FLORENCE-Forest Hills Elementary School in the Florence City School System will celebrate their certification as an official Outdoor Classroom School through the Alabama Wildlife Federation’s Alabama Outdoor Classroom Program and as an official Schoolyard Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation with a ceremony on April 29, 2019 at 1:00 PM in the gym. Forest Hills will be the 1st school in Florence City School System to certify their outdoor classroom through the Alabama Outdoor Classroom. Forest Hills will provide a model for other schools in Florence City and across Alabama who would like to develop an outdoor classroom and schoolyard wildlife habitat on their school grounds to provide hands-on learning opportunities for their students.
During Forest Hills Outdoor Classroom Certification Ceremony, the Alabama Wildlife Federation will recognize the school’s accomplishments by presenting them an official Alabama Outdoor Classroom certification sign, a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat sign, and an Outdoor Classroom Activity Kit provided by Cabela’s Outdoor Fund that includes activity materials and resources such as field identification guides, magnifying loupes, and other educational material that the students can use to explore their outdoor classroom’s habitat and study their environment. In addition, Dr. Doug Phillips with the Alabama Public Television show Discovering Alabama is donating the entire DVD series with teacher guides that explore Alabama’s wild places and natural resources. After the ceremony, you are invited to take a tour of the school’s outdoor classroom guided.
The Alabama Outdoor Classroom (AOC) Program, a partnership between the Alabama Wildlife Federation (AWF), the Alabama Cooperative Extension System 4-H, and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, provides technical assistance for schools who want to develop sustainable outdoor learning stations and wildlife habitat that can be utilized for engaging, investigative activities that allow students of all ages to utilize multiple-disciplinary skills (including math, science, history, geography, and language arts) in a fun and exciting environment. Forest Hills outdoor classroom provides enrichment activities that tie into their Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum and teach students about their environment and natural resources. More specifically, their outdoor classroom includes the following:
- A turtle habitat with Eastern Box Turtle where students learn about the needs of turtles and their role in the ecosystem;
- A butterfly garden where students study the life cycle stages of a butterfly and the migration patterns of butterflies like the Monarch butterfly through the Journey North program;
- A lizard wall to study reptiles shelter needs and characteristics of cold blooded animals;
- A frog bog and pond that provides allows students to study frogs and aquatic plants;
- A weather station that allows students to analyze data collected from weather instruments such as thermometers, hygrometers, and barometers and anemometers;
- A sensory garden where students can use their five senses as they experience different sounds, shapes, colors and textures; and
- Raised bed gardens for students to learn good gardening techniques;
- A measurement wall where students can observe size differences and similarities between birds and their body;
- A music wall to understand sound and communication in nature;
- An outdoor seating area where teachers can gather their students to discuss the data and observations the students have collected in the outdoor classroom site.
Forest Hills outdoor classroom planning committee is led by Assistant Principal, Laurie Fowler and individual classroom teachers that have helped to create and maintain a variety of learning stations along with community volunteers. The school’s outdoor classroom is a community project with technical, financial and volunteer support from the Alabama Wildlife Federation, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Forest Hills PTO, Forest Hills parents, local master gardeners, Alabama Ag in the Classroom, Lauderdale County Soil & Water Conservation, and numerous other community partners providing grants, donations, and support.
At present, over 300 schools across Alabama are developing and using outdoor classroom sites through the Alabama Outdoor Classroom Program. For more information on the Alabama Outdoor Classroom Program, visit the Alabama Wildlife Federation’s website at https://www.alabamawildlife.org/outdoor-classroom-program/, or you can contact April Waltz, AWF Conservation Education Specialist and Alabama Outdoor Classroom Program Coordinator, at 256-882-9183 or aprilwaltz@alabamawildlife.org.
Media Release/Nira Dale Director of Instruction & Digital Media/Florence City Schools
