Portsmouth School Department wins award for outdoor learning initiatives

Written by Bethany Brunelle, Newport Daily News

Click to read on Newport Daily News Website

PORTSMOUTH - The School Department has recently won two awards for their outstanding achievements and commitment in bringing outdoor learning opportunities to K-8 classrooms. 

One of the awards was a surprise for Assistant Superintendent Elizabeth Viveiros, who was among the first group to bring the concept of outdoor learning to the department when she was the principal at Melville Elementary School. 

"It was pretty awesome. The name of the award is called the Green Difference Award and it's awarded to people who make a difference with just outdoor experiences, so ours was specific to outdoor learning and exploration," she said. 

Then, as a district, they achieved the 2021 Green Ribbon Award.

"So that was pretty exciting and that green ribbon award was not only for all of our outdoor learning spaces, but all of the work that we're doing in all four of our schools as far as going green initiatives," she said. 

Outdoor lessons 

Both elementary schools have outdoor school gardens and outdoor habitats, and at Melville Elementary School there's an outdoor learning center.

Two years ago the district partnered with the Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District and Cloverbud Ranch to teach children and families agricultural innovation. 

Some of the lessons students learn in their outside classroom are about whats in the soil, bugs and biodiversity. At the gardens, students learn about what kinds of plants are good to plant, soil diversity, and regenerative.

"It's very important for the kids to get outside for social and emotional reasons. It just resets their brain. There's a better connection with education when it's right in front of them. They learn so much better when they're hands-on," said Margie Brennan, Portsmouth School Department's science coach. 

Getting outside is also good for the teachers, Brennan said. 

"Both elementary schools just did their last professional development with outdoor learning and even though the teachers were super busy and strapped because they have a lot to do to get their classrooms back up and running from our COVID year,  you could tell they were kind of like, "this is a breath of fresh air,'" she said. 

Aside from the outdoor learning experiences, some of the schools have begun composting on school grounds, with the assistance of the nonprofit agency, Clean Ocean Access. 

Student harvested food is donated to two local food pantries. 

The beginning of a movement 

When Viveiros was principal at Melville Elementary School, she said their playground began to sink, so they had to move it. This resulted in an open space on the school grounds. The space was still unusable because it would pool up with water. 

So the district partnered with an organization called Thrive Outside, an organization that focuses on outdoor learning, and Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District to figure out what to do with that space. 

They were awarded a grant funded through the Rhode Island Department of Transportation for $50,000. 

"They were making it a priority to ensure that they could treat the storm water that flows from West Main Road to Melville Pond, so our space was almost like touching the water, and it would eventually run off into the pond. So the structure that we built was not only an outdoor learning space, but it was also a storm water mitigation process," Viveiros said. 

A learning connection to nature 

Research, she said, supports that learning comes alive when students are able to explore and have dynamic hands-on experiences. 

"We wanted to ensure that we could provide that with this opportunity and this learning experience. So as we developed that space and we created also an outdoor classroom, so that teachers can bring their teaching and learning outside. So it's not about only bringing the sciences outside, it's about bringing all sorts of different lesson areas," she said. 

Viveiros said teachers have taught math lessons in the outdoor classroom, and have brought students out there to write and read. 

"It really is connected to all the work we're doing as a district in really trying to create these experiences for these students, so they can be these life-long learners of really connecting with the environment around them. That's really important to us. We want them to have these real world experiences," she said. 

The district's science standards connect to the outdoor learning and extends their learning authentically, and it allows them to apply the content and concepts to those real world experiences. 

"It also provides that connection to nature, so that it's a multi-sensory experience for the students," she said. 

Since the Portsmouth School Department began implementing outdoor learning, Viveiros said it's been well-received by both students and parents. 

Bethany Brunelle can be reached at bbrunelle@newportri.com  907-575-8528 or @bethanyfreuden1 on Twitter, Insta: bethanyfreudenthal, TikTok: thehijabicrimereporter, Muckrack:  https://muckrack.com/bethany-freudenthal