The Redwood Grove: A Place for Inquiry, Exploration, Discovery and Collaboration

By Nancy Verdtzabella, Head Teacher
 
When teachers consider creating an environment to engage children’s minds, they typically focus on the indoor setup. Historically in educational settings, outdoor spaces have been viewed as a place of recess. But what about a teacher who gives attention to the outdoor space? Such regard for the outdoors as part of the learning environment speaks well of an educator’s practice. At Bing, conceptualizing the outdoor space as part of the rich learning environment designed to encourage deeper understanding of subject matter across all domains is an important component of our work with young children.
 
When Edith Dowley, Bing’s founding director, shared her design of the school with architects in the mid 1960s, it was evident that Dowley understood the impact the outdoor environment could have on young learners. This was at a time when the outdoors wasn’t seen as a vital component of the child’s cognitive education. Each outdoor space at Bing was shaped by Dowley’s emphasis on encouraging freedom of movement. In addition, when creating the yards, Dowley avoided overcrowding them with typical playground equipment, preserving space for naturalistic attributes such as rolling hills, gardens, and trees that would grow tall. Dowley planted one tree for each child when the school opened. She included odd-looking trees, bushes and flowers in the yards so that children could ask about gnarled branches of twisted willows or umbrella-like Nile lilies. The trees provided fresh air and homes to a variety of animals and insects. Their large branches created shady spaces for children and adults in sunny weather and became umbrellas during wet seasons. This intentional outdoor design allowed the space to be used year-round to enhance physical, social, emotional and cognitive development.
 
In Center PM this past year, the Redwood Grove, which is on the west side of the yard, continued its legacy of attracting children’s attention as a place for inquiry, exploration, discovery and collaboration. Perhaps it was the sight of the tall redwoods reminding them of a campsite? Or the sensation of bark beneath one’s shoe or a bug crawling on the palm of a hand? Or was it the sound of chirping birds on branches above? Or the smell of a bloom or taste of a culinary herb from the hilltop garden? It could have been all these things, but, as Italian education scholar Carla Rinaldi has argued, an intentional setup in the environment was needed for the beautiful setting to move beyond being a background to being a key player in the children’s learning.
 
To organize the space in a manner that supports children’s knowledge and desire to investigate beyond the surface, teachers need to factor in the children’s interests and capabilities.
Following are three of the many interactions, discoveries and developments of skills that have occurred in the Redwood Grove during this past school year.
 
The Redwood Grove: a place to develop new understanding of real-life scenarios
 
The Redwood Grove has been a place that many children come to play with a partner or a group. Like most years, a common play theme involved the role of the firefighter. The interest in firefighters intensified when children became cognizant of the wildfires in nearby Sonoma and Napa counties. For weeks children talked about how firefighters were working hard to keep people, buildings and trees safe. The Redwood Grove became a setting where several children began extinguishing make-believe fires. A teacher observed this and provided markers, scissors, and red, yellow and orange construction paper at a table in the grove the following day. One child in particular noticed the color selections of paper, and with no adult prompting said, “I’m making fire.” He used the supplies to make his version of flames and placed them on a nearby structure. “It’s a fire. Quick, help me put out the fire!” he yelled. Instantly children came from all directions, identifying themselves as firefighters. Some children had used pieces of rubber tubing or sticks as hoses, while others just pretended to have the necessary equipment to extinguish flames. This prompted more children to join in by creating additional flames with construction paper and spreading them throughout the redwoods. Quickly and collaboratively, the children extinguished the spreading fires. “We need to save the trees! We need to save the houses!” they yelled. When one firefighter needed to rest, new powerful voices entered the scene and said, “I’ll help.” Many teachers and parents witnessed the level of collaboration and organization amongst the children, which was a testament to their competencies.
 
The children created scenarios that supported real-life problem-solving skills and collaboration. The naturalistic setting welcomed large body movements and loud voices. The meaningful work of extinguishing flames allowed the children to feel powerful, and it demonstrated their competencies in teamwork, as it was crucial for firefighters to work cooperatively in order to stay safe.
 

A child roasting a marshmallow. Campfire created by the children.

Several days later, the same child who made the first flames out of construction paper returned and diligently worked on coloring a new fire. This time, however, it was not an uncontrolled flame. Rather, he placed it on a stump near the willow hut, and the flame became a source of light and warmth for his camping expedition. “I am going to roast a marshmallow,” he stated loudly. Instantly children came from all directions, once again wanting to join in, remembering that fire when constrained can be an enjoyable element, too.
 
The Redwood Grove: a place that can transform into a musical oasis
 
A master musician and Center PM teacher, Tracy Wu, gifted us on a regular basis with the sound of music played on her violin. When the melodies were played into the open, outdoor space of the Redwood Grove, children found their way to the forest-like setting to enjoy the sound of beautiful music. It was an ideal location for children to fill their hearts with the sound of music, while exploring activities that engaged their creative minds.
 

The musical sound from teacher Tracy's violin prompts a child to join in by
playing the xylophone that a teacher had set up nearby.

The minute a child stepped into the outdoor space, she followed the melodies coming from the Redwood Grove. She gravitated to the xylophones that were purposely displayed in the pathway. Without any verbal prompting, she contributed to the existing musical sound by playing the xylophone. Furthermore, recognition of familiar tunes prompted children to sit on tree stumps and sing together using both voices and sign language.
 
A few steps deeper into the Redwood Grove, a setup of blank sheet music and writing tools invited children to sit and compose their own songs. Children were intrinsically motivated to come up with their own musical note system. One 4-year-old child wrote her musical notes and throughout the day sang her song to whoever was nearby. Although pleased with her composition, she often would return to the table to fine-tune a note or two, and then would confidently sing it again. It was apparent that formal voice or instrument training was not necessary for children to express themselves musically.
 
Children who were drawn to the sound did not always participate with singing and composition, but it was apparent that the music influenced children while they pursued other interests. Teachers noticed a heightened sense of commitment. One child drilled holes into a thick wooden board nestled between two redwood trees for a solid 30 minutes as he listened to the music. When it seemed like his project had come to an end, the music would escalate and he would return to work with a burst of energy. At one point the child looked at the teacher and said the music made him “feel so, so, good!”
 
The Redwood Grove: a place for investigation
 
In general, most young children find bug exploration to be of interest. However, this class group had an unusually large number of children dedicated to extended searches for tiny specimens to study. The Redwood Grove became a laboratory for these investigations. Children would dig in the dirt, look in the cracks of tree trunks, and flip over the stumps in search of life forms. It was common to observe children looking intently at a specimen in a bug jar and having dialogue about their theories on insects. Often the demand for live bugs was larger than the actual number that could be found. This prompted teachers to set up large trays with several bugs of the same kind to be studied by several children simultaneously. In one situation, a teacher had a surplus of snails at home that could be used for the study. Children recognized that the snails were not in their normal habitat as  2018they crawled in the large tray. Children helped gather twigs, bark, leaves and flower blossoms to add to the habitat in order to help them feel more at home. Although the facilitating teachers had some knowledge about snails, their role was primarily to support children as observers, while the children sorted out for themselves what to focus on.
 
One experience that stood out is as follows: After spending time observing snails the day before, a child who at that time was most comfortable speaking in Mandarin and Spanish returned to the Redwood Grove and began to gently turn over leaves. She found three large snails before spontaneously asking in English, “Where’s baby snail?” With the next turn of a leaf she said, “Oh, there you are, baby!” She carefully held the snail in her palm and looked at its small, cracked shell.
 

A child repurposes materials to make a home for the snail.

On the third day, she returned to the snail tray and noticed that some occupants were missing. She was pleased to find the baby snail once again and reexamined the cracked shell. After some time with the snail, she decided it needed a home of its own. She made a house using a small box and patterned decorative paper. The child added pieces of ivy leaf along with a flower petal for food. She then looked around for the snail. “There you are, snail! You want to eat this?” referring to the rosemary branch the snail had slithered to. She plucked one rosemary leaf and added it to the box, prior to laying the snail inside. “You have a food too,” she reassured the snail. “There you go. For a yummy food!” She covered the snail house with a large ivy leaf. “There you go!” This impelled her to make a house for the big snails, and care for them in the same way.
 
The grove is a world where tiny creatures thrive. It’s no wonder that this child spent extended amounts of time in this space throughout the week. As she observed the baby snail, an empathetic relationship was being formed. It prompted her to build snail houses and provide nourishment by collecting foliage from the surroundings.
 

The home for the big snails doubles as a tool for getting a closer look at snails.

The experiences described here are just a drop in the bucket of the rich learning that occurs daily in the Redwood Grove’s camp-like setting. We thank our visionary founding director Edith Dowley for preparing the way with her thoughtful design. It has been 53 years with just a few minor updates since those first trees were planted. Now “they are taller than the sky,” exclaimed one child. No doubt the legacy of the Redwood Grove will continue to engage children, families and educators for many years to come.