When the ConVal School Reopening Plan was published in early August, a key feature was the use of outdoor spaces and outdoor classrooms.
The rationale behind this planning decision was the opportunity to increase student and staff safety because outdoor classrooms have been shown to help reduce the viral load in the air. Fewer students spending time indoors touching shared surfaces throughout the school day also reduce the chances for the virus to spread.
An additional, though not entirely unexpected, benefit has been that schools may use outdoor spaces the tents for exploratory outdoor learning, independent reading, lunches, specials, classroom instruction, related services, special education instruction, small group instruction, etc.
As these pictures show, the spaces lend themselves to everything from storytime to the completion of independent work, to connecting with students during informal lunches.
