Transforming Shaw Montessori into a

Living Learning Laboratory

Augustus H. Shaw Montessori

Amy Shuchert

GreenLight Solutions

1 

 

Project Scope

This project focuses on the school courtyard, transforming it into a shaded, water efficient living laboratory empowering learning

through exploration, natural landscape manipulation, and sustainable education. The campus learning environment will include

desert-adapted vegetation which will serve to mitigate the urban heat island effect currently experienced on campus, while providing

natural shading. The vegetation will draw upon the Shaw campus water supply in terms of rainfall and possibly grey water. This project

will provide small and large group gathering locations, creating destination hubs for students and faculty. Re-development of the

outdoor space will include dining space for children to eat in a comfortably shaded environment, an amphitheater for events and

classes to take place, and a redesign of spaces meant for pedestrians with a focus on flow.

Site Plan

2 

 

Outdoor Amphitheatre

Location: ● The grassy area on the southeast corner of

Shaw campus, which is currently home to the

unsightly sewage drain

● Construction Options:

○ The Amphitheater can be built on top

of the drain (placing the stage atop the

drain), given enough time to

re-structure the piping

○ The Amphitheater can be built further

east, avoiding the drain completely

Materials & Features:

● Permeable pavement in the stage area and

lining the steps

● Treated wood paneling around the vertical

portions of the steps/seats

● Grass grown on the interior horizontal portions

of the steps for contextualization

● Built to hold one full class (approx. 30

students)

Outdoor Seating & Lunch Area

Location: ● Corridor immediately outside cafeteria

Materials & Features

● Various materials available for tables

and chairs (wood, reclaimed wood, plastics,

metal, cardboard, etc.)

● Material style mixing available -- adds

character to the space

● Enough seating and table space to hold

one full class (approx. 30 students)

● Freestanding/Moveable tables and

chairs

3 

 

Shading

Canvas Options

Retailers:

● (USA Shade)

● Must Call for Estimate

This design would be best used for the

outdoor seating areas, due to fewer

obstructing beams in ground.

● Provides for a smaller, compact

design.

This design would be a great fit for the auditorium area.

● Sturdy shading structure which covers a large area.

● Can be customized -- notice the added speakers

4 

 

Wood Shading Structures

Cost will depend on size and exact material (i.e. type of wood)

● Possible retailers of wood: Home Depot

● Depending on the complexity of the design, may need to contract builders

Either of the two pictured designs would

work well as spot-shading options for any

space on campus

● Outdoor amphitheatre

● Gardens

● Outdoor Seating area

● Administrative Courtyard

5 

 

Urban Ecology

Living Walls

Utilizing the empty hallway wall space to provide an interactive learning feature, stimulate imagination, and green the

campus through sustainable practices.

Moss Wall

Also referred to as moss art, a moss wall for

the Montessori campus would be a creative,

green hallway feature allowing passing

students to experience active growth daily by

watering at any time with a tethered spray

bottle

Incorporating a moss wall would:

● Present educational opportunities for

teachers

● Create an active learning experience for

students as

Construction & Implementation:

● Campus Work Day

● Simple project involving age-appropriate classrooms

Care: ● Interactive and non-time consuming spray bottle

watering

● Watering which can be accomplished by dividing

responsibility amongst classrooms

6 

 

Succulent Wall

A succulent wall is an artsy twist on greening a campus while taking advantage of open hallway space throughout the

campus.

Not just pleasant to look at:

● Water efficient greening strategy

● Can withstand full sun exposure.

● Succulents are Montessori approved desert-adapted

plants

Construction & Implementation:

● Select assortment of smaller succulent plants

● Arrange succulents in a planter box

● Mount planter box on wall

Interactive educational opportunities:

● Allow for watering with a tethered spray bottle

● Provide tags next to each species (name, origin, uses,

how plants function in the desert ecosystem)

Vertical Garden

The beauty of a vertical garden is that the system takes up minimal

space and is not limited to any specific type of garden that may be

implemented (herb, vegetable, pollinator, succulent/desert plants)

Integrated watering system [options]:

● Rooftop stormwater catchment system

● Gray water pumping system (constructed in the campus

courtyard)

Construction & Implementation:

● Planters will be 4 ft 6 inches tall so children will be able to

interact

● Simple to build - stacking water bottles on top of one another

with soil and seed inside;

Campus Work Day

7 

 

Bug boxes/ Bug Hotel

Bug boxes and/or Bug Hotels would be a fantastic means of keeping the on-site ecosystem well-pollinated. These

simple features serve the purpose of attracting a variety of insects necessary for pollinating (i.e. bees, ladybugs,

moths, etc).

Creation and Implementation:

● Inexpensive and low time consuming

● The boxes take up little space and

Maintenance: ● Features can be made from scraps of wood or twigs

bundled together with string and assembled in a similar

fashion.

Educational Opportunities: ● Learning based on bugs living in the system at any

given time

● Resident bugs will change based on the season

8 

 

Pollinator Garden

A pollinator garden includes plants which can

provide essential habitats for bees, butterflies,

moths, beetles, hummingbirds, and other

pollinators (flies, beetles etc). Constructing a

pollinator garden in the courtyard of the Shaw

campus would provide the benefits of further

campus greening through utilizing Montessori

approved desert-adapted plants which serve to

attract native fauna. Incorporating a pollinator

garden is the main focus of enhancing the

onsite biophilic aspects which will promote

education and overall campus beauty.

Educational Opportunities: ● Boundless!

● Students can learn about topics ranging

from ecosystem services, ecology

principles, and landscaping techniques

within and around the garden itself.

9 

 

Pollinator Garden Plant Options

Shade Tree: Willow Salix SPP Fruit Tree: Bonanza Dwarf Peach

Vine: Baja Passion (attracts butterflies) Groundcover: Rosemary (Perennial and attracts honey bees)

10 

 

Cacti: Prickly Pear Large Shrub: Wood Rose (Perennial)

Medium Shrub: Sage (attracts birds, bees, and butterflies) Small Shrub: Lavender (Perennial and

attracts honey bees)

11 

 

Grass: Bermuda Tifway 419

12 

 

Bee Hive

An on-campus beehive presents an unmatched option for keeping the campus ecosystem alive and well. Precautions

would need to be taken to ensure child safety and to account for any allergies (ie placement and stingless bees)

Intelligent Placement: ● Can be placed on the edge of campus to

avoid disturbance during high traffic times.

Best Options:

● Flow Hive - makes domestication of bees

easy and low maintenance. The honey

harvest is a simple process as the design of

the Flow Hive allows for easy access and

distribution.

Educational Opportunities: ● Can address ecosystem services, life cycles,

etc.

Description: ● Flow Hive™ system is a plastic half-built comb which face each other. The added bees finish off and connect

up the rest of the hive, fill it with honey, and cap it. When the beekeeper is ready, they turn a key allowing for

the two plastic hive foundations to crack apart and the honey flows out down a channel into a spout down to

the jars provided below.

Butterfly Terrarium:

While the pollinator garden will attract butterflies on campus,

having an on site butterfly terrarium would close the loop of

pollinators-to-garden by creating a home for butterflies on the

campus.

Features

● Includes larvae, caterpillars and butterflies purchased

and dispersed locally to thrive within a tent or other

constructed feature (i.e greenhouse, dependent on

space) near the garden itself

Concerns

● High maintenance feature

● Knowledge specific to the butterfly life cycle and keeping

would have to be introduced along with implementation to a responsible party.

Educational Opportunities:

● Learning about life cycles, ecosystem services, butterfly roles as a pollinator and their migratory behaviors

13 

 

Water Use & Features

Grey Water

Definition: “Graywater” means wastewater collected separately from a sewage flow that originates from a clothes

washer, bathtub, shower, and sink, but does not include wastewater from a kitchen sink, dishwasher, or toilet. (AZ

Public Services)

● For Shaw Montessori, greywater refers to water from bathroom sinks - we would not consider utilizing water

from toilets.

● Proper filtration systems can cost into the tens of thousands (Negative)

○ Due to high cost, difficulty of pumping, and a lengthy water classification permit process, Greywater

use from sinks and bathrooms will not be feasible for this project.

● To utilize grey water:

○ Water must be kept out of reach of children

○ Water must be kept in a closed system - water cannot be “standing” for a longer than 24-hour period

● Best Option: Utilize graywater in a “Leaky Tank” system, in which water flows from sinks through pipes to an

underground tank, which leaks into the surrounding soil to water plants

Irrigation

● To irrigate anything on the school campus we need Class A filtered Water

Rainwater Catchment System

14 

 

Living Learning Laboratory

Interactive Systems Wall

A multi-panel display where students can touch, read,

think and talk about a few of the systems that they

come in contact with either in or out of school.

Holistic Water System: ● By pouring water into the top, students

experience the process of how water trickles

down through its various roles in the

environment. Relevant text labels explain the

functions that H2O serves along the way.

Urban Water System: ● This panel shows how water is taken from a

source and used by humans. First, it is filtered

through a water treatment facility. Next, it is

used by different sectors such as agriculture,

industry, business & households. Finally, water is

piped to a wastewater treatment facility before

being piped to another location, either

underground or into a water body.

The Food Wheel: ● After eating their lunch, students are encouraged to dump

the remaining contents into the top of this panel,

contributing to an ongoing compost display that displays the

process of decomposition. A large wheel is attached to the

outside which turns a mechanism on the inside and churns

the compost.

Food Web Panel: ● This panel would show the interconnectedness of the

different tertiary levels (producers, consumers,

decomposers) and in particular, Arizonan wildlife. It could

incorporate vegetation used on campus as a way of

explaining why specific vegetation was chosen.

15 

 

Grants/Funding

As of October 21st, 2015, this GreenLight Solutions Project team is pursuing 4 grants.

The search for grants is ongoing. Many will be found and applied to throughout the course of the project.

1) Woodside Grant: $1,500 I Due Oct. 25, 2015 - 11:59 PM

a) ASU Changemaker Grant

2) Changemaker Challenge: up to $5,000 I Due Nov. 22, 2015 - 06:00 PM

a) ASU Changemaker Grant

3) The Pollination Project: $1,000 I Due Date Unknown

a) The Pollination Project Grant

4) Whole Kids Foundation School Garden Grant: $2,000 I Due Oct. 31st, 2015

a) Whole Foods Whole Kids Foundation

16