Mineola Middle School officially dedicated its outdoor reading room during a two-day celebration of Earth Day April 21 and 24 when middle school students taught science lessons to primary schoolers in the outdoor learning space between the two campuses.

The reading room, and indeed the entire area, has been a work in progress for several years.

Science teacher Susan Witt helped get the numerous projects started through grants from the Mineola Education Foundation that now includes raised bed gardens, a green house, chicken coop and other associated parts, along with the reading room.

The “room” is an outdoor pavilion-type space with seating, swings, ceiling fans and has an adjacent aquaponics garden recently donated by the Mineola Kiwanis Club that will soon add to the many science lessons.

School staffer Terry McKnight designed the decking for the room using ideas from students and then built the foundation for the structure.

Winslow’s in Wills Point built the upper structure and roof.

The junior high science classes took turns teaching lessons about water to the classes from the primary school.

Youngsters learned about all the important functions that water plays in the human body and about the water cycle, recreating the journey from clouds to glaciers and plants and rivers and oceans.

Witt explained the interaction benefits both groups of students.