Breaking through the classroom walls
Millstone Township Primary School has new outdoor classroom
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer

Millstone Township Primary School teacher Lisa Kennedy teaches her kindergarten class a vocabulary lesson in the outdoor classroom Millstone's Trevor toms built as part of his Eagle Scout project.

MILLSTONE - A ladybug landed on a student while a bird perched atop the bulletin board and chipmunks scampered just beyond the teacher's toes.

Millstone Township Primary School students are learning to live in harmony with nature in their new outdoor classroom.

Complete with six benches and a kiosk, the open-air classroom is located just beyond the playground in a shady grove near the woodland trail behind the school. Millstone Boy Scout Trevor Toms, 16, of Troop 116, hand-built the facility as part of his Eagle Scout project.

Although he had support for the project from his parents, Bill andMary, fellow Scouts, Scout leader Bill Meyer, school officials, the Home Depot in East Windsor and Millstone's Petrella family, the idea was all his own. Trevor said he originally wanted to create Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) stations along the nature trail for elementary school students. However, the opening of the new middle school led to the elementary school moving into the Millstone Road facility.

Above: Millstone's Trevor Toms built an outdoor classroom at the Millstone township Primary School as part of his Eagle Scout project. Left: Trevor Toms watches students learn a lesson in vocabulary in the outdoor classroom he built.

When his initial idea fell through, Trevor merely looked to nature again to find the inspiration for a new project.

"I thought that an outdoor classroom would benefit the primary school students," he said. "Moving them outside offers them a better learning environment."

Trevor labored for two months on the project, planning, drawing up proposals for the Boy Scouts and the school board, clearing the property, digging holes, building the structures and placing the benches and bulletin board. He also had to fulfill other necessary scouting requirements to obtain the Eagle rank.

"I started out at Tenderfoot and once I got to Life, I started planning my Eagle Scout project," he said. "At that point, you have to get 21 merit badges and be in a troop position for six months. I was a quarter master and took care of the troop's gear."

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Trying to achieve Eagle Scout status helped Trevor with his leadership, organization and preparation skills, he said.

Through his work on the project, kindergarten teacher Lisa Kennedy said she learned that Trevor is a conscientious, determined and hard worker who is very personable and polite.

"He was very nice every time he had to contact me for assistance," Kennedy said. "He is a good young man, a responsible young man."

Kennedy said the entire school is excited about using the new outdoor classroom. She said some classes, including hers, had opportunities to use the facility before the school year ended. She said all eight sections of kindergarten, seven sections of first grade, and eight sections of second grade will enjoy using the class next year.

"A lot of classes will benefit from it," she said.

Kennedy said lessons in the outdoor classroom don't have to be nature related as teachers can use the kiosk for any subject, including mathematics and English. The kindergarten teacher also said that the unique environment lends itself well to keeping kids on task.

"In my experience, the children who have difficulty paying attention, pay attention more when they are placed in a different environment," she said.

Kennedy said the school is thankful that Trevor created such a unique outdoor space.

"In the morning it is beautiful," she said. "It is nice and shady. I think I'll teach a math lesson out there tomorrow."