The Ellis Mendell Elementary school is one of 6 Boston public elementary schools that inaugurated Schoolyards or Outdoor Classrooms in 2010 through the Boston Schoolyard Initiative, a public-private partnership between the City of Boston and a collaborative of private funders. Jamaica Plain artist and MassArt professor Matthew Hincman was commissioned to design and create this artistic fence that acts as a transformative element between the fun of the playground and the learning that is to take place within the Outdoor Classroom at Ellis Mendell Elementary School. The new outdoor learning space features a space for science experiments, a seating area for instruction, pathways through new plantings, and an “urban meadow” for learning about plants and nature, as well as leaf compositing bins and rain water collection bins.