Marine Village School has added a forest-facing classroom to its 1.5-acre campus in Marine on St. Croix. The K-6 charter school opened the yurt Sunday at the back of its property. The circular structure is modeled after portable shelters used by nomadic Mongolians.
More than two dozen students, family members, staff and community members attended the opening, the Pioneer Press reported. The 30-foot-diameter yurt cost an estimated $23,000, paid for by an anonymous donor, and its kit was built by Stillwater-based Arcola Post Frame and Construction.
The yurt has insulation, wind and snow-load resistance, two doors, multiple windows, a central skylight, wood floors and a rear porch. A wood-burning stove is intended to keep the classroom usable through the winter, and the school planned to add solar power later in the week.
A Daily Walk Meant to Build Wonder
Jaime Souza said the setting is intended to support science investigations and outdoor and ecology education for the wider St. Croix River Valley community, according to the Pioneer Press.
Leah Mahoney pointed to the walk to the classroom as part of the learning experience, the report said. Students already monitor bluebird boxes, and they worked Sunday on the school’s rain garden and an experimental pollinator garden plot.
Students also described what they hope to explore in the new space, according to the Pioneer Press. Ten-year-old Setona Mahoney, who lives in Marine on St. Croix, said she was excited about having more room and natural places to explore. Wilkie Bjork, 5½, said he looked forward to learning about plants and animals, including rhinos, wolves and ladybugs.
From Shuttered Building to Growing Charter
Marine Village School occupies a building that once housed Marine Elementary. In 2016, the Stillwater school board voted to close that school and two others.
The City of Marine on St. Croix bought the vacant building in 2019. Marine Village School opened in 2022 with 29 students; it now enrolls more than 120 and is entering its fifth year, with waitlists in some grades.
Marine Village School serves students in kindergarten through sixth grade and emphasizes environmental stewardship in the community. Bobbi Hume said the yurt is intended to be a year-round classroom, with a wood stove and solar power planned, according to the Pioneer Press. The report said Minnesota has five schools with a yurt on their property.
Outdoor Learning Beyond the Yurt
The school describes its broader outdoor-learning program as combining classroom instruction with experiences in its MN DNR School Forest and community partnerships, according to Marine Village School. That description does not establish that the new yurt is located in or part of the School Forest.
Part of a Larger Forest-School Movement
The new classroom follows another local use of a yurt for instruction: River Grove Elementary held first-grade classes in a forest yurt at the Lee and Rose Warner Nature Center in Marine on St. Croix in 2023, according to University of St. Thomas reporting.
Minnesota’s School Forest framework dates to the 1949 School Forest Law, according to the Park Rapids Public School District. The statewide site and acreage totals previously attributed to that source are not included here.
Beyond Minnesota, Atiya Wells opened an outdoor preschool in Baltimore, and Maryland is piloting licenses for outdoor, nature-based child care.
