Willow School, Gladstone NJ

by Taylor Walsh on March 28, 2011

in Ecology,Facilities,Gardens,iPoints,Wellness,Wellness in the Schools

iPOINT: Green as the basis for K-8 hands-on stewardship

Willow School students
In their habitat

The “playground” is littered with large branches and logs, arranged by its small caretakers in specific forms among the towering trees that spread their limbs over their activity.  There is no pavement in sight on their play glade.  At The Willow School, it is hard to tell if it is the school and its students that are immersed in their surroundings, or the other way around.   Probably both.

The mission of this astonishing school (to use a very limiting term) in northwestern New Jersey is expressed in part here:

“We are a school that sees sustainability as a key element in our relationship with the natural world as much as with our social world. Children learn to share intellectual resources with peers to sustain a community. They also learn to share, respect, and conserve nature’s resources.”

The following video describes what has become one of the most influential school buildings in the country.  But even with Gold and Platinum LEED designation, “Green School” just begins to define the approach to learning, community and stewardship that permeates this 35-acre campus cut out of the woods.  (Some of that cut out wood came back as the school’s desks and chairs.)

Willow plans to extend its vision of what stewardship can mean to young children by building a Health, Wellness & Nutrition center.   This building in its planning stages would be even more energy and water efficient than other buildings on campus.  Academically its nutrition programs would, according to the school, immerse students in an understanding of food from planting and harvest to preparation and clean up in sustainable fashion.

This small school in the rolling countryside of New Jersey has had visitors from all over the world. It is little wonder why this is so.

Willow School classrooms building

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{ 2 comments }

theresa April 6, 2011 at 2:05 PM

what a wonderful idea for the FUTURE of not only the planet…but for the STUDENTS. they benefit from the learning of academics and knowing how better to help save the planet by being in these great buildings, surrounded by nature and aiding to replant nature. is there anything more exciting than being able to say “see that tree? or that patch of flowers? I HELPED PLANT THAT ‘x’ number of years ago”. a living legacy for THEIR next generations, wow!
i only hope ALABAMA smartens up and gets on board with this thinking and building process.

Taylor Walsh April 6, 2011 at 3:11 PM

Theresa, that’s the kind of comment that sends us to Google and YouTube. In this case, to learn about the Hilltop Montessori School in Birmingham. Hilltop is LEED certified and reports that:
“Recently, Hilltop was awarded a grant from the Alabama Legacy Foundation that allows conversion of the State of Alabama’s Legacy Environmental Curriculum from group lessons to individual Montessori lessons. Hilltop received construction grants from The Daniel Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham.”

Other green schools in the state did not surface from this quick search, which doesn’t mean they aren’t there or aren’t in a planning or development phase.

A good site to track this phenomenon is at the US Green Building Council’s Green School Building section. It includes a list of states with green school initiatives underway, and…uh oh: Alabama is missing. I would be surprised, however to learn that the public systems are not engaged.

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