If you’ve circled through the Lincoln School campus, you’ve probably seen at least one set of stumps, placed in a circular fashion outside of a classroom door. Thanks to high winds, downed trees and a multitude of volunteers with chainsaws, those stump formations have multiplied quickly and we now have approximately 100 stump seats clustered outside of classrooms around the Lincoln School campus and outside of LEAP and Magic Garden.
It all started with a request to the PTO from David Trant, Lincoln School’s sixth grade science teacher, for 12 stumps outside his classroom door so that he could conduct outdoor instruction with the kids and maintain appropriate social distancing. The PTO put out a call for volunteers with chainsaws and the response was incredible. Ten chainsaw-savvy volunteers, comprised of students’ parents and grandparents, showed up to cut stumps from fallen trees on school property, private property and Lincoln’s Department of Public Works (DPW) tree stock.
The kids and learning coaches LOVE the stump seats. Even with the cold weather, the stumps are being used for outdoor instruction, snack and mask breaks and recess. The outdoor classroom has been so successful that David Trant is working on a proposal to create and maintain a permanent outdoor classroom space that includes appropriate outdoor technology access for audio-visual support.
The tree stump project is one of those “silver linings” to a challenging year impacted by COVID restrictions. The PTO applauds and gives thanks to to the creativity and outreach of teachers, and the energetic contributions of the volunteers that made an idea a reality!