At Paulette Elementary School, they know that some of the most important lessons don't happen within classroom walls. Getting kids into nature, digging in dirt, and learning about plants, animals and agriculture, can provide experiences many students these days don't get at home. The Paulette Outdoor Classroom has been a vital part of that learning, a space for community gardens and wildlife habitats alike.

And from 1:30 to 5 p.m., Monday, April 30, the community is invited to join students in celebrating the newest honor for the Paulette Outdoor Classroom: certification as a National Wildlife Federation Certified Schoolyard Habitat. On that day, there will be a ribbon cutting at 1:30 p.m., and students will lead tours of the gardens and habitats in the Outdoor Classroom. Students from the afterschool 4-H program, Boy Scouts, the school gardening club and more will participate.

The Outdoor Classroom includes raised garden beds along the south side of the school for vegetable and fruit planting, a pollinator garden for bees and butterflies, herb gardens, touch-and-feel gardens, a huge wetland area, and a path down to the pasture and creek that border the school property.

"They can observe nature without taking a field trip," said Paulette science teacher Martha Brown. "I'm just really happy that the kids have that kind of opportunity."

Beth Bergeron of UT Extension said the various habitats of the Outdoor Classroom have been the work of years by various community groups, students and, of course, Brown. A grant from the Tennessee Parks and Recreation Association in partnership with UT Extension, Milan Baptist Church, the school and Keep Union County Beautiful, funded raised garden beds for the community garden, and vegetables from the garden are donated to the Milan Baptist food pantry. A Heroes Grant from Lowe's hardware stores put benches around the wetland area of the Outdoor Classroom and provided some fruit trees. Clinch River Environmental Studies Organization funded plantings in the wetland area. Many plants were donated by the UT Extension Agriculture Committee, plus Little Valley Nursery, Union County High School's horticulture program, and more private donors.

"It takes community support to make things like that go," said Bergeron. "It's a neat area, and it's good to see the schools and students working with so many different organizations."

Much of the work to make the open garden possible has been done by students. Kids head to the outdoor classroom to plant, pull weeds, harvest, compost and more. The fifth grade 4-H students wrote invitation letters to local officeholders and special guests, and fifth-graders will serve as guides during the open garden.

"I think it's been great to see them learning to write a letter properly, an actual letter to somebody that they knew would get mailed and they would get a response from," said Bergeron. "Just watching them use different programs to create a flyer, they do it better than I do. The whole fifth grade has done the planning for it."

The NWF certification is part of the Gardening for Wildlife program, and the school will receive a sign denoting the honor. The school is also entered into the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge, an effort to create a habitat for native pollinator species. At Paulette, plans are underway to create a Monarch butterfly way station in the Outdoor Classroom.

For more information about the open house, call UT Extension's Union County office at 865-992-8038.