Integrated Learning and Teaching in the Moment: Outdoors at Abingdon Elementary School

by Mary Van Dyke

Thanks very much to Abingdon Elementary School’s 3rd Grade Teacher, Mark Fox and Jordan Kivitz, Science Lab Teacher for hosting this month’s APS School Garden Meetup hour.

Mark and Jordan share a brief history of their school garden, tips on their integrative teaching approach and garden maintenance, and some salient stories. Mark has been at Abingdon Elementary School a couple of years now and this is Jordan’s first year at the school and they are working together to bring experiential learning experiences to the children. A month ago, a teacher and class looked out of their window and saw a fox walking in the woods near the school. The fox then caught a rabbit right in front of the class’s eyes. Mark also found a family of bunnies in the garden. Such a direct and memorable experience for a class can be easily tied by a skilled teacher to the relevant grade-level curriculum for the students: in this case food webs, lifecycles, habitats, urban ecology and more.

Jordan takes K- 5 students out as often as he can to learn to the Outdoor Science Lab - aka The Garden.

At this point 4th grade have committed to VA Studies and have not participated, but at other APS schools, 4th graders do go outdoors to learn. There’s a wide variety of programs for outdoor learning at each of the elementary schools within APS and during the Meetup we share these differences and our commonalities. Jordan studied integrative learning at college, and now designs curriculum-linked experiential lessons for outdoors: including weather, soil, plant and animal habitat and lifecycle studies.

The Garden is fenced, there is some water and a shed nearby, and there is a big covered composting bin.  

 

Plenty of rabbits live in the area. The Garden is formally laid out. Within the picket fence, there is a series of large raised beds to each side, a center aisle and a gathering space near the entrance.

Teachers have adopted some of the raised bed plots. Teachers are using QR codes to link to the Abingdon Garden website with info on each of the beds. One teacher has a successful pollinator garden with herbs and flowers.

Another teacher is growing an ornamental cabbage garden.
Mark mentioned that the students love the Bok Choy they grow too!

Other plots were planted in the fall with tulips and spring bulbs.

Students are measuring rainfall and observing the weather outdoors.

We talk about vegetables to plant in the spring that cycle with the school year: what will grow best in the shadier beds, what will thrive in the sun? One early spring crop to grow could be potatoes, another could be kale? Mark tells a story about 200 cabbage plants arriving as a gift, and how they got bugs!  That was another memorable teaching moment.

One challenge is enabling more classroom teachers to feel comfortable and competent teaching outside. Teachers are often concerned that the maintenance will be too much for them if they take on a bed

Help is much appreciated from parents and community. Mark as 3rd Grade Teacher takes out his students and also helps with coordinating garden maintenance and reclaimed the garden when he first arrived. This year he organized the very successful community clean-up their Green Apple Day of Service, that was filmed by Green Scene (and highlights service days at Abingdon, Discovery and Jamestown ES).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvKirA0n4Ak

Custodians are now set to help Mark with mowing of the grass in the garden. We talk about techniques such as sowing cover crops to improve soil condition, or layering beds with newspaper and mulch to reduce weeds while waiting to plant crops.

The Abingdon Garden will be moved in upcoming renovations of the school. Mark and Jordan are optimistic about the relocation of the Garden and opportunities to further develop the Garden and their teaching program on a new site. Although it will be a big transition, it’s also a chance to redesign the garden, focus on their community, the students and what the current needs are, and to perhaps with some funding to add some more supporting infrastructure, irrigation and other features.

We discuss year-round outdoor learning curriculum and how to more share between us all?

Perhaps anyone interested could meet up informally during the summer and share pacing and grade-level projects and lesson ideas?

Thanks again to Mark Fox and Jordan Kivitz for hosting this month's APS Garden Meetup, an initiative of the APS Superintendent's Advisory Committee on Sustainability.

Please join us for the next APS Garden Meetups:

January 11, 4 - 5 PM
Special discussion on energy activities for schools in partnership with the Superintendent's Advisory Committee on Sustainability and the Arlington School's Green Action Award, host Elenor Hodges, ACE. Place to be confirmed.

February 8 , 4 - 5 PM at Tuckahoe ES
Come network and share activities for wintry days with Margaret Egan, STEAM Teacher and Tuckahoe PTA representative Andrea Kaplowitz.