TTC_02_17_21_Vol.17-No.17

February 17, 2021 www.TheTownCommon.com
Page 3
Taking the Class Outside
By Stewart Lytle, Reporter
NEWBURYPORT – As the
White House advocates returning
to in-person learning and
the Centers for Disease Control
offer schools guidance on how to
bring students back safely, many
schools are asking themselves
what has worked, what has not
worked and what steps do they
take going forward.
River Valley Charter School, a
public Montessori school serving
students from the Newburyport,
Amesbury, Triton and Pentucket
districts, didn’t start the 2020-
2021 school year fully remote.
Throughout the summer, executive
director Jonnie Lyn Evans
and her team of teachers, administrators,
doctors, nurses, and
support staff figured how to space
children out by reducing class
sizes, reconfiguring the filtration
system, increasing air exchanges
by opening windows and adding
window fans, buying or creating
Montessori-like educational materials
for students and hiring a
team to sanitize each room, table
and chair several times during the
day and overnight.
Evans was interviewed recently
by Tim Nicolette from the Massachusetts
Charter Public School
Assn. on how River Valley has
kept its students, faculty and staff
safe during the Pandemic.
One of the most significant
lessons is how the school incorporated
a rigorous outdoor learning
experience into the overall
traditional Montessori style of
teaching. The Montessori style
of teaching, developed by Dr.
Maria Montessori on the streets
of Rome before World War II,
always included outdoor learning
as an integral part of a child’s education.
“I think we knew this, but the
experience with our grades 4 to 6
outdoor program has reminded
and reinforced this,” Evans said.
Since September, the multi-age
classes of fourth, fifth and sixth
grade students meet in-person,
for full days, at school every other
week. It is the alternate week
that has captured the attention of
the school and the charter school
association, which advocates and
supports Massachusetts public
charter schools around the state.
In those weeks, the students
attend a full-day outdoor program.
“It looks like a field trip to
an outdoor learning center every
Photo ProVided BY riVer ValleY Charter sChool
Sixth grader Maliha Jain and friend.
day,” she said. The students visit
one of three farms or a national
wildlife refuge where they learn
about weather, mapping, water
systems and farming.
No matter what Mother Nature
throws at the students and
staff, they come to learn in her
words, “wearing muck boots and
all-weather gear, ready to explore
and learn outdoors.”
“Math and literacy lessons are integrated
into the outdoor day and
punctuated with nature journaling,
measuring and geometry lessons
in giant fields, mapping, water
testing, model building and other
hands-on activities,” Evans said.
Just over halfway through the
school year, the school leader
rates the outdoor program “very
successful.” The outdoor component
is remarkably different from
traditional in-school programming,
but it is producing rewards
that she said, “have amazed and
surprised us.”
Parents report that their children
are happier and more engaged in
their learning than in previous
years. Teachers find that students
come ready to learn. Most significant
is the fact that students, who
may have struggled academically
in the past, now have new ways to
share their talents and are shining
among their peers.
In the school building, every
classroom for all grades is assigned
an outdoor space where
students use 5-gallon covered
buckets to store personal items
when they transition in and out
of the building. The buckets double
as a seat for outdoor learning.
“We have discovered that with
appropriate winter dress, children
and staff can still enjoy learning
in pretty cold temperatures,” she
said. “In many ways, it feels like
our students may be learning
even more than in other years.”
As a result, when the Pandemic
ends, “We anticipate adopting
some form of an outdoor curriculum
as part of our ongoing educational
programming beyond
the pandemic.”
Evans attributes the school’s
overall success this year to smaller
classes, focused learning time,
the outdoor experiences, applied
learning and the fact that students
feel prioritized and cared
for in a safe environment. She
credits others, particularly the
school staff.
“Teachers, at least ours, are
the most dedicated, committed,
brave and resilient human beings
on the planet,” she told The
Town Common. “The River Valley
volunteer Board of Trustees
has been called upon to partner
with administration more than
the school’s board at any other
time in RVCS’ history.”
“Our parent body is undeniably
supportive of the work we
do,” she said. “Communities can
accomplish amazing things when
they come together.”
The four outdoor learning sites
represent collaborative partnerships
with individuals and public
agencies, she said.
She saved some of her strongest
praise for the school’s nurse, Kimberly
Putney, and advising physician,
Dr. Jonathan March.
“Our nurse has moved mountains
to keep our students and
staff safe. Where she gets her
stamina is a mystery. The fact
that she is deep into a master’s
program for public health is testament
to her commitment to the
greater community,” Evans wrote
in an email.
“We have been fortunate as
well to have a number of individuals
with medical experience who
have served in advisory roles. We
are so grateful for the time and
expertise they (and Dr. March)
provide RVCS.”
Like most educators, Evans
can’t wait for the end of the
Pandemic and a return to class
normalcy in the classroom. She
wrote, “Learning through electronics,
no matter how well
trained the people using them
are, or how innovative the technology
is, will never substitute for
learning between, among, with
and from human beings.”
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