Learning Beyond the Classroom Walls

Greene Hill School’s location in the heart of Brooklyn has influenced the school community because teachers utilize the offerings of the surrounding neighborhood as teaching tools. Greene Hill is fortunate to have many resources right in its own backyard ripe for exploration and experienced as a means to learn more about the people and places outside of school, New York City history, and current issues and topics in the wider world. Students are very aware of their surroundings and engage with the local community through neighborhood walks, field trips, Outside Time in playgrounds, and community events like picnics in local parks.

Outside Time

Greene Hill students spend large portions of the time at school outdoors, either in the several outside spaces on our campus or in local parks. We believe that outside time is critical to the physical, social-emotional, and intellectual development of students of all ages, and all students have at least one unstructured outdoor time each day at school. At times, teachers may contribute materials or offer to lead an activity or game, however, most often students are free to use these times to engage with their peers in a variety of open-ended ways, including dramatic play, explorations of nature, organized sports or other traditional schoolyard games, or simply talking and laughing with friends. Teachers also seek opportunities to teach lessons and conduct activities outside as appropriate. We are lucky to have several varied outdoor spaces on campus that students visit regularly, including a recess yard (the Big Yard), a Block Yard with large, moveable blocks, and a garden space.

Field Trips and Overnight Trips

Field trips play an integral role in our curriculum as students take full advantage of all that New York City has to offer.  Walking trips around the vibrant neighborhood that surrounds the school allow students to see examples of community organizations as they study ways people work together to accomplish goals, to gather data on what businesses and services make up a neighborhood and how they meet the needs of the community, and to study gentrification from both an economic and social justice perspective.  Field trips extending farther into the city include trips to community spaces and landmarks such as Ellis Island and the Brooklyn Bridge, cultural organizations such as Brooklyn Historical Society, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, the Transit Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, and walking tours of the African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan. The purpose of these excursions is not just to view places and artifacts related to their studies, but also to provide children with primary experiences to help answer questions such as: What might it have been like to immigrate to a new country over 100 years ago? or How can art provide us with insights into belief systems and ways of life? 

Our older students have an overnight trip experience each year, beginning in the 8s.  Trips for middle schoolers may include a several-night nature-based trip where they do team-building, adventure activities and learn about the natural world in connection to what they study in science class.

Community Engagement

Greene Hill School participated in enriching partnerships with a number of local organizations including but not limited to:

  • Adopt-a-Farmbox

  • Audubon Center in Prospect Park

  • Bedford branch of the Brooklyn Public Library

  • Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy

  • Brooklyn Grange

  • Brooklyn Navy Yard

  • Brooklyn Academy of Music and BAM’s Dance Africa

  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden

  • Irondale Theater

  • Jane Bailey Memorial Community Garden

  • Billion Oyster Project

  • Brooklyn Music School

  • Urban Glass

  • Little Essentials