Jefferson Early Learning Center
Houston, Texas
Alief ISD
K-12 Education
Many students in Alief ISD do not have access to nature or the benefits it provides for both health and academics. An outdoor learning space at Alief ISD’s new Early Childhood Center provides students an opportunity to safely enjoy time outside and experience the benefits of learning in nature. The Early Childhood Center features an alternative approach to site development. In lieu of a flat site with Bermuda grass and the city-required landscaping, this site utilizes low-impact development with sheet flow, bio-swales, pocket prairies and even some reforestation. Paths and outdoor classrooms are located throughout the undulating site to encourage student and community engagement with nature by providing spaces where students safely enjoy time outside to explore and play with water, plant and harvest vegetables in an edible garden, and observe the nature and prairies in their backyard.
