A ceremony will be held Tuesday to mark a significant achievement for HEART Academy at Julian Newman Elementary School — its certification as an official Outdoor Classroom School and designation as an official Schoolyard Wildlife Habitat.

HEART Academy at Julian Newman is the first school in the Athens City Schools System to certify its outdoor classroom through the Alabama Outdoor Classroom Program.

“(The school) will provide a model for other schools throughout Limestone County and across Alabama who would like to develop an outdoor classroom and schoolyard wildlife habitat on their school grounds to provide hands-on, inquiry-based learning opportunities for their students,” said a press release about the certification.

Outdoor classrooms are certified by the Alabama Wildlife Federation, while the Schoolyard Wildlife Habitat program is administered by the National Wildlife Federation. The AOC Program provides technical assistance and support for schools interested in developing sustainable outdoor learning stations and wildlife habitats that can be used for “engaging investigative activities that allow students of all ages to utilize multiple-disciplinary skills (including math, science, history, geography, and language arts) in a fun and exciting living laboratory,” according to a press release.

As part of the ceremony, HEART Academy will receive an AOC certification sign, a NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat sign, an outdoor classroom activity kit, field identification guides and other educational materials.

In addition, Dr. Doug Phillips with the Alabama Public Television show “Discovering Alabama” is donating the entire DVD series with teacher guides that explore Alabama’s wild places and natural resources.

About the classroom

HEART Academy’s outdoor classroom provides enrichment activities that tie into their science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum and teach students about their environment and natural resources. More specifically, their outdoor classroom provides the following outdoor learning stations:

• A butterfly garden that includes flowers that provide nectar and host plants where butterflies, such as the Monarch, lay their eggs, hatch caterpillars, and form chrysalises before emerging as new butterflies;

• A songbird habitat that provides native plants, bird feeder stations and nesting boxes;

• A pond that provides habitat for fish and a place for frogs and dragonflies to lay their eggs;

• A weather station that allows students to analyze data collected from weather instruments such as thermometers, hygrometers, barometers and anemometers;

• A sensory garden where students can use their five senses as they experience different sounds and plants with different shapes, colors, textures and aromas;

• Raised bed gardens for students to learn how to grow their own vegetables; and

• An outdoor seating area where teachers can gather their students to discuss the data and observations the students have collected in the outdoor classroom site.

HEART Academy’s outdoor classroom planning committee is led by Principal Sharla Birdsong and planning committee members Holly Hargrove, Tyler Nay and Katie Deen as well as other classroom teachers who have helped to create and maintain the various learning stations.

The classroom is a community project with technical, financial and volunteer support from the AWF, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, parents, local master gardeners and numerous other community partners providing grants, donations and support.

About the program

The AOC Program is a partnership between the AWF and ACES 4-H. At present, more than 300 schools across Alabama are developing and using outdoor classroom sites through the AOC Program. For more information, visit https://www.alabamawildlife.org/outdoor-classroom-program.