School outreach PRograms
Our school outreach programs can involve a multitude of activities and can be customized depending on the school, teacher, and grade.
If you would like to start a Farm and Forest nature-based program at your school, we’d love to chat!
We work with one grade for the entire school year, visiting the school on the same day each week for at least an hour.
Prior to our first day, we meet with the classroom teacher to get an understanding of the classroom curriculum, go over our program handbook, discuss expectations, desired outcomes for the year, and learn about student accommodations and health needs, such as allergies.
Throughout the school year, our weekly programming follows the seasons, engaging students with nature exploration, gardening, and cooking through activities organized within thematic blocks while at the same time offering flexibility to accommodate student interest.
Additionally, students will have the opportunity to work with fiber arts using natural materials; woodworking, such as whittling and building bird feeders; and fire building. Our program will also offer ample opportunity for unstructured play in nature.
In addition to our weekly programs, we work with these same classroom teachers to accompany them and their students on field based excursions (state parks, national forest, conservation areas, etc) in order to bring their learning further afield and connect them to the natural world in our region.
“The Farm & Forest Program has allowed my second graders to develop a connection to the World around them by providing them with authentic experiences with nature. We look forward to our weekly outings and learning about gardening and the natural world. My students have especially enjoyed designing and testing their track traps. They liked being scientists and determining which animals may have visited by looking at the prints and scat left behind. This experience led to many conversations about why an animal may have visited which led to authentic discussions about the food web in action.
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