Bear Tavern Outdoor Classroom

The Bear Tavern Elementary School’s project started as the brainchild of Bear Tavern teachers and their own Principal Chris Turnbull a couple of years ago.  The school has a central courtyard area that had been too long occupied by a rather dull lawn. The group partnered with Nectars Landscape and Design, two Bear Tavern parents, to collect inspiration and come up with a design for an outdoor space the students could enjoy every day.   Coincidentally, Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space approached Principal Turnbull with the idea of adding a monarch and habitat meadow funded by Janssen Pharmaceuticals and it made for natural expansion and brought additional life to the project. Two years ago, a PTO auction started off the fundraising for the project, and parents and community members have continued to offer support since. The Hopewell Valley Education Foundation and The College of New Jersey have also been very involved in helping with funds to see the project to fruition.

The project itself actually consists of several parts.  The original “Bear”tanical Garden idea has evolved into a multifaceted space for outdoor appreciation and learning.  The outdoor learning space will have classroom, performing arts, nature observation, and garden areas as well as a beautiful pond and healthy meadow area.  The project is a certified Monarch waystation and will attract birds and pollinators that are vital to the functioning of the local ecosystem. Additionally, FoHVOS has overseen the planting and ecology to ensure that all of the plantings are of native species. These plants will be given a chance to thrive here, as measures are being taken to keep invasive species under control.

For the students of Bear Tavern, the space will provide an arena for experiential and tangible learning as they see the plants grow and the bees buzz before their own eyes.  This outdoor education will be a change of pace from the indoors, fostering mindfulness and a caring outlook on the environment as well as being a space for healthy practices like taking a break from the normal routine during the day.  Classroom learning will be translated to the outside and the many lessons to be learned from what is visible in the new space can be translated into school curriculum.

Principal Turnbull attributes this project’s success to gifted and motivated teachers and staff, expertise from community partners, and creative thinking to bring community members together and accomplish what they had imagined those several years ago.  Principal Turnbull is confident that other schools can find similar success if they work with what they have to build what they want, using some creativity along the way. He hopes that this space will help the students of Bear Tavern grow into inquisitive, critical thinkers who are ready to go out into the world and question their environment.  Already, students have begun to make changes like eliminating straws in the cafeteria and starting an EPA club. So far, the project has had great success in showing students how interconnected nature is and why environmentalism is so important. Only deeper learning and greater health can be expected from the space as it evolves.