Michigan, USA

MW 9

Mandala Suncatchers Make patterns with natural materials — Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois, USA

MW 10

Shades of Green Explore color variations in nature — Herb Broda, Ashland, Ohio, USA

MW 11

Place-based Art Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy Artfully arrange natural materials and write about it — Lake View Elem. School, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

MW 12

Creative expression / writing

Artist’s View of the School Ground Use the ground as an inspiration for abstract art and poetry — Evergreen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ISGA 9

Bubble Poetry Blow bubbles and write poetry — Evergreen Elementary School, Rohnert Park, California, USA

CA 11

Using iPads to Tell Student-Created Stories Study seasonal changes and write stories — OAK Learning Center, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

MW 13

Nature Passport Create a booklet for students to record nature adventures — Nature Net, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

MW 26

Poetry in the Garden Use garden observations to inspire poetry — Openlands, Chicago, Illinois, USA

MW 29

Outdoor ART exhibits

Create and Fly Carp Streamers on Your Grounds Create fabric wind socks to enliven the schoolyard — Environment Design Institute, Tokyo, Japan

ISGA 10

In a Box Use a box for site-specific art installations — Play Learning Life, Winchester, Hampshire, England, UK

ISGA 11

Art on the Fence Paint on plywood to enhance a standard fence — Herb Broda, Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio, USA

ISGA 12

Frozen Schoolyard Art Gallery Create ornaments using ice — Green Schoolyards America, Berkeley, California, USA

MW 14

Winterberry Wreath Create wreaths using local materials — Kids Gardening, Vermont, USA

MW 15



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Recreation E

nriched school grounds encourage exploration, imagination, relaxation and free choice among a variety of recreational options, from ball games and climbing equipment to informal play in bushes, trees and flowers. They include space for traditional sports and games with rules created by adults, as well as places for children to dream up their own games without adult involvement. Rich, interesting, well-designed green schoolyard spaces invite children to climb and run and swing and balance, to dig and pretend and create. They lend themselves well to creative play with art materials, musical instruments and performing arts. Their planted areas invite kids to engage in open-ended “nature play,” find the little creatures that live in the soil, and unwind and explore “far away lands” with their best friend from the comfort of a cozy corner of the schoolyard. School grounds can also become shared community resources after hours, providing multi-use, public open space within walking distance of every neighborhood. They are often the sites of annual school and community festivals and can be used creatively outside of school hours and on the weekends.1



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Recreation Activity title activity location Imaginative play

Using Loose Materials for Play Provide natural materials for open-ended play — Grounds for Learning, Sterling, Scotland, UK

ISGA 14

Pop-Up Adventure Playground Use recycled materials for open-ended play — Pop-Up Adventure Playground, Manchester, England, UK

ISGA 15

Trading Post Barter using handicrafts and natural materials — The Carey School, San Mateo, California, USA

ISGA 18

Create a Bean Teepee Playhouse Build a teepee for bean vines and imaginative play — Bay Tree Design, Berkeley, California, USA

ISGA 48

The Nature Swap Provide natural materials for imaginative play — Nature Kids Institute, Orangevale, California, USA

CA 68

Skill-building games


ISGA 27

The Magpie Game Build a nest using strategy to find scarce resources — Naturskolan i Lund, Lund, Sweden

ISGA 45

Schoolyard Nature Lotería Create a board game with hand-drawn, nature-inspired cards — Latino Outdoors, Capitola, California, USA

CA 14

Lighthouse Navigate a maze with guidance from a partner — Life Lab, Santa Cruz, California, USA

CA 29

You “Can” Cast Learn to fish using cans — Project F.I.S.H., East Lansing, Michigan, USA

MW 18

Active play

Steal the Flag Compete in teams to gather flags — Hoang Thi Ha, Hong Duc University, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam

ISGA 16

Kpokoro: An Outdoor Nigerian Game Follow the leader by mirroring her claps and jumps — Elizabeth Babalola, Nigeria

ISGA 17

Juggling in a Group Cooperate with the group to keep balls in the air — Fundación Patio Vivo, Santiago, Chile

ISGA 29

“Everybody’s It” Tag Tag as many players as possible — Playworks, Oakland, California, USA

CA 15

Jump the River Practice jumping and coordination — Playworks, Oakland, California, USA

CA 16

Steal the Native Plant Compete in teams to correctly identify plants — Center for Land-Based Learning, Winters, California, USA

CA 17



8

Recreation Activity title activity location

Photosynthesis Tag Demonstrate how plants create energy — Los Angeles Unified School District, Office of Outdoor and Environmental Education, Los Angeles, California, USA

CA 18

Modular Obstacle Course Provide large natural materials for self-directed building — Golestan Colab, Berkeley, California, USA

CA 20

Jump Rope Activities Try new jump rope patterns — American Heart Association, Los Angeles, California, USA

CA 24

Plant Part Relay Race Learn and categorize plant anatomy — Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Davis, California, USA

CA 25

Food Web Tag Demonstrate ecosystem interconnectivity — Greening of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, USA

MW 17

Outdoor Sensory Activities MW 21 Build skills through physical play — Van Hise Elementary School Outdoor Classroom, Madison, Wisconsin, USA Team Building: The Amazing Winter Race! Collaborate in team relay races — Wisconsin Green Schools Network, Columbus, Wisconsin, USA

MW 24

Birds and Worms: Camouflage Relay Use a relay race to demonstrate camouflage — Project Learning Tree, Grawn, Michigan, USA

MW 33

Least Wanted: The Invasive Sea Lamprey Demonstrate invasive species issues using tag — Michigan Dept. of Nat. Resources, Lansing, Michigan, USA

MW 39



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© Sharon danks

Health E

nhanced school grounds foster children’s mental and physical health and well-being by providing settings for curiosity, imagination, exploration, wonder and adventure. Improved well-being Studies have shown that many types of green spaces have therapeutic properties that lower blood pressure, help people relax and provide other benefits that improve the mental health and well-being of children, teachers, school administrators and visitors.

Sensory experiences Living schoolyards stimulate the five senses and provide opportunities to engage the whole body to develop children’s sense of balance and coordination. Physical activity Enriched school grounds offer child-

driven, play-based solutions to obesity problems. They also provide places for students to be physically active during physical education classes and while participating in sports and other organized fitness games. Living schoolyards can promote healthier lifestyles through nutrition-oriented gardening and cooking programs. They are also places to learn new skills that foster lifelong health, from water safety to tool use.2 Healthier

lifestyles



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Health Activity title activity location Improved well-being

Expressing Your Feelings Create poems to describe places and emotions — Play Learning Life, Winchester, Hampshire, England, UK

ISGA 20

Sensory experiences

Sensory Exploration Use non-visual senses to understand surroundings — Greenstone Design, Auckland, New Zealand

ISGA 21

Leaf Identification Challenge Practice memory, observation and non-visual sensing — Arty Plantz, Bangalore, India

ISGA 22


CA 20

Multisensory Garden Tour CA 21 Use senses to understand the environment — Chino Basin Water Conservation Dist., Montclair, California, USA Herb Bundles Create herb bundles to explore senses — San Francisco Botanical Garden, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 22

“Sense-sational” Tree Tour Observe the environment with five senses — Canopy, Palo Alto, California, USA

CA 34

Senses And Sorting Nature Exploration Explore nature using senses — Lake Erie Nature and Science Center, Bay Village, Ohio, USA

MW 20

Outdoor Sensory Activities MW 21 Build skills through physical play — Van Hise Elementary School Outdoor Classroom, Madison, Wisconsin, USA Physical activity

Steal the Flag Compete in teams to gather flags — Hoang Thi Ha, Hong Duc University, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam

ISGA 16

“Everybody’s It” Tag Tag as many players as possible — Playworks, Oakland, California, USA

CA 15

Jump Rope Activities Try new jump rope patterns — American Heart Association, Los Angeles, California, USA

CA 24

Plant Part Relay Race Learn and categorize plant anatomy — Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Davis, California, USA

CA 25

Sierra Nevada Animal Olympics Compete with Yosemite’s animals — Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, California, USA

CA 45

California Desert Animal Olympics Compete with Mojave Desert’s animals — Death Valley National Park, Death Valley, California, USA

CA 46

Food Web Tag Demonstrate ecosystem interconnectivity — Greening of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, USA


MW 17


11

Health Activity title activity location

Team Building: The Amazing Winter Race! Collaborate in team relay races — Wisconsin Green Schools Network, Columbus, Wisconsin, USA

MW 24

Healthier lifestyles / nutrition


ISGA 23

Why Eat Colorful Rainbow Food? Discuss nutrition and eat fresh fruits and vegetables — Trinity Gardens, Santa Barbara, California, USA

CA 23

Science Comes to Tea Use tea to study science — Ayesha Ercelawn, La Scuola Italian Int’l. School, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 61



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© Sharon danks

Social and Emotional Well-being E nriched school grounds are ideal places to foster positive, healthy relationships among children, between children and adults, and between people and the environment. Research tells us that nature has a therapeutic influence on our mental and physical health, so an environment filled with trees, shrubs, flowers and wildlife is a helpful starting point to set the stage for social and emotional learning that build empathy and collaboration. Empathy Living schoolyards help schools foster an atmosphere that emphasizes care for one another, care for all living things, and care for the Earth. They provide settings that teachers can use for lessons that range from understanding one anothers’ feelings to valuing the great diversity of life that shares our world. Collaboration Nurturing an enriched school ground

environment—and our community—is best accomplished through collaboration, built on strong, positive relationships. Living schoolyard environments provide opportunities to practice and hone communication, teamwork and stewardship skills, while providing balance for other aspects of school life that are more competitive.2



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Social and Emotional Well-being Activity title activity location Empathy

Acorn Guided Movement Imagine what it’s like to be an acorn — David Sobel, Antioch University New England, USA

ISGA 25

Animal Perspectives: Mapping the Schoolyard Explore your school grounds from another creature’s perspective — Evergreen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ISGA 26

Bury It! Observe the decomposition process and care for the Earth — Enviroschools, Hamilton, New Zealand

ISGA 57

The Tree is Like Me! Imagine what it’s like to be a tree — TreePeople, Beverly Hills, California, USA

CA 27

Finding Your Place in the World Visit an outdoor site regularly for field observations — The Presidio Trust, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 31

Using iPads to Tell Student-Created Stories Build empathy for the natural world — OAK Learning Center, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

MW 13


MW 23

Collaboration


ISGA 15


ISGA 27

Robert’s Little Finger Collaborate to create a scale model using sticks — Naturskolan i Lund, Lund, Sweden

ISGA 28

Juggling in a Group Cooperate with the group to keep balls in the air — Fundación Patio Vivo, Santiago, Chile

ISGA 29


CA 20

Exploring Our Relationship to Place Use a map to explore origins — Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, Occidental, California, USA

CA 28

Lighthouse Navigate a maze with guidance from a partner — Life Lab, Santa Cruz, California, USA

CA 29

Team Building: The Amazing Winter Race! Collaborate in team relay races — Wisconsin Green Schools Network, Columbus, Wisconsin, USA


MW 24


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Place-based Understanding L

iving schoolyards, built with local, natural materials and native plants, are each unique, reflecting the geography, ecology and culture of their community, and building a sense of place for children and adults who spend time in them. Natural context Green schoolyards can showcase local ecosystems in their region, helping children to connect on a daily basis to the living systems that surround them.

Large painted or three dimensional maps of many types can be added to schoolyards to illustrate the school’s location in the world, the country, the state, the city, the neighborhood or even their watershed. Geographic

context

Cultural context Many school communities have

incredibly rich cultural diversity which can be celebrated in their schoolyards with art, events and activities that reflect the school’s population and context. Every school site and surrounding neighborhood has its own history, whether it is newly built or has stood for hundreds of years. Curricula about local history can be connected to the unique patch of ground managed by your school, and the results may be displayed creatively outdoors, for everyone to enjoy.2 Historical

context



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Place-based Understanding Activity title activity location Natural context

Animal Perspectives: Mapping the Schoolyard Explore your school grounds from another creature’s perspective — Evergreen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ISGA 26

Water Detectives Observe how water moves through the school grounds — Evergreen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ISGA 31

The Walkabout Field Guide Observe and identify trees on the school grounds — The Trust for Public Land, NYC Playgrounds Program, New York, New York, USA

ISGA 32

Baggage Tags for Learning Identify and describe plant characteristics — Evergreen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ISGA 33

The ABC Mat Use natural materials to develop language skills — Naturskolan i Lund, Lund, Sweden

ISGA 34

Painting the Seasons Follow a plant through seasonal changes — Green Schoolyards America, Berkeley, California, USA

CA 9

Finding Your Place in the World Visit an outdoor site regularly for field observations — The Presidio Trust, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 31

Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other Observe and classify natural materials — Life Lab, Santa Cruz, California, USA

CA 33

“Sense-sational” Tree Tour Observe the environment with five senses — Canopy, Palo Alto, California, USA

CA 34

Reflection Writing in Your Green Schoolyard Write about the school environment — Nature’s Voices, Green Schools Initiative, Berkeley, California, USA

CA 35

Documenting Biodiversity in Your Schoolyard Conduct ecological investigations — California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 39

Frozen Schoolyard Art Gallery Create decorative winter ornaments using ice — Green Schoolyards America, Berkeley, California, USA

MW 14


MW 23

Nature Passport Create a booklet for students to record nature adventures — Nature Net, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

MW 26

Adopt-A-Tree Record seasonal changes — Prairie Crossing Charter School, Grayslake, Illinois, USA

MW 27

Act Like Leopold Observe and sketch seasonal changes — Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Monona, Wisconsin, USA

MW 28

Poetry in the Garden Observe the garden and write poetry about it — Openlands, Chicago, Illinois, USA

MW 29

Mean, Median, Mode—Oh my! Measure trees for math — LEAF - Wisconsin’s K-12 Forestry Educ. Prog., Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA

MW 30



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Place-based Understanding Activity title activity location

Pour a Pond: Wetland Insect Exploration Collect and observe macroinvertebrates — Project F.I.S.H., East Lansing, Michigan, USA

MW 37

Follow the Drop Introduce stormwater management — Wisconsin Arboretum, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

MW 44

Geographic context

Geocaching in Your School Grounds Use GPS coordinates for outdoor problem solving — Evergreen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ISGA 35

Traveling Fruit and Vegetables Map the grounds in a team scavenger hunt — Play Learning Life, Winchester, Hampshire, England, UK

ISGA 36

Schoolyard Investigations Using Tools Conduct field research on school grounds — Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California, USA

CA 32

Create a Schoolyard Site Survey Map Record characteristics of the schoolyard — U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Sacramento, California, USA

CA 36

Decoding Midwestern Minerals and Rocks Test and identify local rocks — Avon Outdoor Learning Center, Avon, Indiana, USA

MW 31

Cultural context

Create and Fly Carp Streamers on Your Grounds Create fabric wind socks to enliven the schoolyard — Environment Design Institute, Tokyo, Japan

ISGA 10

Schoolyard Nature Lotería Create a board game with hand-drawn, nature-inspired cards — Latino Outdoors, Capitola, California, USA

CA 14

Exploring Our Relationship to Place Use a map to explore origins — Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, Occidental, California, USA

CA 28

Historical context

Trading Post Barter using handicrafts and natural materials — The Carey School, San Mateo, California, USA

ISGA 18

May Day Celebration Build a Maypole to celebrate spring — Children in Nature Collaborative, California, USA

ISGA 60

Civilizations of the Americas: Aztec Alegría Recipe Make alegría like the Aztecs — The Edible Schoolyard, Berkeley, California, USA

CA 60

Processing Acorns Prepare an acorn-based meal like Native Californians — Living Classroom, Los Altos, California, USA

CA 62

Traditional Uses of California Native Plants Demonstrate uses for a variety of plants — Living Classroom, Los Altos, California, USA

CA 70



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Wildlife and Habitat S choolyard wildlife and native habitat zones are important and engaging places that help students of all ages connect to the natural world. They illustrate that “the environment” is not just a far away place—it is something that surrounds us all in our local neighborhoods. Wildlife sanctuaries and schoolyard ecosystems, large or small, enrich school curricula while providing refuge for a variety of species. They allow students to see that wildlife can exist in urban and suburban areas and even thrive with a little help. Wildlife areas and native plantings can be connected to the curriculum in countless ways, including nature observation in science classes, sketching practice in art classes, and population estimates/counts for math classes. The strongest projects provide well-rounded habitats that fulfill the basic needs of local wildlife—consistent food sources, clean water, shelter and areas where they can rear their offspring. Successful schoolyard wildlife sanctuaries also provide places for students to observe birds, animals and insects while leaving the creatures relatively undisturbed. They are peaceful havens for quiet reflection where flora and fauna are nurtured, changes happen slowly following ecological cycles and planting schemes highlight seasonal change and mimic natural patterns.1



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Wildlife and Habitat Activity title activity location Ecosystem interconnectivity

Web of Life Demonstrate ecosystem interconnectivity — Green-Schools Ireland, Dublin, Ireland and The Foundation for Environmental Education, Copenhagen, Denmark Garden-Based Learning Lesson: Interdependence Explore habitats — Berkeley Public School Gardening & Cooking Program, Berkeley, California, USA Food Web Tag Demonstrate ecosystem interconnectivity — Greening of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, USA

ISGA 38

CA 40 MW 17

Analyze and improve schoolyard ecology

Growing Places for Ecological Learning Support local wildlife habitat — Keitaro Ito Lab, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Fukuoka, Japan

ISGA 39

Schoolyard Habitat Survey Investigate and improve schoolyard ecology — CalRecycle, Sacramento, California, USA

CA 38

Documenting Biodiversity in Your Schoolyard Conduct ecological investigations — California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 39

Plant a Native Hedgerow Support local ecology — Collaborative for High Performance Schools, Sacramento, California, USA

CA 43

Sheet Mulching: Turn Lawns into Native Gardens Replace lawn with mulch to conserve water — StopWaste, Alameda County, California, USA

CA 51

Building a Wildflower Hugel Mound Create a drought tolerant raised garden — New Horizons School, Pasadena, California, USA

CA 75

Throw and Grow MW 38 Plant native prairie grasses — Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA Passive Quadrat Sampling Collect and analyze biodiversity data — Eisenhower High School, Goddard, Kansas, USA

MW 40

Plants

Leaf Identification Challenge Practice memory, observation and non-visual sensing — Arty Plantz, Bangalore, India

ISGA 22

Baggage Tags for Learning Identify and describe plant characteristics — Evergreen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ISGA 33

Botany Bouquet Observe plants and learn scientific names — Earth Partnership for Schools, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

ISGA 40

Steal the Native Plant Compete in teams to correctly identify plants — Center for Land-Based Learning, Winters, California, USA

CA 17

Photosynthesis Tag Demonstrate how plants create energy — Los Angeles Unified School District, Office of Outdoor and Environmental Education, Los Angeles, California, USA

CA 18



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Wildlife and Habitat Activity title activity location

Object Match Challenge Use focused attention to study plants — California Native Plant Society, Sacramento, California, USA Engineer a Seed Getaway Study and test seed dispersal methods — Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, Michigan, USA

CA 41 MW 48

Insects

Butterfly Breeding Program Observe and support local butterfly populations — Pelangi School, Bali, Indonesia Butterfly Habitat Hunt Observe local ecology — National Wildlife Federation, Schoolyard Habitats®, Midpines, California, USA

ISGA 42 CA 42

Insect Biodiversity in the Prairie Collect and observe insects — Prairie Crossing Charter School, Grayslake, Illinois, USA

MW 34

Insects: Good, Bad or Both? Collect and observe insects — Kansas Assoc. for Conservation and Env. Education, Perry, Kansas, USA

MW 35

Pour a Pond: Wetland Insect Exploration Collect and observe macroinvertebrates — Project F.I.S.H., East Lansing, Michigan, USA

MW 37

Create an Insect Hotel Build habitat for beneficial insects — Butler University Lab School, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

MW 54

Worms

Worm Life Cycle Observe and diagram the worm life cycle — Education Outside, San Francisco, California, USA

ISGA 41

Birds

The Magpie Game Build a nest using strategy and collaboration — Naturskolan i Lund, Lund, Sweden

ISGA 45

Connecting Urban Birds and Climate Record and study local precipitation and bird data — Elizabeth Babalola, Nairobi, Kenya

ISGA 46

Bird House Building Build a bird house for local species — Waldorf School of the Peninsula, Los Altos, California, USA

CA 12

What Makes a Bird a Bird? Explore birds’ unique characteristics — Central Valley Joint Venture, Sacramento, California, USA

CA 44

Birds and Worms: Camouflage Relay Use a relay race to demonstrate camouflage — Project Learning Tree, Grawn, Michigan, USA


MW 33


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Wildlife and Habitat Activity title activity location Amphibians

Tadpole Inspiration Observe and document tadpoles — Sekolah Alam Nurul Islam, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

ISGA 43

Hold an Amphibian! Catch, observe and document local frogs — Friends of Nature (FON) Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

ISGA 44

Fish and Mammals

Sierra Nevada Animal Olympics Compete with Yosemite’s animals — Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, California, USA

CA 45

California Desert Animal Olympics Compete with Mojave Desert’s animals — Death Valley National Park, Death Valley, California, USA

CA 46

Blue Whale: An Animal of Unusual Size Compare tree height to a whale’s length — California Coastal Commission, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 47

Citizen Science: Contributing Data to Project Squirrel Observe and record squirrel behavior — Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

MW 36

Least Wanted: The Invasive Sea Lamprey Demonstrate invasive species using tag — Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources, Lansing, Michigan, USA

MW 39



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Watershed Stewardship C

lean, fresh water is a precious resource. It comes to our schools and communities in the form of rainfall and through municipal plumbing systems and natural waterways. It leaves school grounds through man-made storm drains and sewer networks, and by flowing over the landscape, percolating into the soil, and running through local creeks. In most cases, water from these sources is relatively clean when it arrives on school grounds and dirtier when it leaves. School communities have the power to improve their local water systems and to use them as educational resources at the same time by incorporating water planning into the design and use of school grounds.1 Stormwater management Schoolyards designed to manage stormwater can be beautiful and educational while holding and utilizing rainwater, and purifying urban runoff.

Water conservation Living schoolyards can conserve water by finding and fixing leaks, incorporating drought tolerant plant species, building gardens with efficient irrigation systems, and deeply mulching planted areas. Greywater reuse Schools can capture lightly used water from the building, purify it and then use it to water trees onsite, reducing the amount of fresh water they need from the municipal system.



22

Watershed Stewardship Activity title activity location Watershed understanding

Water Detectives Observe how water moves through the school grounds — Evergreen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ISGA 31

Create a Schoolyard Site Survey Map Record characteristics of a schoolyard — U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Sacramento, California, USA

CA 36

Follow the Water: Make a Stormwater Map Map stormwater flows on campus — The Trust for Public Land, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 49

Know Your Snow Observe snow and the water cycle — Green and Healthy Schools Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

MW 42

Stormwater management

Calculating Rainwater Runoff Measure the school’s water catchment potential — Education Outside and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 50

Watch the Water: Pervious or Impervious? Demonstrate permeability using a water race — Next.CC, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

MW 43

Follow the Drop Introduce stormwater management — Wisconsin Arboretum, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

MW 44

Water conservation

Sheet Mulching: Turn Lawns into Native Gardens Replace lawn with native gardens to conserve water — StopWaste, Alameda County, California, USA

CA 51

School Outdoor Water Use Audit Assess your schoolyard’s water efficiency — Project Green, Sacramento, California, USA

CA 52



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© Sharon danks

Schoolyard Agriculture and Food I n our increasingly urban society, people of all ages have become disconnected from the natural and agricultural environments that sustain us. Starting a school garden is one way to reconnect students and school communities with local agricultural and ecological systems and to create new, vibrant, hands-on learning environments at the same time.

Horticultural skills Culinary gardens are costeffective, hands-on learning spaces for studying natural science, botany and horticultural techniques. Gardens are commonly used to teach lessons on topics such as soil, weather, plant growth, insect life cycles and decomposition. Curriculum connections School gardens can also be springboards for topics in many disciplines. They help bring social studies and history lessons to life, and provide engaging settings for teaching arithmetic and geometry, health and nutrition, art and music, reading and foreign languages. Sharing food Edible gardens give students of all ages insight into where their food comes from, what it takes to produce it and the art of bringing it to the table in an enjoyable manner. Preparing and sharing food in the schoolyard is easier to do if schools build informal outdoor kitchen spaces with ovens or barbeques, sinks and picnic tables.1



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Schoolyard Agriculture and Food Activity title activity location Horticultural skills

Create a Bean Teepee Playhouse Build a teepee for bean vines and imaginative play— Bay Tree Design, Berkeley, California, USA

ISGA 48

Plant, Grow and Harvest a “Nibbling Garden” Grow local edible plants for children to pick themselves — Bay Tree Design, Berkeley, California, USA

ISGA 49

Guerrilla Sunflower Gardening Day Plant sunflowers in unexpected places — Crops in Pots, Karachi, Sindhi, Pakistan

ISGA 52

Seed-Raising with Paper Pots Use recycled materials to start seeds — greenED, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

ISGA 58

Seed Saving with Children Practice seed propagation — Grow Your Lunch, LLC, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 57

Growing Heirloom Wheat: Seed to Feed Plant and process wheat — Trinity Gardens, Santa Barbara and Center for Regen. Ag., Ojai, California, USA

CA 58

Compost Gourmet Introduce decomposition via composting — TreePeople, Beverly Hills, California, USA

CA 69

More Veggies for Me... Less for the Pests! Practice organic pest control — Kansas Assoc. for Conservation and Env. Education, Perry, Kansas, USA

MW 46

Growing Healthy Plants and Learners Sketch plants to understand anatomy — Openlands with Hearst Elementary School, Chicago, Illinois, USA

MW 47

Building a Hoop House Extend your growing season — The Organic Gardener, Highland Park, Illinois, USA

MW 55

Curriculum connections

Underground Stems Tell Their Stories Research a vegetable and write a story — Abruzzi School Garden, Siankhore, Baltistan, Pakistan

ISGA 50

Inspiring Speaking and Writing in Your School Garden Observe, sketch and collect data on garden changes — CitySprouts, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

ISGA 51

The Science of Soil Testing Conduct experiments — Huntington Library, Art Collections and Gardens, San Marino, California, USA

CA 54

Roots and Shoots Observe root structures — Full Option Science System (FOSS) Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA

CA 55

Plant Root Explorations Create root viewing planters — Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills, California, USA

CA 56

How Many Honey Bees? Demonstrate how bees make honey — Slide Ranch, Muir Beach, California, USA

CA 59



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Schoolyard Agriculture and Food Activity title activity location


CA 70

Engineer a Seed Getaway Study and test seed dispersal methods — Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, Michigan, USA

MW 48

Pumpkin Math Practice estimation and math — Hammerschmidt Elem., Learn + Play Gardens, Lombard, Illinois, USA

MW 49

Create an Insect Hotel Build habitat for beneficial insects — Butler University Lab School, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

MW 54

Sharing food


ISGA 23

Why Eat Colorful Rainbow Food? Discuss nutrition and eat fresh fruits and vegetables — Trinity Gardens, Santa Barbara, California, USA

CA 23

Civilizations of the Americas: Aztec Alegría Recipe Make alegría like the Aztecs — The Edible Schoolyard, Berkeley, California, USA

CA 60

Science Comes to Tea Use tea to study science — Ayesha Ercelawn, La Scuola Italian Int’l. School, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 61

Processing Acorns Prepare an acorn meal like Native Californians — Living Classroom, Los Altos, California, USA

CA 62



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Energy and Climate S

chool facilities use a substantial amount of energy for heat, light and power, and many school community members use fossil fuels to commute to school. Schools can engage students in reducing their facility’s energy footprint (and saving money), while teaching real-world lessons about where energy comes from and what it takes to produce and transmit power. Students can also be encouraged to walk and bike to school to reduce fossil fuel use.1

Renewable energy School grounds can host renewable energy demonstration systems that power decorative fountains—or the entire school—teaching children and their communities about clean and sustainable sources of energy. Climate IMPROVEMENT School ground design can address climate change and make the site more comfortable by removing pavement, which heats up in the sun, and by planting trees and shrubs to provide shade for students and school buildings.2 Curriculum connections Living schoolyards with energy and climate features that are accessible to students provide hands-on learning resources for science and other curricula. Art activities can also be tied to an understanding of the sun’s power to provide heat and light.



27

Energy and Climate Activity title activity location Energy

Introduction to Renewable Energy Model renewable energy sources — Education Outside, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 64

Make a Solar Etching Use the sun’s energy to etch designs — Rahus Institute - Solar Schoolhouse, Sebastopol, California, USA

CA 66

Diminishing Returns Demonstrate laws of thermodynamics and energy loss — KEEP - Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA

MW 51

Climate improvement

How Cool is Your Schoolyard? Measure temperature onsite for analysis — Green Schoolyards America, Berkeley, California, USA

CA 65

Curriculum connections

Connecting Urban Birds and Climate Record and study local precipitation and bird data — Elizabeth Babalola, Nairobi, Kenya

ISGA 46

Outdoor Survival Build a fire and shelter — Wisconsin Green Schools Network, Columbus, Wisconsin, USA

MW 52



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© Sharon danks

Thoughtful Use of Materials E verything a school chooses to include in its environment says something about its values. Over the last few decades, as the green building movement has grown, many schools have started to question conventional playground materials—asphalt, concrete, stainless steal, plastic and rubber—that are widely used. Schoolyard landscape features designed using sustainable, natural and recycled building materials demonstrate green building practices to the school community and can reduce the school district’s costs and impact on landfills and other urban infrastructure.3

Natural materials Living plants, wood, bamboo, straw, stone, sand, clay, adobe, snow and other natural materials are teaching tools for lessons about environmental stewardship and time-tested building techniques that are still relevant today. They lend themselves well to artistic expression and cultural connections, and to community participation in schoolyard construction and stewardship. Reclaimed and recycled materials Using salvaged materials on school grounds diverts bulky waste from landfills and recaptures the remaining value of the materials for further use. It reduces the need to mine, harvest, process and transport new materials, which in turn, saves additional energy and effort, and preserves environments at the extraction source.2



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Thoughtful Use of Materials Activity title activity location Natural materials

Robert’s Little Finger Collaborate to create a scale model using sticks — Naturskolan i Lund, Lund, Sweden

ISGA 28

Using Sand Areas to Bring Ideas to Life Use a sand pit for scientific inquiry — The Anak Atelier Preschool and Kindergarten, Bali, Indonesia

ISGA 54

Sculpting Soil Balls (Entho-Entho) Learn about soil’s physical properties — Sekolah Alam Nurul Islam, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

ISGA 55

Make a Create-With-Nature Zone Provide natural materials for students to dream up their own artwork — Zach Pine Nature Sculpture and University of California Blake Garden, Kensington, California, USA

CA 7

Nature’s Watercolors Use natural pigments to create paintings — La Scuola Italian Int’l School, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 10

Sheet Mulching: Turn Lawns into Native Gardens Replace lawn with native gardens to conserve water — StopWaste, Alameda County, California, USA

CA 51

The Nature Swap Provide natural materials for imaginative play — Nature Kids Institute, Orangevale, California, USA

CA 68


CA 70

Nature Elements in the Landscape Improve your grounds using natural elements — Bay Tree Design, inc., Berkeley, California, USA

CA 74

Decomposition

Composting with Worms Find the best worm composting “recipe” — Ramona Winkelbauer, Washington, DC, USA

ISGA 56

Bury It! Observe the decomposition process — Enviroschools, Hamilton, New Zealand

ISGA 57

Compost Gourmet Introduce decomposition via composting — TreePeople, Beverly Hills, California, USA

CA 69

Reclaimed and recycled materials


ISGA 15

Seed-Raising with Paper Pots Use recycled materials to start seeds — greenED, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

ISGA 58

Think Before You Throw: 4Rs Recycling Race Sorting relay race — Green Schools Initiative, Berkeley, California, USA


CA 71


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© Sharon danks

Community Engagement S

chool grounds are unique public spaces. They are community resources that are fully occupied during the school day—but may also be used when school is not in session to enhance the well-being of residents in the local neighborhood and the surrounding community. Festivals and SPECIAL events School grounds can

be venues for school-related public events that draw parents and family members further into their child’s education and invite the community to participate in life at school. Joint Use Some school grounds become part of their city’s public park system after hours, providing access to green space and recreation for students and other members of the local community when school is not in session. Community stewardship The process of building and sustaining green schoolyards connects communities to place, and helps to engage students, teachers, staff, parents, neighbors, businesses, nonprofits, public agencies and others in collaborations to care for and improve their school grounds. This cooperation reinforces interdependence and local self-reliance, and builds a “sense of community” while creating useful, beautiful school environments at affordable prices.3



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Community Engagement Activity title activity location Festivals and special events

Guerrilla Sunflower Gardening Day Plant sunflowers in unexpected places — Crops in Pots, Karachi, Sindhi, Pakistan

ISGA 52

May Day Celebration Build a Maypole to celebrate spring — Children in Nature Collaborative, California, USA

ISGA 60

The Big School Grounds Festival: The Comedy Stage Organize outdoor performances — Learning through Landscapes, Winchester, England

ISGA 61

School Ground Celebration Song Write a song about your school grounds — Learning through Landscapes, Winchester, England

ISGA 62


ISGA 15

Family Camp Out in the Schoolyard Organize a camping “trip” at school — Outdoors Empowered Network, San Francisco, California, USA

CA 73

Community stewardship PROJECTS

Growing Places for Ecological Learning Support local habitat — Keitaro Ito Lab, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Fukuoka, Japan

ISGA 39

Plant a Native Hedgerow Support local ecology — Collaborative for High Performance Schools, Sacramento, California, USA

CA 43

Sheet Mulching: Turn Lawns into Native Gardens Replace lawn with mulch to conserve water — StopWaste, Alameda County, California, USA

CA 51

Nature Elements in the Landscape Improve your grounds using natural elements — Bay Tree Design, inc., Berkeley, California, USA

CA 74

Building a Wildflower Hugel Mound Create a drought tolerant garden mound — New Horizons School, Pasadena, California, USA

CA 75

Create an Insect Hotel Build insect habitat — Butler University Lab School, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

MW 54

Building a Hoop House Extend your growing season — The Organic Gardener, Highland Park, Illinois, USA

MW 55



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International Contributors The International School Grounds Month Activity Guide is the result of a fruitful collaboration between the International School Grounds Alliance and 37 organizations around the world, who each contributed a school ground activity that reflects their own organization’s mission and programs. The diversity of ideas they shared will now enrich school ground programs in many countries. We greatly appreciate everyone’s participation and extend our sincere and heartfelt thanks. Abruzzi School Garden Program Siankhore, Baltistan, Pakistan www.abruzzischoolgarden.com

Crops in Pots Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan www.facebook.com/cropsinpot

The Anak Atelier Preschool and Kindergarten Ungasan, Bali, Indonesia www.theanakatelier.com

Earth Partnership for Schools Madison, Wisconsin, USA www.uwarboretum.org/eps Education Outside San Francisco, California, USA www.educationoutside.org

ArtyPlantz: Karthikeyan V, Ramya Priya S, Surya Suresh Bangalore, India www.artyplantz.org Elizabeth Babalola Lagos, Nigeria

Ayesha Ercelawn La Scuola International School San Francisco, California, USA www.lascuolasf.org

Bay Tree Design, inc. Berkeley, California, USA www.baytreedesign.com

Environment Design Institute Tokyo, Japan www.ms-edi.co.jp/youho/htdocs

Herb Broda Ashland University Ashland, Ohio, USA www.movingtheclassroomoutdoors.com

Enviroschools Hamilton, New Zealand www.enviroschools.org.nz

The Carey School San Mateo, California, USA www.careyschool.org Children in Nature Collaborative San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA www.cincbayarea.org

The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) Copenhagen, Denmark www.fee.global, www.ecoschools.global

CitySprouts Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA www.citysprouts.org

Friends of Nature (FON) Nepal Kathmandu, Nepal www.fonnepal.org


Evergreen Toronto, Ontario, Canada www.evergreen.ca


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Fundación Patio Vivo Santiago, Chile www.patiovivo.cl

Life Lab Santa Cruz, California, USA www.lifelab.org

Green-Schools Ireland Dublin, Ireland www.greenschoolsireland.org

Naturskolan i Lund Lund, Sweden www.lund.se

Green Schoolyards America Berkeley, California, USA www.greenschoolyards.org

Pelangi School Ubud, Bali, Indonesia www.pelangischoolbali.com

greenED Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia www.greenED.com.au

Play Learning Life Winchester, England, UK www.playlearninglife.org.uk

Greenstone Design Auckland, New Zealand www.greenstonedesign.co.nz

Pop-Up Adventure Play Manchester, England, UK www.popupadventureplay.org

Grounds for Learning Stirling, Scotland, UK www.ltl.org.uk/scotland

Sekolah Alam Nurul Islam Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia www.sekolahalamjogja.com

Hoang Thi Ha Hong Duc University Thanh Hóa Province, Vietnam www.hdu.edu.vn/en-us

David Sobel Antioch University New England Keene, New Hampshire, USA www.antiochne.edu

Horace Mann Elementary School Washington, DC, USA www.horacemanndc.org

The Trust for Public Land NYC Playgrounds Program New York, New York, USA www.tpl.org

Keitaro ITO Lab Kyushu Institute of Technology Fukuoka, Japan www.keitaroito-lab-kit.com

Ramona Winkelbauer Washington, DC, USA

Learning through Landscapes Winchester, England, UK www.ltl.org.uk



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California Contributors The Living Schoolyard Activity Guide - California Edition is the result of a fruitful collaboration between Green Schoolyards America and 54 other organizations across the state of California in the United States. Each author contributed a schoolyard activity that reflects their own organization’s mission and programs. The diversity of ideas they shared will now enrich school ground programs across California and beyond. We greatly appreciate everyone’s participation and extend our sincere and heartfelt thanks. Sarah Amador Evergreen Elementary School Rohnert Park, California, USA crpusd.schoolwires.net/evergreen

Center for Land-Based Learning Winters, California, USA www.LandBasedLearning.org Center for Regenerative Agriculture Ojai, California, USA www.ojaicra.org

American Heart Association Los Angeles, California, USA www.heart.org

Central Valley Joint Venture Sacramento, California, USA www.centralvalleyjointventure.org

Bay Tree Design, inc. Berkeley, California, USA www.baytreedesign.com

Chino Basin Water Conservation District Montclair, California, USA www.cbwcd.org

Berkeley Public School Gardening & Cooking Program Berkeley, California, USA www.berkeleyschools.net/gcp

Collaborative for High Performance Schools Sacramento, California, USA www.chps.net

CalRecycle Sacramento, California, USA www.CaliforniaEEI.org California Academy of Sciences San Francisco, California, USA www.calacademy.org/educators

Community Alliance with Family Farmers Davis, California, USA www.caff.org

California Coastal Commission San Francisco, California, USA www.coastforyou.org

Death Valley National Park Death Valley, California, USA www.nps.gov/deva

California Native Plant Society Sacramento, California, USA www.cnps.org

The Edible Schoolyard Berkeley, California, USA www.edibleschoolyard.org

Canopy Palo Alto, California, USA www.canopy.org

Education Outside San Francisco, California, USA www.educationoutside.org



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Explore Ecology Santa Barbara, California, USA www.exploreecology.org

Living Classroom Los Altos, California, USA www.living-classroom.org

Full Option Science System (FOSS) Berkeley, California, USA www.fossweb.com

Los Angeles Unified School District Office of Outdoor and Env. Education Los Angeles, California, USA www.outdooreducation.org

Green Schools Initiative Berkeley, California, USA www.greenschools.net

Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey, California, USA www.montereybayaquarium.org


National Wildlife Federation, Schoolyard Habitats® Midpines, California, USA www.nwfcalifornia.org

Grow Your Lunch, LLC San Francisco, California, USA www.growyourlunch.com

Nature Kids Institute Orangevale, California, USA www.naturekidsinstitute.org

Hidden Villa Los Altos Hills, California, USA www.hiddenvilla.org The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens San Marino, California, USA www.huntington.org La Scuola International School San Francisco, California, USA www.lascuolasf.org

Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley Berkeley, California, USA www.outdoorbiology.com Life Lab Santa Cruz, California, USA www.lifelab.org

greenschoolyards.org SM

New Horizon School Pasadena, California, USA www.newhorizonschool.org Occidental Arts and Ecology Center Occidental, California, USA www.oaec.org

Latino Outdoors Capitola, California, USA www.latinooutdoors.org

green schoolyards america

Nature’s Voices Berkeley, California, USA www.naturesvoices.org

Outdoors Empowered Network San Francisco, California, USA www.outdoorsempowered.org Playworks Oakland, California, USA www.playworks.org The Presidio Trust San Francisco, California, USA www.presidio.gov


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Rahus Institute - Solar Schoolhouse Sebastopol, California, USA www.solarschoolhouse.org

Trinity Gardens Santa Barbara, California, USA www.trinitygardenssb.org

Sacramento City Unified School District Sacramento, California, USA www.scusd.edu/project-green-programs

The Trust for Public Land San Francisco, California, USA www.TPL.org

San Francisco Botanical Garden San Francisco, California, USA www.sanfranciscobotanicalgarden.org

BLAKE GARDEN

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission San Francisco, California, USA www.sfwater.org

University of California Blake Garden Kensington, California, USA www.laep.ced.berkeley.edu/blakegarden U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Sacramento, California, USA fws.gov/cno/conservation/schoolyard.cfm

San Francisco Unified School District San Francisco, California, USA sfusdscience.org/environmental-science-center Slide Ranch Muir Beach, California, USA www.slideranch.org

Waldorf School of the Peninsula Los Altos, California, USA www.waldorfpeninsula.org Yosemite National Park Education Office Wawona, California, USA www.nps.gov/yose/learn/education Zach Pine Nature Sculpture Kensington, California, USA www.naturesculpture.com

StopWaste Alameda County, California, USA www.stopwaste.org TreePeople Beverly Hills, California, USA www.treepeople.org



37

Midwest Contributors The Living Schoolyard Activity Guide - Midwest Edition is the result of a fruitful collaboration between Green Schoolyards America and 32 organizations working in the Midwestern part of the United States. Each author contributed a schoolyard activity that reflects their organization’s mission and programs. The diversity of ideas they shared will now enrich school ground programs across the Midwest and beyond. We greatly appreciate everyone’s participation and extend our sincere and heartfelt thanks. Aldo Leopold Nature Center Monona, Wisconsin, USA www.aldoleopoldnaturecenter.org


Avon Outdoor Learning Center Avon, Indiana, USA www.avon-schools.org

Susan Hobart, Lake View Elementary School Madison, Wisconsin, USA www.lakeview.madison.k12.wi.us

Herb Broda, Ashland University Ashland, Ohio, USA www.movingtheclassroomoutdoors.com

IPS School 60 / Butler University Lab School Indianapolis, Indiana, USA www.myips.org/Domain/27

The Chicago Academy of Sciences Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum Chicago, Illinois, USA www.naturemuseum.org/education

Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education (KACEE) Perry, Kansas, USA www.kacee.org

Chicago Botanic Garden Lake Forest, Illinois, USA www.chicagobotanic.org

KidsGardening.org Burlington, Vermont, USA www.kidsgardening.org

Earth Partnership, University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum Madison, Wisconsin, USA www.arboretum.wisc.edu/learn/eps

Lake Erie Nature and Science Center Bay Village, Ohio, USA www.LENSC.org

Eisenhower High School Goddard, Kansas, USA www.ehs.goddardusd.com

LEAF - Wisconsin’s K-12 Forestry Education Program Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA www.leafprogram.org

LEAF - Wisconsin’s K-12 Forestry Education Program

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Greening of Detroit Detroit, Michigan, USA www.greeningofdetroit.com

N+PLAY GARDENS LEAR

Green and Healthy Schools Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin, USA www.ghswisconsin.org


Lombard School District 44, Hammerschmidt Elementary, Learn + Play Gardens Chicago, Illinois, USA www.whslearnandplaygardens.org


38

Mary Michaud, Van Hise Elementary School Outdoor Classroom Madison, Wisconsin, USA www.vhgarden.wordpress.com

Openlands Chicago, Illinois, USA www.openlands.org The Organic Gardener Ltd. Highland Park, Illinois, USA www.theorganicgardener.net

Michigan Department of Natural Resources Lansing, Michigan, USA www.michigan.gov/nature programs

Phoebe A. Hearst Fine Arts Magnet School Chicago, Illinois, USA www.hearst.cps.edu

Michigan Project Learning Tree Traverse City, Michigan, USA www.michiganplt.org

Prairie Crossing Charter School Grayslake, Illinois, USA www.prairiecrossingcharterschool.org

Joan Chadde, Michigan Tech CSEO and Susan Trull, Ottawa National Forest Houghton, Michigan, USA www.wupcenter.mtu.edu

Project Central Kansas City, Kansas, USA www.projcentral.co

Mississippi National River and Recreation Area St. Paul, Minnesota, USA www.nps.gov/miss

Project F.I.S.H. East Lansing, Michigan, USA www.projectfish.org

Nature Net Monona, Wisconsin, USA www.naturenet.com

Wisconsin Green Schools Network Columbus, Wisconsin, USA www.wisconsingreenschoolsnetwork.org

Next.CC Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA www.NEXT.cc

y Ba uar nct yB each Wildlife Sa Green Bay, WI

OAK Learning Center at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA www.baybeachwildlife.com/kindergarten


Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program (KEEP) Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA www.KEEPprogram.org

LEAF - Wisconsin’s K-12 Forestry Education Program


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© Sharon danks

International School Grounds Alliance T he International School Grounds Alliance (ISGA) is a global network of organizations working to enrich children’s learning and play by improving the way school grounds are designed and used.

•

Become a member of ISGA and receive our newsletter: http://bit.ly/ISGAjoin

The isga believes school grounds should:

•

Attend our upcoming conferences: http://bit.ly/ISGAconf

Join the conversation

•

Provide powerful opportunities for hands-on learning

•

Nurture students’ physical, social and emotional

•

•

Reflect and embrace their local ecological, social and cultural context

Participate in our LinkedIn Group to find the most up to date research that supports this field: http://bit.ly/ISGALI

•

Like our Facebook page: http://bit.ly/ISGAFBk

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Embrace risk-taking as an essential component of learning and child development

•

Be open public spaces, accessible to their communities

development and well-being

The isga does this by:

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Focusing on the way school grounds are used, designed and managed

•

Facilitating a dialogue about innovative research, design, education and policy

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Fostering partnerships between professionals and organizations across the globe

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Organizing international conferences and programs

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Advocating for student and school community participation in the design, construction and stewardship of school grounds

•

Promoting the value of enriched school grounds as uniquely positioned, engaging environments for children


The international school grounds movement is growing rapidly and flourishing in many places. Schools in dozens of countries are leading the way, finding innovative approaches that weave learning into their landscapes, diversify their recreational offerings, enhance their local ecology, and reflect their unique location and cultural context. The ISGA is a membership organization, bringing together leaders in the fields of school ground use, design and management. Membership is free. We invite you to join the ISGA to declare your commitment to creating and caring for these special environments that support children and young people’s learning, play and well-being. Join us today by visiting http://bit.ly/ISGAjoin


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© Sharon danks

Green Schoolyards America Our Mission is to inspire and enable communities across

the United States to enrich their school grounds and use them to improve children’s well-being, learning and play while contributing to the ecological health and resilience of cities.

Green Schoolyards America is a national organization that expands and strengthens the green schoolyard movement and empowers Americans to become stewards of their school and neighborhood environments. We believe that school grounds are uniquely positioned to enrich the daily lives of children and their communities, occupying both the geographic and social heart of almost every city across the USA and around the world.

We facilitate public dialogue about innovative research,

design, education and policy and foster partnerships between professionals and organizations across the USA and around the globe. Our programs promote the green schoolyard movement, build relationships that help it succeed and work to embed this paradigm shift in our existing institutions and national policy and regulatory frameworks.

Green your schoolyard

We value the uniqueness of each school and celebrate

•

Visit our website’s resource page for helpful articles to support your efforts: http://bit.ly/GSAresources

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Subscribe to our newsletter: http://bit.ly/GSAnews

•

Read Asphalt to Ecosystems, written by our CEO, Sharon Danks, to learn what’s happening in schoolyards around the world. Available from your local library or our nonprofit publisher, New Village Press: http://bit.ly/DanksA2E

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Visit our Facebook page (http://bit.ly/GSAFBk1) and LinkedIn page (http://bit.ly/GSALI) to keep up with current research and events in this field.

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Encourage your city government and school district to adopt a Living Schoolyard resolution: http://bit.ly/CaACR128

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Please contact us at [email protected] if you’d like to bring living schoolyards to your school district or region. We also welcome new contributors to next year’s schoolyard Activity Guides.

local sense of place while promoting learning, environmental sustainability, lifelong health, recreation and community engagement. We believe strongly in the value of student and community participation in schoolyard design, construction and stewardship. We provide resources, training and support for school districts and partner with nonprofits, businesses, public agencies and utilities to effect change across the USA. We collaborate with educational institutions to develop comprehensive, district-wide green schoolyard programs with strong connections to local sustainable-city planning efforts, regional ecosystems, educational standards and health. We invite like-minded professionals and organizations

to collaborate to nurture and grow the movement to green school grounds. Green Schoolyards America is fiscally sponsored by Architects/ Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, a 501(c)(3) corporation. green schoolyards america greenschoolyards.org SM


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