One day a week, each teacher at Emily Meschter Early Learning Center takes their lessons outdoors to a newly developed area of campus now called the Sonoran Classroom, where students are encouraged to engage with nature and learn more about their surrounding environment.
Itβs an idea that arose when some staff members noticed that kids were less socially and emotionally engaged as they entered school after the pandemic. With inspiration from similar concepts in other states and financial help from COVID-relief funding for schools, the staff at Emily Meschter was able to open the new classroom.
βWeβre really just letting the kids notice things and wonder about things. Even though we have a curriculum of what to follow, weβre very flexible with the students. Theyβre kind of in charge of the learning,β said Jessica Jankowski-Gallo, a general education teacher and one of the leaders behind the Sonoran Classroom.
Emily Meschter Early Learning Center, in northwestern Tucson at 4605 N. La Cholla Blvd., is part of Flowing Wells Unified School District and serves about 190 children ages 3 to 5.
Jankowski said some other staff members had previously seen outdoor classrooms in other states, where kids got the chance to explore forests by going hiking in designated areas on school grounds.
She, along with teacher Jessica Caramella and school psychologist Annette Campbell, took it upon themselves to create a similar opportunity for their students by reinventing a wide open space that was left unused at the back of the school campus.
Jankowski said community members quickly stepped up last summer to help transform the area into an outdoor classroom, taking on duties such as clearing some of the desert brush, planting trees and creating the specific play areas out of repurposed materials.
They initially hoped to open the classroom last August, but were unable to secure the shade structures in time to provide protection from the hot summer weather.
The Sonoran Classroom officially opened for students at the beginning of January.
βPreschool is not just daycare. We do so much learning,β Jankowski said. βWeβre looking at their language, how they make friends, how they handle themselves, what their bodies can do, and how their brain is accepting new concepts.β
Malahni Diaz keeps her balance on a set of tires within the Sonoran classroom.
βImportance of boredomβ
On Tuesday, Jankowski and general education teacher Benjamin Collinsworth took a group of six kids to the Sonoran Classroom to give a demonstration of what their outdoor days typically look like.
As Collinsworth guided the way, he pointed out the difference between the regular playground at the center of campus and the outdoor classroom on the back end.
βThe difference between that and the Sonoran Classroom is the focus on nature, natural materials and a closer regard for the Sonoran Desert,β he said.
The Sonoran Classroom has different activity sections, including a shaded workshop area, a garden, a small manmade hill, and a musical corner made of colorful pots and pans.
A few minutes after shyly entering the outdoor classroom, two kids familiarly made their way to a hiking trail that community members had helped mark with rocks along the path. Jankowski said the kids often search for animal tracks and try to narrow down the kinds of species that walk through their outdoor classroom at night.
Another group accompanied Collinsworth to check out a few mushrooms that had naturally grown on the land.
βThese mushrooms, they grow from yucky stuff. You canβt touch them because they can break,β 4-year-old Yanexx Cordova said, as she bent down beside two large mushrooms sticking up from the ground.
Carlos Quintana-Perez, left, and Sebastian Espinosa investigate a mushroom thatβs growing in the desert tortoise trail area within the Sonoran classroom at Emily Meschter Early Learning Center.
Cordova added that, inside their classroom, they have more mushrooms that grew from a plastic bag. Jankowski bought a kit to grow oyster mushrooms to teach students about the world of fungi.
It was described as only one example of how the kidsβ outdoor experiences influence their learning inside the classroom.
βI think itβs a shame if kids continue to have less opportunities to explore the outdoors,β Collinsworth said of typical educational models. βThereβs a lot to say about the importance of boredom and letting kids figure out their own ideas, explore their own fun.β
Preschoolers learn and play during Holly Davis's preschool class at Annie W. Kellond Elementary School in Tucson, Ariz. on May 23, 2022. Davis, along with assistant teacher Bethany Lehane, teach the only preschool class at Annie W. Kellond Elementary School that is offered to low-income families through Pima County's Early Education Program.
