Monadnock 6th-Graders Spend Week at Maine School Learning Ecology

Sixth-graders in the Monadnock Regional School District recently took part in a multi-day immersive program focused on ecology, Superintendent Lisa A. Witte announced in a news release.

During their five-day, four-night trip to the school, from May 16-20, students attended daily lessons taught by the Ecology School's resident experts in the field, with tie-ins to their regular classroom learning and the district's curriculum. The trip is an annual affair that serves as a key element of students' transition from elementary to middle school.

Each of the lessons focuses on ecological topics, including how humans and animals interact, and the impact of those interactions, as well as habitats, how creatures adapt to their surroundings, and what students' places are in the natural world. Students took part in hands-on lessons on topics like food waste, using meal times to see the impact of waste firsthand and working throughout the week to reduce food waste at both an individual and community level.

"This trip is one of the best things we do as a district, and it's an extraordinary opportunity for students to experience science in real life," Assistant Superintendent Jeremy Rathbun said in the news release. "It's also an important moment in our students' educational careers, as it brings together sixth graders from all of our schools for the first time ahead of their move to the middle school."

The Ecology School is at River Bend Farm in Saco, Maine. To see the original article, click here.