St. Luke’s Lutheran School

The Outdoor Classroom at St. Luke’s Preschool is a very special part of our school. It is designed to have all the interest areas of an indoor preschool classroom, but it is all outdoors.

Our interest areas include Open Area, Dramatic Play, Messy Area, Sand/Dirt, Music/Movement, Building/Construction, Water/Sensory, Stage, Art Area, Chapel, Bamboo Reading Hut, Salsa Garden, Sensory Path, YEZ (Young Explorers Zone) and TEZ (Toddler Explorers Zone). We have a set curriculum with units of study for each month. Each week the preschool classes will visit about 2-3 interest areas each day for about 30 minutes. Two of the days each week are Free Exploration days, where the children can choose the area they would like to explore. The other three days are instructional days, where the teacher chooses the areas their class will be in for the day.

Our Outdoor Classroom was developed by our principal, Ileana Barbari, and the outdoor classroom has been in our preschool for 9 years now, but we are always updating and improving our space. We are expanding the outdoor classroom by adding more space using the upper school outdoor area. We have an additional growing patch, chapel, art, music and water area. This will allow both the preschool and the upper school to use and explore the outdoor classroom with more area for learning.