Erdenheim Elementary Playground

The following information provided by Nancy McDonald.

Erdenheim Elementary Is Building "Green"

The new Erdenheim Elementary School is expected to be open for the 2010-2011 school year. Our principal and teachers, as well as the architects, have been very careful to address all of our children's educational needs when designing the new building and we should be very proud.

Our new school will be green and includes environmentally friendly features such as a ground-source geothermal mechanical system and use of recycled and local materials. It is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council and is anticipated to achieve LEED Gold certification.

But in order for our new school to be truly complete, we need to come together as a community for a very important project: the playground.

About the Playground Area

Our new playground will follow in our building's green footsteps. Currently, the teachers and landscape architects from Hayes Large are working together to incorporate the student's science curriculum into the playground and garden areas that surround the playground. The overarching theme of the garden is "sustainability." Each class is preparing lesson plans that can be illustrated by the living world right outside their classrooms.

Here are several examples: the kindergarten studies trees, the second grade studies balance and motion, and the third grade studies water. When this project is complete the kindergarten will be able to use the garden to observe and study the life cycle of a tree, its architecture and all the wildlife that a tree sustains. The second grade can use the playground equipment to study the physics of motion, and the third grade will have their very own water garden.

Each and every one of these lesson plans will be interpreted using native plants and trees which supports the overarching theme of "sustainability."

Our physical education teacher is also on this planning committee. His plans include a trail that skirts the playground. The trail will house several stations that offer the walker/jogger additional opportunities to diversify their workout, as well as tips to monitor and track their physical workout. The key here is to promote good walking as habits.

The playground itself will also be going green. We will be purchasing the playground equipment from a company that utilizes sustainable materials in its manufacturing as well as green building practices. The soft surface flooring will follow LEED certified standards.

About the Cost

Because playgrounds are not curriculum-based, the money that has been allocated to the district by the state cannot be used to purchase the needed equipment. Therefore, the Erdenheim PTO has been charged with the fundraising for the playground equipment. The cost of playground equipment is high. Our latest research estimates that the equipment will cost approximately $100,000*.

*The cost of the equipment would be the same whether we purchase from green manufactures or not.

About the Fundraising

The Erdenheim PTO does have a strategic plan for raising the needed $100,000 and we need to accomplish our goal by Fall 2010. We see three streams of revenue needed to support this effort: 25% coming from grants and government, 25% from corporate gifts and 50% coming from our Erdenheim/Springfield population.

The Playground Committee currently has several sub-committees pursuing each of these revenue streams, each with its our strategic plan, target goals and deadlines.