Schoolyard Report Card
Schoolyards are places for playing, socializing, exploring, and sharing the land with other living things. How would your schoolyard score if you gave it a report card?
The best schoolyards build health in many ways – healthy kids as well as a healthy environment. That means opportunities for active play, creative play, quiet reflection, social interaction and exploring the natural world. Many schools are beginning to see their schoolyard as a habitat – welcoming many plants and animals to share the space with the students. This also provides excellent opportunities for outdoor learning and building stewardship skills.
1. INTRODUCTORY VIDEO
Watch the video with your students to help you get started. It explores what we mean by a ‘habitat for people’ and a ‘habitat for wildlife.’ It showcases some projects from other schools to help get your ideas flowing!
These score sheets have grade-linked opportunities to explore your schoolyard using math, science and geography skills. Grades 3-6 will go out and measure the schoolyard and make maps of what they find. Grades 7-8 will begin by drawing their schoolyard from memory, then use satellite images to compare with their drawings, and create accurate basemaps.
Then, using the Score Sheets, students will evaluate their schoolyard on the basis of:
a) Habitat for People
b) Environmental Health
c) Habitat for Wildlife
Download the Schoolyard Score Card below to get started!
3. DISCUSSION AND FOLLOW-UP
How did your schoolyard score? Are there things that scored well? Are there opportunities for improvement? Can your class play a role in improving your schoolyard’s score?
The score cards provide suggestions on simple places to begin. Realizing that we can make positive changes in the world around us, and working together to do that, helps build hope, empowerment and leadership skills.
A Garden is for Sharing