After two years of hard work, dedication, donations, and volunteers, the outdoor classroom at Perry Hill School is officially open!
Prettying up Perry Hill began with the “Flower Rangers” project. Fifth and Sixth graders worked together to plan, maintain, harvest, and cook healthy meals using crops grown in the Perry Hill Garden.
This led to the project of designing and repurposing one of the school’s atriums into the outdoor classroom in order to create a meaningful outdoor learning environment.
The project was fully funded through grant money and donations of equipment, time, and supplies.
The local managers of the Meriden and Orange Target locations, chose to adopt our school for one of their community outreach projects. Target not only provided volunteers to aide in preparing the grounds through weeding, pruning, and mulching the area, but also provided us with grant money to fund the project.
Mayor Mark Lauretti of Shelton donated mulch and gravel, VITAHLS (Valley Initiative to Advance Health and Learning in Schools) donated raised beds, Andrew Brotman of Twombly Nurserymen & Landscaping, Inc. in Monroe, donated his time for two nights to run the Bobcat machine to bring gravel in to the outdoor classroom, Taylor Rental in Monroe donated extra use of the Bobcat at no extra cost, Home Depot donated plants and equipment, the Ripton Garden Club donated plants, and a pallet of bricks were donated by the Warner family of Shelton.
To leave our mark, each classroom decorated bricks with inspirational messages and classroom mottos. These bricks will line the walkway of the classroom for years to come!
