At Trinity Lutheran School in Burr Ridge, preschool looks a little different this year.
Every day, Leann Dewitt’s classes meet under an outdoor canopy for instruction. They wear coats and hats in the chilly autumn air. The sounds of wind and traffic hum in the background as Leann leads the four- and five-year-olds in the songs and rhymes they know so well.
Attending the virtual Play First Summit over the summer, Leann had heard educators from around the world talk about the importance of independent play in young children’s development.
“One of the things I learned was when adults step back, kids step up,” says Leann. “I think that’s so important. Before, I was trying to help [my students] with every little problem that they had. But if you step back and see if they try to work out their own issues, they can most likely do it. And of course you step in on those times when they need help.”
“Every day I came home, she had more and more stuff to tell me. She was just on fire with positivity… with what she wanted to do with the outside classroom,” says Andy Dewitt, Principal at Trinity and Leann’s husband. “Her theory has always been a play-based model. It made it an easy transition, really, to be outside.”
The presence of the COVID-19 pandemic provided further reason for moving a classroom outside, as open-air spaces are associated with a lower risk of infection. The children wear their masks when receiving instruction in close quarters.
Parents and students have both responded positively to the new classroom format. When asked why he looked so dejected leaving school one day, one student said, “There’s no school tomorrow.” The plan is for class meetings to remain outside if the weather is 20 degrees Fahrenheit or over. Leann diligently reminds parents to make sure their children are appropriately dressed for whatever the weather brings.
One of the best parts about teaching outside is the connection with God’s creation. Pastor Bob Geaschel says, “From Old to New Testament, God reveals himself as the one true God by declaring, ‘I am the maker of heaven and earth.’ You can go to Isaiah 44, 45, and you can see where God says, ‘I am the Lord; there is no other. I have made the sea and all that is in it, and the earth is formed by my hands.’ God describes Himself as the true God through His creative action. What an awesome thing to have a Christian preschool outside, interacting with the creation of God, which reveals His existence!”
For Leann, the greatest success is that the kids are happy, healthy, and growing. “It’s them being able to just be themselves and use all of their energy and not be in tight quarters inside playing on a rug playing with toys. They’re able to be just children.”
