CARLSBAD — On Aug. 10, the Calavera Hills Elementary School hosted a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the installation of an Outdoor Science Classroom, made possible by a grant from the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club and a decomposed granite donation from KRC Rock.
This grant for $55,000 was written in 2020, awarded in 2021, and completed in 2022. Despite the constant challenges of the pandemic, with cost increases, labor shortages and supply chain issues, the installation finished just in time for a new school year to begin.
This grant from the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club and decomposed granite donation from KRC Rock provides teachers with the ability to teach STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) curriculum in an outdoor classroom setting. The students will have the opportunity to connect to the science curriculum that is rooted in the nature around them, both locally and globally.
The classroom will be used for the third-grade butterfly science curriculum and the garden is registered on the International Monarch Butterfly Waystation to help support global scientific efforts.
“We could not be more thankful for the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club’s grant program. The grant at Calavera Hills Elementary School will provide teachers with the opportunity to provide our STEAM curriculum in an outdoor classroom setting, connecting our elementary students to the larger world. Our students will greatly benefit from the hand-on, experiential learning opportunities the new outdoor classroom will provide. This grant will benefit countless children in the coming years, and we are excited about the many possibilities ahead,” said
Carlsbad Unified School District Superintendent Benjamin Churchill.
“As soon as we broke ground on this exciting project, the campus was abuzz with ideas and possibilities for outdoor learning from students and staff alike. I look forward to opening our outdoor learning space for the 2022 school year. I am beyond grateful for our community partners at the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club and district teams who invested money, materials, time, and labor into this school community. I can’t wait to see our students using and loving this new interactive area,” said Calavera Hills Elementary School Principal Kimberly Fuentes.
