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| Maine-NJ Partnership Post...edition 2 |
June 2009 |
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Hello everyone,
WOW! The end of the school year is upon us and we have lots to catch up on! SO much has been going on it has been tough to keep up with the communication so I hope this helps keep everyone in the loop.
or by clicking HERE. We are still under construction but hope to get some work done on this over the summer so we can have some good tools for keeping everyone connected next year. Now, for the year in review...check out the snippets of info below regarding many of the different activities and events that took place in 2008-2009, our investigatory ground-breaking year. There is much more to come this summer and 2009-2010 as we take all we've learned this year and begin building soil and sewing seeds for a green & bountiful future...and I do mean that both literally and figuratively. If you have summer email addresses and want to keep informed...please let me know. yours in learning, Tammy Maseychik
Director, Education Programs & Community Development
Newforest Institute
207-722-3625 |
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Getting Dirty at School !!
The vision of the schools project is to support educators in a reformation of schools & school systems, physically and intellectually, back to authentic, hands-on & interdisciplinary learning that includes life skills and a connectedness to the world beyond the individual classrooms. A natural first step to the breaking down of compartmentalized factory systems is to get back into the dirt...or in some places to bring back some dirt.
In Maine, we have an abundance of soil but sometimes we forget what it feels like, how it functions and how it can feed us. In New Jersey, soil seems less accessible, but it's there under it all if you look for it. Like all endeavors, it takes small steps and here are a few we took this year::
1 - At the MONROE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL we began the process of restoring a long neglected Memorial Garden that grows in front of the school. Weeds were dug out.
  
Leaves and excess vegetation cut back from beds were used to start a compost pile to help build the soil next fall. Paths were mulched to keep them open.
2 - At MOUNT VIEW HIGH SCHOOL we worked with individual students and the student group, Peace Jam, on a couple projects. First is the Children's Community Forest, being researched and proposed on town property in Brooks. Students worked with Foresters Shavonne Sargent and Izzy McKay to learn how timber inventories and permanent study plots are established and maintained. The goal is to complete a WoodsWise forest plan for the 90 acre parcel by end of summer when independent study students will present a proposal to the town board of selectman for consideration of ongoing community forest development.
At the high school facility, the Peace Jam group took on another project...reducing school waste. This activity began with a viewing of the PBS film, "Affluenza" about the ills of a consumer society. The students then took a dive to try to determine how much waste their K-12 school complex is producing...and by dive...we mean literally...into dumpsters they went.    Trash was sorted into categories like recycleables, compostables, reusables and waste. The data is being used to develop a Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Compost plan for next year that will reduce waste and cost for the schools while producing income and compost for soil building for future gardening projects.3 - MORSE MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, the school closest in proximity to Newforest headquarters, in Brooks, Maine created a new green team, like many other member schools have in Maine & New Jersey. They're focusing on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Compost as one of their first soil building projects. The school also has had many classes visit Newforest's facilities throughout the year for such things as seasonal change observations and a 2nd grade Medieval Festival. This Spring, as part of national Join Hands Day, parents and community members joined in to begin building a nature trail from the school, through the woods, to Newforest's Forest Garden. Once complete it will provide safe,beautiful and educational passage from the school to the    Institute as opposed to the trek along the road they currently make.  4 - UNITY ELEMENTARY celebrated Earth Day with many hands on games & activities including some planting led by Newforest interns. Student leaders were a big help in the prep of the greenhouse and grounds before the planting day. In New Jersey,  5 - MS 4 continues to work with their garden club to fill their greenhouse with lush vegetation and help keep Liberty State Park green and beautiful. They are also developing plans to grow their own food for some of their current school programs. 6 - The RESURRECTION SCHOOL has been building a Peace Garden and would love to have a rooftop garden to utilize their less limited vertical space.  7 - MS 41, the FRED MARTIN MIDDLE SCHOOL's Green Team has been working to educate their student population about Reducing, Reusing and Recycling. Planters have been filled with flowers and student plans and work (including grant writing) is being done to transform their courtyard into a lush green escape and natural classroom area. 8 - At MS 40, grant-writing has also begun to create 2 living labs in the 2 courtyards of that facility. They have marshaled strong support from community groups and spent time cleaning and brightening the 2 spaces with new trees, flowers and a tiny little vegetable patch put in  late April with Ms. Rios and Mr. Scotti's class courtesy of some financing from PSE&G. Plans to repair and utilize the pool are in works, as well, and hope to include a solar powered aerator.   Many schools have, or are planning, similar projects of their own, including an outdoor classroom at PS 23 and a greenhouse & gardens at DICKINSON. The desire and energy for more green integrated learning space is building & we look forward to all that can built next year by staff and students at all our partner schools. At Newforest we are laying out specifics for a small selection of demonstration sites in each state to design and break ground in the fall. Grant writing & partner support is key over the summer & we will update you as we know more. |
 Teachers in Prep
One of our pilot project goals, to support teachers who are
interested in introducing or utilizing the outdoors as a classroom for interdisciplinary learning, continued this Spring, building from the Project Learning Tree workshops of the fall to some hands-on Newforest led infrastructure building this Spring.
Holding three professional development workshops focused on providing basic soil building, garden design, preparation and planting theory plus application skills we stacked functions and left three different MSAD # 3 schools with new facility elements. At WALKER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in Liberty, we built compost & worm bins. At UNITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL we created and restored grown over garden and blueberry beds. And in the final experimental workshop we started an EDIBLE FOOD FOREST along the edge of MORSE MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's playground and soon to be restored greenhouse.
  
At all three events the kids were anxious to get involved.
At MOUNT VIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, art teacher Kelly Desroiser, in conjunction with a successful USDA grant proposal she submitted, hosted a Maine Agricultural in the Classroom two-night workshop in May. Educators received an amazing lesson guide for ag related learning. It is great preparation for Kelly's multidisciplinary grant project studying and digitally capturing the history & vibrancy of agriculture in the Knox Ridge area, as well as for the garden complex we hope to start designing and building at the new MV  complex in the fall of 2009.
Other workshops held to introduce the idea of rebuilding awe through educational ecosystems in our multi-district partnership project included one at DICKINSON HIGH SCHOOL and another at the tri-district in-service event in WALDO COUNTY, both in April. Educators reviewed the theory behind our vision and had an opportunity to experiment with soil and seeds.
And COMING THIS AUGUST...a special retreat for educators will take place August 3-5 at Newforest Institute in Brooks, Maine with the goal of providing interested educators with both respite from hectic life, as well as opportunity for sharing ideas & capturing energy towards a new more creative, diverse and symbiotic system of living & education.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS RETREAT CLICK HERE & REGISTER BY JULY 17!!
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Away We Go - the Pioneer Journey...
"Students in Appreciation of the Human Community as an Ecosystem" is one of the tag lines used in promoting this pilot partnership. We strongly believe in the power of diversity and mutually sustaining relationships between people, communities and the land. To explore the opportunities for this in our partner communities and to begin building important relationships between the students and teachers of our partner schools, we set forth on our first exchange trip between states.
Three Mount View High School students and two MSAD #3 Elementary School Teachers (from Morse Memorial) journeyed in May from Waldo County, ME to Jersey City, NJ with two Newforest guides to see how the urban half of our urban-rural partnership live and learn.
 It was a short visit so we traveled fast and tried to share a sampling of Jersey City life, politics and education with our visitors. Introductions were made at PS 30, MS 4, MS 40, Dickinson HS, Riverview Community Garden, Brunswick Community Garden and City Hall among other local hot spots. The Maine students planted flowers in the PS 30 Butterfly Garden with their Garden Club and exchanged interviews with their News Group; attended an amazing performance of Multicultural talent at Dickinson; met the Mayor and shared some JC history with the City Clerk; and with the help of a local JC high school student prepared food for a Friday evening community gathering at the Newforest Urban Center (aka the Firehouse). Recording video & photo journals all along the way, a sampling of this footage should be posted online over the summer.
  
The contingency was thrilled by the focus on arts and life skills at MS 4, the growing development and possibilities of the courtyards at MS 40, the enthusiasm and energy of the garden & news groups, teachers and parents at PS 30, and the talent and mutual support demonstrated at Dickinson during their amazing Multicultural Celebration.
  
Coming from the oldest and least diverse state in the nation, Maine, Jersey City was a welcomed kaleidoscope of flavors and textures. It seems JC has as much cultural diversity to offer Maine as Maine has lush green wilderness to offer Jersey City. We are anxious to see the second half of this exchange in 2009-2010 with a JC contingency embarking on an exploration of the great north woods perhaps?? OR even before that, a teacher expedition to the AUGUST RETREAT in Maine.
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