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Horizon Elementary students unveil ‘Hammock Garden’; community donors, students helped design project
Summary
Horizon Elementary students and staff presented a new outdoor learning space called the Horizon Hammock Garden to the Pewaukee School District board. The project, already under construction, includes donated telephone poles, student‑designed layouts, accessibility features and a planned student-painted rock garden.
Horizon Elementary third‑grade teacher Emily Jasanowski and students presented the Pewaukee School District board with the Horizon Hammock Garden, an outdoor learning space for students that includes class‑sized hammock clusters attached to wooden posts and shade sails.
The presentation explained that the hammock garden will include about 25 hammocks (more depending on class sizes), three clusters beneath tapered shade sails, and design features to make the space accessible to students with mobility issues. “A hammock garden is an outdoor learning space for students to be a part of nature while enjoying their love for learning,” Emily Jasanowski said.
The nut graf: students drove much of the design and planning work. Presenters said students sketched layouts in makerspace, solved measurement and budget problems in math classes, and will paint rocks to create a rock garden that will be part of the space.
Board members heard that community and business donations have been key to getting the project underway. Presenters credited the Pewaukee PTO (a $1,000 gift), telephone poles donated by We Energies, labor support from C.G. Schmidt to pull back the ground and high‑school construction students who helped lay out and dig post holes. “Families have been contributing books and hammocks as well as monetary donations,” the presentation said.
Staff told the board that construction has already begun: site work to prepare post locations was performed the prior Friday, telephone poles will be installed by We Energies, and high‑school construction students participated in measuring and digging for posts. The garden will be located in the northmost courtyard between the fourth‑ and fifth‑grade wings.
Students described the classroom connections built into the project. A third‑grader, Nadek, explained the class used real‑world math to price materials and calculate quantities and areas; another student described designing a handicap‑accessible hammock as part of the universal design goal. Student poems and other writing samples were included in a handout that the presenters left with board members.
Board members and administrators thanked students, teachers and community partners. The presentation closed with a reminder that the project is student‑led and that additional volunteer opportunities will be announced as installation proceeds.
