Outdoor Classroom

Our students at the Primary and Intermediate Schools are able to learn and grow, using outdoor classroom spaces!

There are three spaces around Princeton Primary and Princeton Intermediate designated as MN School forests. A school forest is an outdoor classroom, where students learn and apply math, art, science, language arts, and social studies while gaining an appreciation and awareness of natural resources.  We have a 3 acre outdoor classroom called the East Woods, 1.7 acre North Woods, and .6 acre prairie area between the 2 elementary schools.

In the Summer of 2018, in conjunction with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Conservation Corps Minnesota (CCM) created a trail to begin the North Woods school forest. The trail is about a 100 meter loop that runs through an area that is mainly mature Red Pines. Included along this trail is a small clearing where we have 3 picnic tables that can be used as a learning area, or a great place to have snack time in nature. The materials for these tables were donated by the Ternes family in memory of Lucy Jane Ternes who would have been in the first Kindergarten class to use the school forest. The construction of the tables was donated by Eric Strandberg. A second learning area along this trail has 8 benches for students and teachers to sit for discussions and lesson instructions. 

In the Fall of 2020, in an effort to allow more outside space for multiple classes during COVID, we added a second trail that we call the 'back trail'.  This trail meanders through a mixture of hardwoods and evergreen trees and also includes an area with benches for outdoor learning. The school forest has proven to be a great option for the teachers and the specialists to teach outdoors.

Benefits of Outdoor Learning

• It helps students socially, as well as physically.
• It increases motor skill development,
• It nurtures students in creativity,
• It helps students to learn to work together,
• It encourages an outlet to handle stress, and
• It opens doors to students to learn to appreciate nature.

To learn more information about the school forest program in Minnesota follow this link: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/schoolforest/index.html