PORTSMOUTH — Students at Melville Elementary School will be going outside more during the day, but not just for recess. 

They’ll be learning about science, the environment, math and other subjects in the comfort of a new outdoor learning zone that is near completion behind the school on West Main Road. Members of the School Committee were given a brief tour of the area before their meeting last Wednesday, Sept. 25, which was moved to the school just for the occasion.

“The whole area is designed to be an oasis for learning,” said Shannon Rozea, a landscape architect and director of the nonprofit Thrive Outside, which partnered with Melville School on the project.

Ms. Rozea founded Thrive Outside after leading the push for an outdoor classroom at her children’s school, Guiteras Elementary School in Bristol.

“There are so many studies that support how outdoor learning is good for student engagement,’ Ms. Rozea said in explaining the philosophy behind the project. “The hands-on tactile piece of it is big, and just exploring the world around them, especially for science, is really big. Not just for that, but for all subjects. You can do art, writing — whatever it is.”

Added Melville Principal Elizabeth Viveiros, “You can bring all the learning you’re doing there. You’re just relocating the environment.”

Thrive Outside is modeled after the Boston Schoolyard Initiative, which was created in 1995. 

“That went on for about 20 years. They renovated 86 schoolyards into these outdoor learning environments. That was my inspiration for this,” said Ms. Rozea. The same education consultant for the Boston Schoolyard Initiative is now working with Melville teachers over the course of the year, she added.

Ms. Rozea refused to take most of the credit for the outdoor classroom, saying her group worked closely with Ms. Viveiros “and her vision,” as well as with teachers and students, to come up with a final design for the space.

The one at Melville, she said, is not a common design.

“This is the most elaborate one that I’ve ever worked on. Because they were so gung-ho about the fund-raising, they were able to do this. And, they had a nice site, so it was like a perfect storm with all the funding,” she said.

Ms. Viveiros said the entire project cost about $122,000, of which $60,000 was raised by the school. Another $50,000 came from the state Department of Transportation, and the rest was borrowed, she said.

Nearly ready

While more grant money is needed to complete work on the site — the school wants to connect the zone to both a separate outdoor classroom near the playground as well as a rain garden, and also improve handicap accessibility — the first phase should be ready for students sometime after Columbus Day, Ms. Viveiros said. 

“They’re so eager to get out there,” she said.

Teachers have already used part of the space, the circular “celebration area” in the middle, for professional development. “It accommodated about 48 adults, sitting around that middle area,” the principal said.

The learning zone has different spaces for different types of activities, Ms. Rozea said. One area, for example, has a “gentle slope,” which makes it ideal for larger gatherings — perhaps even a performance, she said.

Another space, located in a shady area away from everything, is intended to be a “reflection/creativity” area, where students could do journaling, drawing or quieter activities. 

Another area is in the sun. “They can do horticulture, with pots. We hope to have a shed there eventually, and raised beds for our handicapped accessibility,” said Ms. Rozea, who labeled it “flex space” that teachers could use for a wide range of learning.

The learning zone’s many native plants will serve as a teaching point, and could be used for “sensory stimulation” as well, she said. The area is large enough to accommodate multiple classes — perhaps up to three at a time, she said.

Ms. Viveiros said future plans call for opening the outdoor learning zone up to Hathaway School students as well. “Our hope is we’ll have collaborative learning projects with them,” she said.

School Committee Chairwoman Emily Copeland saw only one problem with letting students learn in an outdoor classroom.

“You might not get them back into the building,” she joked.