Kegotank outdoor classroom to 'bring learning alive'

The soon-to-be transformation of a school courtyard into an outdoor classroom was celebrated recently at Kegotank Elementary in Mappsville.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held for a schoolyard habitat at Kegotank, which is a joint project between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s national refuge on Chincoteague and Accomack County Schools.

The idea to build an outdoor classroom inside the school’s 7,280-square-foot courtyard came from John Fitzroy, a park ranger at the Chincoteague refuge.

“Really the goal is to create a platform for teaching environmental education,” said Fitzroy.

In 2015, he was named the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Visitor Services Professional of the Year. Fitzroy is using the award money and additional funds from the refuge to construct the schoolyard habitat.

Fitzroy said Kegotank was selected as the site for the project because many students have limited opportunities to visit the Chincoteague refuge, which is just 15 miles from the school.

One third of the schoolyard habitat will be a pollinator garden that will have plants native to Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The space will also feature six vegetable garden beds and a greenhouse.

After getting all of the necessary approvals last fall, Fitzroy met with a select group of Kegotank teachers and asked what they would like to see in the outdoor classroom and how they planned to use the space.

“We haven’t had to hold back and he really let us run with this,” said Clara Spicer, a third-grade teacher who was one of the core members of Fitzroy’s design team.

Spicer said the intention was to make the outdoor classroom cross-curricular, meaning it would be a space conducive for teaching subjects outside the realm of science. For instance, there will be a canopy where kids can quietly read, a physical education area with logs and balance beams and a stage for theatrical or musical performances.

Hands-on activities like planting seeds in the vegetable garden will allow her students to retain more knowledge by doing, said Spicer.

“It’s such a memorable experience when they get to do it themselves,” she said.

Special-education teachers were also a part of the design discussion, which is why there will be playground equipment that complies with standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

To ensure Kegotank educators successfully use the schoolyard habitat, Fitzroy formed community partnerships with a number of agencies and groups, including the Chincoteague Bay Field Station and Eastern Shore Master Gardeners, to provide teacher workshops.

Project costs for the outdoor classroom will also be lowered thanks to Fitzroy’s partnership with Navy and Coast Guard personnel on Chincoteague, who will be providing free labor, and the Lowe’s home improvement store in Pocomoke City, which will be providing certain landscaping materials for free.

Kegotank Principal Jennifer Annis said that the schoolyard habitat will “bring learning alive” for her students who will see firsthand natural processes, such as the lifecycle of a butterfly or the harvest of a planted vegetable seed.

Two of those students include Fitzroy’s young daughters.

“That helps make a nice connection for us, so John will definitely make sure the project lives on,” she said.

The outdoor classroom at Kegotank will serve as a model to be replicated at other Accomack schools, said Fitzroy. He noted that construction is expected to be complete at the end of the summer.

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