Elementary Schools Receive Optimist Awards for Outdoor Learning Space

Coquitlam Optimists have donated $1000 each to Mountain Meadows and Harborview Elementary Schools to help with the construction of natural play spaces.  Each school will be creating an area for imaginative play. The spaces can also function as outdoor classrooms for all grades. 

The Mountain Meadows outdoor space will feature log seating, a sand pit, raised garden beds and native plants.  The kids will also be able to create waterfalls.  

The Optimist Club selected the two schools to receive the $1000 awards based on their students’ designs of an area where they could play outdoors away from screens.  The club held the design contest as part of Screen Smart Week, which was held in the spring of 2014.

The Optimist Club supports the idea that learning in nature is good for teachers and students http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/2014/09/learning-in-nature-is-good-for-teachers-and-students/