Steppingstones help bring students closer to nature

Teaching students about nature is one of the purposes served by King Arthur's Court, the courtyard at Kedron Elementary School.

Three years ago the school's PTO began construction on the courtyard through a Georgia Outdoor Grant and community donations. Complete with fishponds, various types of vegetation and a 500 square foot arbor seating area, the courtyard provides a wildlife habitat for birds, frogs, butterflies, turtles and numerous insects. It also serves as an outdoor classroom for learning about nature.

This year, as a third-time recipient of the Outdoor Grant, Kedron decided to use the funds in a unique way. In an effort to get students more involved in the courtyard and to give them a sense of ownership, each of the 41 classrooms at the school designed and created their own Mosaic steppingstone.

"Not only has this project given the courtyard year around color, but the children feel a connection to it. They enjoy coming out here and finding the stone that they helped to create," says Denise Pabst, a parent and member of the courtyard committee.

The committee, in cooperation with the art department, began the project by having each child draw a design in art class based on their grade level theme: kindergarten, colors, shapes and patterns; first grade, lunar; second, animal nature; third, non-animal nature; fourth, Georgia; and fifth, patriotic.

The committee selected one design from each class and transferred it onto a 16-inch precast stone. The designs were chosen carefully so that each stone would be unique and no two stones would reflect the same idea.

Parents logged many volunteer hours breaking hundreds of tiles, most of which were donated by Fayetteville stores Daltile, Traditions in Tile, Home Depot and Lowe's. In order to give each student an opportunity to work on the stone for his or her classroom, five children would rotate out of their art class to an adjacent area in the hall. There, parent volunteers guided them through the process of gluing each piece of tile in its proper location.

The pieces of tile had already been selected and set on a paper copy of the design. The process worked similar to putting a puzzle together. The students simply transferred the pieces of tile from the paper drawing to the one on the stone.

After all stones were completed, parent volunteers grouted and sealed them twice before placing them in schoolyard habitat.

"The children did a phenomenal job and are very proud of their accomplishment. They love coming out here. This project helped them to create a greater sense of awareness for this outdoor space," says Pabst.

After finishing the steppingstones, the courtyard committee is using left over funds to purchase additional plants to complete this year's project.

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