Last week I was able to arrange a very last minute brainstorming session around how we might use the new space in our forest created from the removal of buckthorn. A 5th grade teacher, a 3rd grade teacher, a 1st grade teacher, our building chief, a parent, a member of the office staff and a guest from the Tree Trust organization were all present. Adults had a few minutes to think to themselves about idea for the space and record their thoughts on post-its. Each person was then asked to share out loud their idea and it was placed on a piece of poster board. As people shared, if they thought of other ideas, more post-its were available. During this process, students observed and started thinking of their own ideas.

It was a pretty amazing process to watch and I was grateful for the number of people who took time out of their day to join us. I appreciated that the students heard from a range of voices and it was interesting the perspectives that were brought. The building chief had the idea of planting grass seed and getting picnic tables so students could have outside lunch. The Tree Trust representative wanted to make a chickadee landing zone for students to see birds up close. The third grade teacher suggested a greenhouse, big enough for a whole class to sit and do a lesson outside in winter but still be warm.

You could feel the excitement build as each idea was shared; energy was bubbling up. When students started sharing, many started with ideas similar to existing ones. But then, it was like a dam burst. Suddenly, someone had a unique, original idea which led to ohh’s and ahh’s from the crowd and suddenly a flood of connections and tangents of that idea. Then another idea would pop up and the same thing would happen. It was like seeing exponential growth in real time. The longer we spent, the greater the ideas that came: forts, mazes, story walks, trust course, yurts, building stations, outdoor makerspaces; I could go on and on and add an exclamation point after each one to convey the enthusiasm of this idea . Of course there were a few that were truly out there and some students started questioning the feasibility of a few of the ideas. Judgements and reality will come later. Dreaming big was the goal of the day, and it was met.

This also started a flood of ideas rolling around in my brain. Not necessarily ideas for the space, but ideas of how to move forward; ideas of how to do this same process with other grades and classes. Then, of course, come the questions: How will we decide? Who should decide?  How will we share? Should we vote? Who should vote? How would voting happen and when? What if we let families come up with ideas too, how would they share? So much to think about! But what a fun problem to have.

If you could make anything you want in a clearing in the forest, what would you do?