Grant Helps Fund Hermansen Outdoor Learning Envinronment

Article submitted by Valley View School District by school board clerk Delorise Ivy:

Kenneth L. Hermansen Elementary School students and staff will be able to enjoy a reading garden and outdoor learning environment thanks, in part, to a $5,000 grant obtained by fifth-grade teacher Sheila Fields.

Fields said Hermansen officials envision a reading garden where students can go to help their imagination blossom through books, while experiencing nature.  Thanks to the new addition to make room for all-day kindergarten, the newly created area will fit perfectly in the courtyard area that is easily accessible to students in VVSD’s autism program as well as students of all grade levels. 

The grassy area, enclosed on three sides by school walls full of windows, would allow students to read and learn in a peaceful and gentle environment while breathing fresh air and communing with nature. Students will be able to  relax without being confined by walls and distractions from a noise filled classroom. 

“There’s nothing like sitting outside listening to the birds chirp, listening to the soothing sound of the wind, lying in the grass, reading a book with friends,” one student said.

“One of the things I had to get experience in was writing a grant,” said Fields who is pursuing her doctorate in curriculum and instruction. “I figured since I had to write a grant for a class requirement anyway I might as well write a grant that would benefit our school and district. So I decided to look and see what grants were out there for a reading garden and outdoor learning environment.”

The $5,000 Lowes Toolbox Grant request included a planting bed for each grade level to plant whatever they would like to plant, a picnic table, benches, landscaping and a butterfly garden. The total cost for the outdoor learning environment will be $7,200 with the remainder of the funds coming from a school fundraiser. 

“This space will also be used as a learning environment that will support environmental education and the sciences (ecology, biology, horticulture and natural science), as well as the core subject areas,” Fields said.

A team of students, parents, staff and community members will begin work on the area this summer.