Innovation and Investment in the Earliest Years

It is not a classroom moved outdoors. No conventional lesson plan just transplanted onto a patch of grass. At Hope School, First 5 Santa Barbara County is helping imagine something more experiential: a place where four-year-olds learn by hauling branches, arranging rocks, digging in gardens, and following their curiosity.

“It’s not desks outside,” says Michelle Robertson, Deputy Director of First 5 Santa Barbara County. “It’s about bringing the learning into environments that allow children to experience.”

Before concepts become words on a page, they are things to touch, smell, hear, and discover. Those experiences build vocabulary and comprehension while strengthening the social-emotional skills that allow children to concentrate, self-regulate, and learn.

The school’s planned nature exploration area will transform an undeveloped stretch of grass and uneven ground near its transitional kindergarten classrooms into a collection of distinct learning environments. Instead of relying on a traditional climbing structure, children might push, pull, and construct with large branches, rocks, and other loose natural materials.       

 “As the natural landscape of the outdoor space matures over time, so will its impact on our school and community. We are establishing a living classroom that will not only nurture our current students, but will remain a vibrant, lasting sanctuary for their children and others decades down the road,” says Anne Hubbard, Hope School District Superintendent.

Access for All

Hope represents another kind of forward thinking. Affordable housing planned around La Cumbre Plaza is expected to bring more families into the school community. Preparing now means ensuring those children have access to experiences that family circumstances do not always make possible.

But public schools offer a powerful equalizer: “No matter who you are, you’re going to have access to it.”

Collectively Funding Children’s Futures

The Hope project is approaching $1 million, and First 5 will not pay for all of it. The organization, increasingly taking on the role as a convener and catalyst, commits no more than one-third of a project’s cost, instead bringing districts, funders, and community partners together to build something that can ultimately sustain itself. 

At Hope, the result is intended to outlast any particular grant cycle – or childhood. “When these kiddos are parents,” Robertson says, “it’ll still be there.”

Rather than becoming a project’s sole supporter, First 5 uses its investment to bring school districts, philanthropy, and other partners to the table. “Let’s all collectively do this. Let’s get it done,” says Robertson.

The goal is to provide seed money, establish a successful model, and create something the school community can sustain long after the initial fundraising ends.

Planting Seeds for Lifelong Learning

Every child deserves opportunities to learn, explore, and connect with nature. Hope School, in partnership with First 5 Santa Barbara County, is creating a transformational Nature Exploration Area designed to bring nature-based learning into everyday school life.
Serving more than 280 students and 60 educators and school staff annually, the space will support cognitive, physical, and social-emotional development through hands-on exploration. First 5 is investing $155,000 toward the approximately $850,000 project and seeking individual donations to help bring this vision to life for generations of children.