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920 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA, 94710
United States

(510) 644-8812

Rosa Parks is an Environmental Science Magnet school in the Berkeley Unified School District in Berkeley, California. Equipped with a science lab, educational garden, and dedicated, professional and talented faculty and staff, students at Rosa Parks benefit from a curriculum enriched with access to science and nature.

Green Schoolyard Project

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The Rosa Parks School community began a participatory schoolyard design process with parents and teachers in January 2006. Our overall goal was to enhance the existing schoolyard to create an even more vibrant and engaging environment for our children to work and play in.


In Fall 2006, we completed a concept plan that expresses our collective vision for the school grounds. The plan is intended to guide the future development of this environmental science school’s gardening program, outdoor classroom spaces, and play areas over the next 5-10 years. The concept plan includes design ideas that were generated by parents and teachers over the course of the planning process.

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The Green Schoolyard Concept Plan for Rosa Parks School includes the following themes:

1. Enhanced Play Opportunities

  • Zones for active and creative play

  • Opportunities for exploration and adventure

2. Enhanced Educational Opportunities

  • Outdoor classroom spaces with tables and seating

  • A new “amphitheater hill” for large outdoor gatherings and play

  • Boulder seating areas tied to the geology curriculum

  • A human sundial and solar panels, connected to the renewable energy curriculum

  • An expanded culinary garden with new redwood fence and outdoor seating

  • Additional edible plantings in the main yard including vegetables, herbs, fruit trees, and berry bushes

  • Large, curriculum-tied native plant gardens representing different habitat types in the California landscape, and designed to attract local birds and butterflies

  • Increased emphasis on seasonal change (fall color, spring flowers, weather stations)

  • Connections to the schoolyard’s place in its watershed

  • Removal of pavement to increase the site’s capacity to absorb storm water, and decrease the “urban heat island” effect in the yard

3. Enhanced Physical Comfort & Schoolyard Appearance

  • Shade trees and extensive outdoor seating will make the yard more comfortable

  • Aesthetic embellishment, with the addition of carefully chosen murals and tile mosaics, will improve the appearance of the school

For more information please contact: Barbie Zeldis

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