Outdoor Exploration Environment for Primary Students

School:: Dune Lakes Elementary School
Subject:: Low Performing Students
Teacher:: Julie Perk
: Allison Sheehan
Students Impacted:: 400
Grade:: K-5
Date:: October 14, 2020

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

St. Joe Community Foundation - $1,500.00

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 500

Multiple classrooms and grade levels have benefitted from the improvements made through this grant. Students in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade utilize the southeast courtyard for recess on a rotation schedule. Open-ended play and exploration occur daily!!

Original Grant Overview

Goal

The goal of this grant request is to provide a play landscape of natural materials to encourage physical activity and social interaction skills, to develop large and small muscle skills, and to stimulate imaginative play experiences.

What will be done with my students

Primary students in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade will have access to a specialized natural outdoor play-space for 20 minutes at least once a week. Students will have the opportunity to explore a landscape with natural materials such as tree stumps for leaping and boulders for climbing. A variety of ground materials such as grass, sand, pea gravel, and wood chips will provide sensory experiences.
The parent organization at my school will be asked to provide the labor to install the play space materials.

Benefits to my students

"Play-based learning helps engage elementary students in their education and has cognitive, physical, social, and emotional benefits." - edutopia.org

Very little time is left after the required minutes of subject area instruction during the school day for free exploration with peers. This exploration landscape will benefit students by encouraging creative play to practice social skills while exercising motor development.

"Several experimental studies show that school kids pay more attention to academics after they've had an unstructured break in which kids are free to play without direction from adults." - parentingscience.com

Budget Narrative

A slide to put into an existing hillside, $100. Tree stumps - $200. Garden boulders, $200. Wood edging to keep ground materials contained, $400. Ground materials of sand, gravel, and mulch at $200 each, $600 total.