A Disappearing Outdoor Classroom

Many years ago our daughter’s kindergarten class at Calvert Street School in Woodland Hills learned about Canada geese by watching them. Through the cyclone fence that separates the elementary school from an open field, the children saw the wintering birds feed, their dark-feathered heads bowed while beaks probed vigorously in the earth for tender grasses. When the honored guests had their fill, they took to the air in typical V formation and the 5-year-olds chanted after them, “There go the honkers in the sky.”

This winter the migrating species still returned to the field. And, noting the bright-colored little chairs arranged around a study table on the kindergarten building’s patio which faces the open area, I realize this year’s class members still have ringside seats for learning about nature firsthand.

When construction starts on this piece of property, which is to be leased by a temple from the Los Angeles Junior College District for 90 years, the geese will be displaced. They will need to look elsewhere for a winter feeding ground where they are welcome. And the children’s outdoor classroom experience will be gone.

DALIA KEYSER

Tarzana