Maine Project Learning Tree coordinator Lena Ives (left) presents Anita Smith (right) the inaugural Anita Smith Stewardship Award With a small gathering of colleagues and friends, Anita Smith, retiring Project Learning Tree Steering Committee Chair, received the newly renamed Anita Smith Stewardship Award from Maine Project Learning Tree (PLT). The award was renamed to honor…
We hosted sixteen educators on our second 2022 Forests of Maine Teachers’ Tour in the Bethel region during the final week of July. These educators joined Maine TREE staff and volunteers for an immersive tour of Maine’s forests with the primary objective of providing them with tools and resources to use forest-based activities in the…
Our first Forests of Maine Teachers’ Tour of 2022 began on July 12 at the Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel. Seventeen educators from throughout Maine joined us for an immersive four-day tour led by Maine TREE’s Executive Director Logan Johnson, Director of Education Lena Ives, and Project Learning Tree (PLT) Facilitator Lindsay Strout. We spent the first…
As highlighted in previous seedlings and OverSTORY articles, Maine TREE Programs and Outreach Coordinator Kelly French worked on a research investigation during the spring semester with the 6th-grade science class at Edna Drinkwater School in Northport. First, the students collected tree cores from trees found on their school’s campus. They then looked at the ring widths and local climate…
by Lindsay Strout – Wildlife Biology Teacher, Sanford High School I want to give a huge thank you to Maine TREE for helping fund Sanford High Schools’ Wildlife Biology field trip to the Maine Wildlife Park. Twenty-four of my students got to see all the animals that we’ve been studying all year long. From huge…
Since 2020, the Nature Based Education Consortium’s (NBEC) Climate Education (Advocacy Working Group has been committed to expanding the access to outdoor and environmental learning for all of Maine’s students. One of their early successes came in the inclusion of climate education in the Maine Climate Council Climate Action Plan. To create a state of…
With the continuous evolution of education pedagogy, Project Learning Tree (PLT) is consistently creating and revising curriculum for all ages of students to create captivating activities for students and educators. PLT’s newest addition, Trees & Me, was released this March contains hundreds of ideas for fun, easy-to-do, hands-on experiences to connect young children to nature,…
The past three school years have had an upending impact on students, teachers, and parents alike. From countless days spent virtually learning and learning to educate in a hands-off and distanced manner, all educators (formal and non-formal) and school staff deserve our utmost respect for their resilience and dedication to their craft. One of the…
This winter, a 6th-grade science class at Edna Drinkwater School (EDS) in Northport, ME, is diligently investigating the impacts of climate change on their school campus’ trees. Their research question is one that many academics and professional researchers still seek to answer, as many tree species respond very differently to disturbances and differences brought on…
Maine TREE is excited to welcome Lena Ives as its new director of education. This position is responsible for sustaining and expanding Maine TREE’s capacity to meet the needs of schools, teachers, parents, students, and other partner organizations for environmental education programs connected to Maine’s forests. Lena graduated from the University of Connecticut with a…
