College and elementary school students and educators are working together to create a one-of-a-kind outdoor adventureland.

The schools are Peter Woodbury School in Bedford and New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord, and the project is the PWS Community School Yard.

Educators leading the effort include Peter Woodbury’s Mindy Beltramo, librarian; Connie Roberge, second-grade teacher; and Cheryl Daley, assistant principal; plus Susanne Smith Meyer, head of landscape design programs at NHTI.

The mission of the Community School Yard is “To enrich the mind, body and spirit of the young and young at heart through exploration in an outdoor environment.”

Daley said inspiration first struck in the fall of 2007 when a group of teachers were reading “Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv in class.

In the spring of 2008, a series of workshops called “Project Home” were held to help staff and students evaluate their current school yard and make a “wish list” for what they would include in a new school yard.

To make the dream a reality, Beltramo brought the wish list to Smith Meyer at NHTI.

Beltramo said the college students worked in class to design a schoolyard that incorporates as many elements from the wish list as possible.

The NHTI students made sketches of their ideas and came up with an architect’s rendering for the final proposal. Project details Beltramo said the Community School Yard has several purposes, both educational and recreational.

The school will use the area as an outdoor classroom, but families in Bedford and its surrounding communities are welcome to enjoy the space when school’s not in session.

Highlights of the project include:
• new “big toy” structure for climbing and playing
• covered pavilion with seating for classroom and presentation uses
• rain garden
• foot bridge
• boulder hill
• fairy garden
• boardwalk
• gazebo
• vegetable garden
• meadow
• labyrinth
• perimeter path and internal path where “Two roads will diverge at a wood” Beltramo said the school will follow the “Grow A Row” initiative and donate the food grown in the vegetable garden. Daley said there is absolutely no shortage of great ideas for this project.

Once the Community School Yard is built and ready for use, Beltramo said they have even more elements they would like to add, such as:
• a large earth loom where children can use natural materials for weaving.
• exploration backpacks with materials for bird watching, plant identification, etc.
• weather stations.

Beltramo said they received a grant from the Bedford Education Foundation to purchase outdoor musical equipment, including a rain wheel, kalimba, palm pipe drum and tongue drums. Fundraising efforts The goal is to raise $150,000 for the project, and Daley said the total stands at about $55,000.

Fundraising has been a very wide-spread effort, including applying for grants, getting donations from local businesses and civic organizations, and grass roots fundraisers.

PWS held a plant sale on May 9 that Daley said brought in about $1,700.

Another grass roots effort is “Change to Change our School Yard,” where students and staff are donating spare change. The goal is to collect 150 pounds of change, and the total stands at about 90 pounds.

“I can’t wait to see how much that turns out to be,” Daley said.

Coming up on May 21 is the school’s annual “Family Fun Night,” which will also raise money for the schoolyard. Proceeds from the “PWS Community Cookbook,” with 275 recipes by PWS families and staff, will benefit the schoolyard. The cookbooks sell for $12.95.

Engraved brick pavers are priced at $50 for a 4-by-8-inch brick with one to two lines of writing, or $125 for an 8-by-8-inch brick with one to five lines of writing. The brick path will be located near the entrance to the schoolyard from the PWS building.

Building schedule
According to the spring 2009 edition of the “GrassRoots News” newsletter:
“Tuesday morning, June 23, after the line-up bell rings, Principal Ken Williams will be breaking ground using his Golden Shovel.” Construction will be broken into three phases.

Phase one includes the professional work that needs to be done with heavy equipment, like grading, moving large structures and building the brick path. This will begin once school is out for the summer. Phases two and three will be more volunteer-driven projects, like planting trees and vegetation, and working on smaller structures like the pavilion and boulder hill.

Daley said the later phases of construction, just like the fundraising, will be ongoing projects. To keep up to date on the latest happenings with the PWS Community School Yard, visit their blog at peterwood buryschool.blogspot.com.

For information on how to become involved, contact Mindy Beltramo at beltra mom@sau25.net or Connie Roberge at robergec@sua25.net.