PEORIA, Ill. – Peoria’s Reservoir Gifted Academy has a new classroom…outside.
On Wednesday, Reservoir Gifted Principal Susan Martin thanked alumni, students and school administrators for their part in making the new Outdoor Classroom a reality.
“This is step one of allowing our school community to have access to the outside, to do anything and everything they want to do,” Martin says.
Several efforts made Reservoir Gifted’s Outdoor Classroom happen…including a school Help-A-Thon, raising $24,000, a fundraising campaign in honor of a retired teacher, and additional contributions from current and former Reservoir Gifted families.
Martin says the project surpassed anything she could have imagined.
“As some of you know, I started with the idea of just a couple sail cloths structures…I thought it would be so pretty. And, luckily someone talked me out of that…and upgraded to something that’s way more permanent that will be here long after my time at Reservoir,” Martin says.
The Outdoor Classroom will allow teachers at Reservoir Gifted Academy to embrace innovative concepts, Martin says, giving lessons outside, facilitating outdoor reading, engaging in outdoor experiments, even incorporating music outside.
The Outdoor Classroom includes a covered seating area with Adirondack chairs and additional seating, as well as several picnic tables with umbrellas nearby.
The school hopes to eventually make the Outdoor Classroom even bigger in the future.
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