PROJECTS
GROUNDS BEAUTIFICATION & THE OUTDOOR CLASSROOM
The COE Foundation serves the COE community by raising funds from school families, alumni and other area donors for capital improvements on the school grounds. In addition to ongoing grounds maintenance, the Foundation has secured funding in the past for improvements that include a front entry garden, playground trash cans, pavilion lighting, trees, seasonally planted pots, track resurfacing, Free Little Library, outdoor hydration station, bike rack, as well as wood and metal benches.
We are currently fundraising to continue a front grounds beautification project along Cincinnati Avenue for our historic neighborhood building. Working alongside our friends and neighbors with Tom's Outdoor Living, we have already completed the planting of two new trees in sidewalk squares as well as a large front bed of shrubs, native grasses, and flowering perennials. The next step is to work on our 21st Street entrance in fall 2025. Support us as we address this area next!​​​​
The COE Outdoor Classroom is an innovative opportunity to engage students on multiple levels and disciplines by providing a multi-use and multi-age approach to a natural learning environment. Research shows outdoor classrooms contribute to increased imaginations, critical thinking skills, cooperative student behaviors, and positive attention spans that develop from the interests of students.
The first phase of the Outdoor Classroom took place in 2015, followed by a Phase Two that included a science classroom and water lab in 2016. The result is a space that allows the COE teachers and staff to take learning outside, while also allowing the students to have freedoms to observe and discover the world around them. While any teacher can - and does - take their class outside to learn in the Outdoor Classroom, the COE Foundation strives to fund and work into the school schedule a dedicated Outdoor Classroom Teacher. In the 2021-22 and the 2022-23 school year, a Foundation-funded Outdoor Classroom Teacher served the entire student body, rotating classes and groups much like the school's art, music, and P.E. specials teachers do.
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The Outdoor Classroom has transformed COE grounds into a half-acre outdoor discovery space incorporating a children’s forest, prairie classroom, outdoor pavilion, sound garden, and a science education classroom. With an emphasis on STEAM education, the Outdoor Classroom provides a unique atmosphere for the school's 500+ students and has become an extension of our students’ daily education.
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