The School Grounds We`d Like!

The Outdoor Classroom By Connect 4

Luke, Joshua, Michael and Emily

First ideas!

We started to come up with some ideas which would improve the schools grounds and would benefit everyone. Here are all of ideas we came up with:

Top 5

We narrowed down our ideas into 5 which we thought would be best for our school.

We will show you now!

Maze

StrengthsoChildren get to have fun whilst at schooloTeachers get to teach the children navigation

Weaknesseso It will have to get trimmed every so ofteno We would have to sow the seeds and then wait for them to

growo Once you have completed the maze, you won’t want to do it

again because you will know the way

Outdoor classroom

Strengthso Children are learning in a new environmento It would stay for a long timeo You can use it in any type of weather

Weaknesseso We’d have to buy tables and chairs plus accessories

Picnic Area

Strengthso You can sit and eat together o You wont have to sit on the floor

when picnicking

Weaknesseso In bad weather they would not be able to be usedo The benches could break or rot

Shed and bug habitat

Strengthso Children could learn about bugs

Weaknesseso The bugs die!!o No one is interested after a few months

Greenhouse, vegetable patch and flower patch

Strengths o Children get to have the experience of growing vegetables and

flowerso We could sell the vegetables for a profit

Weaknesses o We all ready have a gardening club o Crops don`t grow

Survey

We asked 19 children and 8 teachers 3 questions which would help us discover which of our 5 ideas people thought were best . The 3 question we asked were:

1. Which idea do you think is best: Maze, Outdoor classroom, Picnic Area, Bug shed, Greenhouse and vegetables?

2. Do you want something you can learn from?

3. Do you want something you can play on?

After we had collected our data we made a bar chart.

Which do you think is better the Maze, outdoor classroom, Greenhouse and vegetable patch, picnic area or bug habitat and shed?

These are our results:

Maze Out door classroom

picnic area green house/vegtable patch

Bug habbiat and shed

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Which idea is best?

Do you want something you can play on?

These are our results

Yes No0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Do you want somewhere you can learn from?

These are our results:

Yes No0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Final IdeaWe chose the outdoor classroom in spite of the survey results because we thought it was a unique idea that would benefit the whole community.

Impact- The bees would love the outdoor classroom since we are going to plant flowers around the classroom. Also parents would be happy because their children would have another place in which to learn. Lastly, the classroom would a good effect on the environment because we would be using recyclable materials to build it and we would be collecting water from the roof to water the plants.

Collaboration and student voice- One of the amazing things about the outdoor classroom is that the community and pupils at the school can help build the classroom. We think children would look after the classroom better if they helped build it. We also think that by building from recyclable materials we are mirroring our fellow pupils in Kafuro.

Sustainability- Since we are going to make the outdoor classroom out of recycled plastic bottles, the outdoor classroom will have a good chance of staying for a long time so children can enjoy it for years to come.

Innovation- The outdoor classroom is unique since we are going to build it out of plastic bottles, this also means unlike other ideas it is eco friendly. We could raise money for the school by hiring it out to the local community.

Eco!Mr Stanley told us that in Kafuro they reuse everything and don’t pay a lot for building houses and buildings. We thought we could save money by getting people to donate their old bottles and then we could build our outdoor classroom out of plastic bottles. This would also make the classroom unique and cheaper to buy.

People in Kafuro make houses out of canes, mud and banana leaves and twine.

Bottle buildingWe were able to try out building with the bottles and see what we could make. We worked out that it was a long process but would save money. Mr Haycock showed us different techniques to try whilst we were making our bottle pyramids. We made a wall structure and used papercrete to set the bottles. It is very strong and environmentally friendly.

CostsWhen we decided what our project was, we had to do a lot of research. However, when we found out that we could use bottles and paper crete instead of wood, it made it easier for us. We are not sure what roof we would use, but know we want one that slopes. We would need to use a lot of food colouring so that the building was multi coloured.

Connect 4`s Prices

Product Price Amount Shop

Sand

Cement £18.54 3x 10kg = 30kg B & Q

Whiteboard £30 Catlog

Tables and chairs £500 5 tables + 30 chairs Amazon

Flower Seeds £1.50 x 6 = £9 Meadow grass and flower Hillers

Water butt £40 168 litres Google

Food colouring £130 100 x Tesco

Total = 727.54

BottlesWe worked out how many bottles we would need to build our outdoor classroom. We worked out we would roughly need around 20600 bottles. It would take a while to get that many bottles but it would be worth it.

Diameter of bottle & papercrete – 8cmCircumference of outdoor classroom – 33m (3300cm)Bottles needed to form a row - 3300÷8 = 412

Height of classroom – 4m (400cm)Diameter of bottle & papercrete – 8cmBottles needed to form a column - 400÷8 = 50

Approximate number of bottles needed- 412 x 50 = 20600

Outdoor classroom model

Key Wall of classroom Doors

Flower Beds

Water Butt

Entrance

We have thought through some models. This is the one we thought was best. It is from a birds eye view.

Inside and Outside

Outside

Inside

Key

Doors

Chairs

Table

Whiteboard

Letter to Mr Burford

Liss Junior SchoolHillbrow road

LissHampshire

10th September 2014Dear Mr Burford,I am writing to you to ask if we could have an outdoor classroom made out of plastic bottles built in the school grounds. It would be for the children of the school and even the people of the village.The bottle house is made out of bottles which have food colouring in them. So the colours will be in a pattern so people can look at it for ages.The best place for it is on the field near where the teachers stand. If it was on the playground then where would the kids get to run about? It’s going to be amazing because you can see it from a mile away. It could be used as a reward for people who have done well.You have to choose our idea because it would give a place where children can learn without being distracted. It could be a place for silent reading. Each class has a turn in the week. Yours sincerelyMichael Burrows

Any Questions?