MADISON COUNTY, ALABAMA, Ala. — Riverton Elementary, a Madison County School, can now boast of a CERTIFIED Outdoor Classroom.
The Riverton Outdoor Classroom got its start in 2019 with $25,000 grant from the America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education program. Local farmers nominated the school to receive the grant, and it was the only school in Alabama to receive one in 2019.
On Friday, local leaders including Madison County Schools Superintendent Allen Perkins, and state officials from the Alabama Wildlife Federation came out to make the classroom official.
It includes a number of STEM and STEAM locations where students will learn and work outdoors.
Principal Haley James says this is an important day for students at Riverton. "We have been working for the past three years on building an Alabama Outdoor Classroom that is part of the Alabama Wildlife Federation Outdoor Classroom Program, and today was all about certifying our classroom as an official Alabama Outdoor Classroom."
WATCH: Principal Haley James, Riverton Elementary School
The Outdoor Classroom includes STEM and STEAM work stations like flower beds, bird feeders, an herb garden, a Color Wheel garden, a butterfly and hummingbird garden, and a tortoise habitat, complete with tortoise. It's also a Certified Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation.
According to the Alabama Wildlife Federation, the Alabama Outdoor Classroom Program provides free technical and organizational assistance for schools who wish to create a sustainable outdoor classroom site to be used as an effective educational tool for hands-on, outdoor learning opportunities.