Bristol Outdoor Classroom A Work of Heart

Our program, the Bristol Outdoor Classroom a Work of Heart, is on a mission to get our students outside and learning about nature and our natural environment. We’ve already made strides towards this end and participating Bristol Public Schools are already getting their hands dirty by creating and growing their very own veggie gardens each season!

So what’s next?
We need your help to meet our fund raising goal of $13,000 in order to take the next step providing students and teachers with additional outdoor learning spaces. Every donation will be matched 100% from Sustainable CT. With over 25 students per classroom, your donation however big or small will help create 13 outdoor classrooms. Over 6,000 students will receive the benefit of the extra space needed to expand hands-on learning opportunities while connecting with nature. In some cases, these classrooms will be in addition to the existing garden spaces or challenge courses. 

These outdoor classrooms will give teachers the ability to go outside with their students. All subjects or curriculum can be taught in the outdoor classroom while teaching students the importance of taking care of our environment. Students learn best by doing. This is a perfect opportunity for them to get away from the computers and make learning fun while getting in touch with nature.

We will also be adding an outdoor classroom to the Pine Lake Adventure Park, a challenge course. This course presents participants with physical obstacles that require them to creatively problem solve in order to be successful. By installing an outdoor classroom onsite, facilitators will be able to transition students from the classroom to an outdoor environment. The space will be utilized for reviewing important safety procedures, setting goals and working with the school system’s curriculum to set learning outcomes for participants. The park is overseen by the Bristol Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services Department.

A location will be picked out with each Principal.

All materials will be purchased for the enclosed chalkboards. We will begin building them from our template. 

All chalkboards will be painted and prepped for use.

All flex seating will go out to bid and we will do a mix of 5 different pieces of seating 

All chalkboards will be installed and flex seating will be delivered to each participating school & Pine Lake Adventure Park. 

In the spring of 2019 Public Works launched the Bristol Gardens a Work of Heart project. Our mission for this project is to give hands on experience to our students, through creating and growing their very own gardens each season. This experience will supplement their education in the classroom while growing a vegetable garden from scratch each season and using the vegetables either to eat with their family or selling them at the local farmers market. With the support from the Principals, teachers, and volunteers this will be a huge success.

While working on various projects (organic cleaners, recycling & composting workshops) with the students indoors, we experienced firsthand the limited space in the classrooms for hands on learning.  DPW thought "Wouldn't it be great if we had a chalkboard out in the garden area to work out our ideas and problems?". The DPW team created an enclosed chalkboard that will work in every school from Pre-K through 12th grade. It is very important that City departments work together to make our students as successful as possible.