Dig Into Learning Living Classroom At Evergreen Elementary Gives Students Chance For Hands-On Learning

Before recess one recent, drizzly afternoon, an announcement blared from the loudspeaker at Evergreen Elementary School.

“We have work to do in the Living Classroom,” the teacher’s voice beckoned. “If you’d like to work during recess, please go out there.”

The bell rang and about a dozen kids bounced out to a fenced-off area next to the school. They waited patiently for a teacher to arrive, and when she did, they gathered around excitedly as if she were handing out free Pokemon cards.

Instead, they got gardening hoes and shovels - and a job to do.

Some happily set to work weeding, while others helped spread cut grass around various planters to discourage weeds.

“This is fun,” said one girl to her friend as they rushed off with a wheelbarrow.

Evergreen’s Living Classroom originated as the Richard Brookes natural area, dedicated to the memory of the school’s first principal. But when special education teacher Chris Vogel was transferred to Evergreen four years ago, all he found there was dead, brown grass.

So Vogel and fifth-grade teacher Carol Bryan, who also heads the Ecology Club, decided to put the area to better use. The result is what is now known as the Living Classroom - a sometimes serene, sometimes lively natural area a block off Division.

“Now it’s basically a really large biology experiment,” Vogel said.

Just slightly smaller than the sheet of ice at the Spokane Arena, the Living Classroom contains hundreds of curiosities.

Towering ponderosa pines shade a small amphitheater that provides a perfect place for holding class on warm days. Raised beds contain leafy vegetables, perennials and cooking and medicinal herbs. Many native plants - like lupine, dogwood and mock orange - have been reintroduced to the area, and some non-native species have been brought in as well. The landscape changes and grows thanks to ongoing donations from the County Conservation District and the gardens of parents, Vogel said. The City of Spokane Recycling and County Compost facilities supply soil.

One part of the Living Classroom is devoted to war veterans. A plaque, surrounded by forget-me-nots and bleeding hearts, reads: “In memory of those who have served and sacrificed for our freedom.”

Next to that is an area dedicated to Vernon Baker of St. Maries, Idaho, who received the Medal of Honor in 1997 for his actions in World War II. After coming to speak to the school, he left his handprints and the message “Thank you Evergreen” in a block of cement.

Throughout the Living Classroom, squirrels scramble up and down trees. Birds visit a group of wooden birdfeeders. A short trail system winds around it all.

Teachers love the way the Living Classroom inspires students to ask questions.

“Math and reading are how you learn, but science is why you learn,” Vogel said. “It piques their curiosity. If you have curiosity, you have the desire to learn.”

The Living Classroom also provides unique opportunities. One autistic child has found an outlet in a computer-assisted design program that lets him create landscapes for the area. The gentle environment helped another student overcome his phobia of trees.

One day, Vogel’s class tromped outside and watched as a teacher released ants from a container. The students looked on, wide-eyed, as the ants stumbled out into a suddenly different world.

Another group of students dug into a pile of cut grass, sending steam pouring into the air as if from a hot tea kettle. That prompted a short lesson in decomposition.

Sixth-grader Michael Hitt has settled into the role of Living Classroom tour guide, something he’s been doing for three years. He walks visitors around the paths, sharing the names of this plant and that. If you care to know, he’ll even tell you their Latin names. A preschool class is in charge of one of the raised planters and almost has enough plants for a really tasty salad.

Preschooler Molly Burke has loved watching everything grow.

“You put a seed in and put dirt on top of it, and the rain keeps it growing,” she said. “Then it gets big, and you can eat it after school.”

The Living Classroom gets extra care from the Ecology Club, which meets twice a week after school to work in the gardens.

“It’s really neat to watch plants grow and to know that you’re helping nature,” said fifth-grader Lauren “Frog” Furrer. (Every kid who works outside gets to pick a nature name.)

“I love the beauty of the plants and flowers,” said sixth-grader Samantha Zimmerman, noting her favorites: mint and lilacs.

“It’s fun to know all the plants’ names,” said fifth-grader Michelle Busch.

The Ecology Club also holds plant sales and puts the proceeds toward the Living Classroom’s future. Bryan envisions a water source to attract more animals, a tool shed, a white picket fence and maybe some benches.

“It’s a resource for the whole school and district,” she said, noting that the public is also welcome any time.

During the summer, kids stop by with their parents, and somehow, things stay weeded and watered, Bryan said. But when something unexpected happens to pop up, it may just become part of the landscape.

“A weed is just a flower in the wrong place,” said Bryan. “We appreciate everything out here.”