the DIRT on the OC

Winter months bring to mind inside activities like cozying up to a roaring fire, snuggling into warm blankets, sipping hot cocoa with marshmallows. But winter is an optimal season to get outside to nourish your mind, body, and spirit.

Kids and adults can benefit from outside time during the coldest months of the year, and Rainbow School takes full advantage of our outdoor spaces to reap the benefits. Daily doses of fresh air drives overall wellbeing.

Mind: Playing outside in natural settings lowers stress, is restorative, and reduces anxiety.

Body: Being outside increases physical activity, which boosts the immune system and improves cardiovascular health. These health benefits also lead to healthy sleep.

Spirit: Experiencing nature in any season brings joy, but during the winter, it also teaches us grit and resilience. Taking on the challenges of playing outside in winter shows kids they can manage the situation and handle adverse circumstances.

Once you understand the importance of getting outside in all kinds of weather, it is time to address appropriate attire. Kids need to be warm, dry, and comfortable to fully absorb the learning moments and physical advantages.

Think about appropriate attire for outdoor play as dressing in three layers.

Base: This first layer is a thin underlayer that should fit snuggly but not bind. Examples include long underwear, leggings, long sleeve t-shirts, warm socks.

Middle: This layer goes over the base layer and is the clothing you see when inside. Examples include sweaters or sweatshirts and jeans or sweatpants.

Outerwear: This last layer is the first protection from the outside elements and ideally is waterproof. Examples include coats, boots, hats, mittens.

Rainbow School promotes outdoor play all year long, and we hope and try to get outside every day unless weather conditions are dangerous. It is important that all students come to school prepared to go outside every day. We consult the National Weather Service Wind Chill Chart at weather.gov when considering whether it is as safe to play outside.

Did you know that the guidelines used by area elementary schools for outside play are 1) temperature above 15 degrees, 2) wind chill is above 0 degrees, and 3) there is no falling moisture? This gives you an idea about the safety standard for cold weather.

Another important aspect to consider is the daily weather forecast and the time of day we go outside at Rainbow School. The forecast's daily high temperature is typically hit about 4pm, and all of our classes have their Outdoor Classroom times before 1pm. It is wise to dress each day for the low temperature in the forecast as we often experience the coldest temperatures of the day.

Thank you for preparing your student every day to go outside, so when the temperature is dropping, we can let them play outside.

Have you seen our new Art Patio?

As part of our Prayer Labyrinth redesign, a new outdoor art space has been added. The patio is located in the northwest corner of the Prayer Labyrinth, and it is in the final stages of construction. To date, there is an art table where Rainbow School students can explore nature in art. We are working to add outdoor easels to the space, and we will provide a daily art prompt during Outdoor Classroom time.

The Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) Solid Waste Management District awarded Rainbow School funding for a new composting system in the Outdoor Classroom as part of their waste reduction incentive. Rainbow School will use the funds to purchase and build a new composting bin system and classroom compost buckets that will allow our young students to participate in the composting process from food waste to soil.

Ms. Rhae has created a composting curriculum to begin this month with our students, and it will continue through the end of the spring semester. We will learn how food waste from our lunches break down into nutrient rich soil for our vegetable garden beds. Look for photos in your classroom notes and at the OC wall display in the Entrance Hallway.

Rainbow School takes outside play seriously, and we have an Outdoor Classroom Team to back that up. This team has been together since before taking on their Outdoor Classroom roles when they met as Blue Room parents.

Elizabeth McKinney, Outdoor Classroom Coordinator

Ms. Elizabeth teaches in the Outdoor Classroom on Wednesdays and Thursdays. She came to Rainbow School in 2008 as a parent. After serving on the former Rainbow School PTA (now RFC) and chair for the auction, she can boast about her three Rainbow School Alums, now aged 10, 13, and 15. She started on the Rainbow School staff in 2013, and after rotations in the Red Room, the Blue Room, and Floater, Ms. Elizabeth added OC Coordinator in 2016 when the position expanded to include daily nature lessons in the OC to our students.

Ms. Elizabeth's interest in nature began during weekends on her grandparents' Missouri farms and, like much of her life, has been a meandering path through a B.A in history from Drury University to an internship in solid waste management at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to a J. D. studying environmental law from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law to an L.L.M. in agricultural law from University of Arkansas School of Law to the Rainbow School Outdoor Classroom.

Rhae Adams, Outdoor Classroom Educator

Ms. Rhae teaches in the Outdoor Classroom on Mondays and Tuesdays. She came to Rainbow School in 2010 as a parent. After serving as President on the former Rainbow School PTA (now RFC) and decorations chair for the auction, she can boast about her Rainbow School alum, now aged 15. Ms. Rhae served as the Outdoor Classroom Coordinator in 2014 when the position concentrated on teacher education. She came back to the OC in 2018 to work on OC maintenance and improvement projects, spent some time as Floater, then back to the OC exclusively as an educator in 2021.

Ms. Rhae's love of the outdoors was sparked by her natural curiosity while exploring the "back 40" of her parents' Missouri farm, and true to form, has been an adventurous and wandering path with an A.B. in anthropology from Bryn Mawr College during which she did research in Kenya to an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Arizona to founding her own floral and landscape design company here in Kansas City called Found in Nature to the Rainbow School Outdoor Classroom.

Think Outside.

No Box Required.

Email: rsgarden@south-broadland.org
Website: https://www.southbroadland.org/rainbow-overview
Location: 7850 Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone: 816-523-4336
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RainbowSchool/