TRENTON, Maine — School leaders at Trenton Elementary School are taking the classroom outside with a new grant-funded program.
The school recently received $250,000 dollars from the Maine Department of Education to construct an outdoor classroom for students to learn about the nature around them.
School leaders will soon be taking input from students on what they would like it to look like.
Principal Crystal DaGraca says jumping off points already in the discussion include spaces as fluid as an outdoor theatre or something more traditional with singular desks.
A portion of the funding will also go towards two new vans to transport students to other community partners like Willowind Therapeutic Riding Center in Bar Harbor or Acadia National Park.
DaGraca says she has already seen the payoff from students' learning when it is paired with real-life context.
"I think it's that real-life experience. We tell kids that they're going to need this math in the future, but they don't know it until they get to the future. So, it's hard to engage them early on," DaGraca said. "We can teach science in a textbook, but it's much better when you go to a stream, or a frog pond, and we learn about life cycles by watching them go from tadpoles [to] turning into frogs."
The school hopes to have the program finalized by 2024.