This grant is requesting 4 environmentally sustainable outdoor picnic tables and one ADA compliant table to be placed at the CHS garden and fruit orchard to utilize the space as an outdoor classroom, available for all CHS students and staff.

Experiencing the outdoors has been shown to have many health benefits including increased focus, positive mental health outcomes, and overall happiness. Our outdoor classroom project will facilitate the operation of typical indoor learning in an outdoor setting, increasing the time students spend appreciating nature’s beauty and enjoying the benefits of a healthier environment. This pairs well with our CHS garden, which will be easily integrated into curricula as sustainability in education continues to grow in the future. An outdoor classroom will reduce stress and increase attention levels, positively impacting the learning outcomes of CHS students.

Grade: 9-12

Teacher Name: Jodie Deinhammer

Description and purpose of grant:This grant is requesting 4 environmentally sustainable outdoor picnic tables and one ADA compliant table to be placed at the CHS garden and fruit orchard to utilize the space as an outdoor classroom, available for all CHS students and staff. This aligns with the CISD Core Value of Engagement.  When students are activlty contributing to society, as in the school gardens, it is creating a postive impact on them and the community. This outdoor classoom will expose may students to the garden and orchard and encourage more student and staff participation.

Implementation process: This plan has a simple implementation, once the tables are ordered, they will be installed in the garden area under the trees and all CHS staff and students will be invited to use them at any time, from an outdoor classroom or general meeting space for clubs and organizations. The tables have a lifetime warranty and should last for many years.

Items you plan to purchase with grant money:

3 Hex Shaped Recycled Plastic Grey Picnic Tables at 1120 each = $3,360.00
1 ADA Accessible Hex Shaped Recycled Picnic Table = $1235.00
4 Mounting Hardware Pieces one for each table at 28 each = $112

Shipping $607.24
Total $5,314.24

In the event my grant is not fully funded, this is minimum amount I would need to get started on this project: $2355 would buy one regular table and one ADA table to get us started.