Building an Outdoor Classroom

Outdoor Classroom

The Kingsley-Pierson Community School District created a comfortable and innovative outdoor classroom to help students get a more hands-on educational experience.

In late 2013, the Kingsley-Pierson (Iowa) Community School District invested money from an anonymous donor to augment memorial money, given in honor of a deceased student, to build an outdoor classroom. Landscaping was installed in 2014. The six-sided shelter house is wheelchair accessible and along each side of the shelter is a Pilot Rock (brand) bench. The all-steel, 6-ft.-long benches have perforated seats and backs.

Each backrest includes a custom message to the student body: Respect, Citizenship, Caring, Fairness, Trustworthiness and Responsibility — the six pillars of the Character Counts program. “A contractor built the shelter house. And the benches were purchased from R.J. Thomas Mfg. Co. We also enlisted our students to help. The horticulture class and our FFA program were instrumental with the landscaping around the classroom,” says Scott Bailey, superintendent and high school principal. “Elementary classes have used the classroom on different occasions. Some classes take students out for whole group reading on pioneer life and farming. High school classes use it, too. The students like to get outside on nice days,” he says.

There have also been presentations by groups from outside the school system. “There have been lectures to different classes on gardening and geology,” says Bailey, “and recently the Siouxland Humane Society did a presentation on animal care and safety. The new facility has proven popular with the students and the community.” To equip the classroom with benches the school contacted R.J. Thomas Mfg. Co., Cherokee, Iowa. The seat and back components are steel plate and perforated (punched) to create the custom letters for the six pillars of character. The thermoplastic coating over the steel creates a durable, low-maintenance bench.

www.pilotrock.com

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • S4L Launches 2025 Facilities and Construction Brief Survey

    Spaces4Learning recently launched its 2025 Facilities and Construction Brief Survey, which gathers information on K–12 and higher education construction projects nationwide from the previous year. The data we get from you, our readers, forms an industry report offering an overview of current trends in school facilities.

  • Fellowes Launches New 3D Modular, Product Configurators

    Contract interiors and architectural solutions provider Fellowes recently announced the launch of new 3D modular and product configurators for several of its product lines, according to a news release. The new products offer SIF file integration and pricing for the Volo, Markerboards, Sena, and Rising product lines in connection with 3D Cloud, which provides 3D product visualization and 3D digital asset management.

  • Designing School Spaces for A++ Performance

    In recent years, the educational world has gained greater appreciation for the ways a space’s aesthetics, just like its acoustics, can positively impact educational outcomes. Consequently, engineering, designing, and constructing a school environment demands acoustics to be equally an art and a science, requiring architects and designers to see with their ears, while acousticians must hear with their eyes.

  • StarRez Releases 2025 State of Student Housing Report

    Student housing software solutions provider StarRez recently released its second State of the Student Housing Industry Report, according to a news release. The report is based on the results of survey data from more than 400 higher education institutions around the world, both StarRez clients and not.

Digital Edition