AGAWAM – During the Agawam School Committee meeting hosted on May 14, STEM teacher Sandra Johnson and Agawam Junior High School paraprofessional Laura Fallon gave a presentation on open classrooms.

Johnson began the presentation with a slide explaining why an outdoor classroom would be useful for Agawam Junior High School students. The slide included a quote from “Developing an Outdoor Classroom to provide Education Naturally” by Creig C. Kimbro. The slide read, “Outside every school building exists a blossoming world of ‘natural studies’ with all types of structures that can do a better job of teaching than video tapes and computers, as children often learn best by ‘doing’.”

Johnson explained that there are three phases planned for the outdoor classroom. Phase one, the exploration phase, includes community cleanup, a birdhouse project, tree projects and citizen scientists. Phase two, the classroom phase, includes slab foundation, a locked electrical outlet, work tables and a guardrail. Phase three, the walkways phase, includes a railroad bed, elevated areas, gravel paths and a small bridge.

“We have already started. We are beginning to clean up the property. We are locating and identifying our oldest tree and we are installing birdhouses,” Johnson said.

Johnson continued, “We have begun cleanup along the path of the junior high school going into Granger School. The remaining grounds will be cleared including the wetlands. We will be working with the Conservation Commission and the town’s Department of Public Works.”

Johnson showed a photo of birdhouse prototypes that students will build during the presentation. “We are reverse mainstreaming with our inclusive students to construct birdhouses. Some of the birdhouses that have been built we have given to the fourth grade students at Granger Elementary. We are planning to have these birdhouses hung along the path coming into the junior high school and also in the back forest by Granger, by the baseball field in hopes that, number one, the elementary school students will enjoy the birdhouses. And then, once they come to the junior high school, they can see their work several years later,” Johnson said.

Fallon discussed tree projects. “I’d like to talk about the tree projects because it’s a perfect example of the many things that can be done with the property and everything that’s here,” Fallon shared.

Fallon continued, “First of all, we’re going to continue our exploration project by giving each classroom a forestry flag tape and they’re going to explore the property and tie a yellow ribbon around the oldest tree on the property that they think. They’re going to identify a tree and we’re going to make a tree marker and we’re going to identify a tree on that property.”

Math students will use plotting to build graphs from the trees, according to Fallon.

“Math has talked to me about it. They’re very anxious to go out and do graphing and plotting and mapping and all the things that math does. I’m really excited about that,” Fallon said.

Fallon explained that the school year was a perfect time for students to research trees due to the changes in seasons. “Trees are perfect for the school year. We have the opportunity to watch the life cycle of the trees, so when we come back in the fall, the trees will still have their leaves. But once the leaves fall, we can record that date and we can report it on different national scientific data programs that are out there that scientists refer to to do their scientific research. In the spring, we are there when the trees bud, so we can report dates when the trees bud. It doesn’t take a yearlong project to do it, just a matter of watching what’s going on around us,” Fallon said.

Another focus of the presentation was the Citizen Scientist program. Fallon explained, “We would really like to turn our students into little scientists through these programs. Students can pick many different things from many different government, federal and college websites that will allow them to do different things.”

According to a slide in the presentation, “Students will be observing, recording and entering their data into national and global scientific studies.” The organizations that students will enter data into include Budburst, Citizen Science, National Science Foundation, NestWatch and Nature’s Notebook.

“There are many programs for the kids to choose. Science teachers are all on board. I met the science department today because, as we say, this is an exploration, so we’re trying to figure out where we want to go and the science department is all excited about this. They’re looking to work between now and over the summer to get this up so it’s starting in September as soon as school starts,” Fallon explained.

Johnson explained that she is hoping to include an electrical box for teachers to use for electricity during lessons. Johnson also presented an “open pavilion” concept classroom with ideas for handicap accessible seating for students. On the proposed walkways, guardrails would be included to prevent wheelchairs from falling down the paths.

The project is currently in its first phase and research is still being conducted. Fallon explained that the source of funding would be determined in a later phase.

At the end of the presentation, Johnson and Fallon shared a birdhouse with the School Committee, asking the members to each sign it. The birdhouse will be placed at the location of the open classroom.

To view the School Committee meeting, visit www.vimeo.com/agawam.