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Environmental Education

Posted Tuesday, July 17, 2018
— News

Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust offers multiple educational programs to provide students in Worcester and Franklin counties with more environmental knowledge and better access to the outdoors. Our education team provides programming that fits the needs of your school and students, including in-class lessons, field-trips to conservation areas, outdoor workshops, and guidance for after-school Science Team programs.

Dexter Park School in Orange has partnered with Mount Grace to create curricula and activities rooted in a new vegetable garden.

Our unique curricula also include in-person planning meetings as well as free access to educational tools and lessons that are sure to captivate all classrooms.

“Mount Grace was an excellent communicator with our school, the Youth Education Coordinator was able to keep our students engaged with hands on learning and allowed our school to meet its science goals!” – Rebecca Vincent Royalston Elementary School

Download our Environmental Education Brochure

Contact Mount Grace to set up a personalized meeting with our Youth Education Coordinator today!

In the Classroom

Mount Grace will provide in-class additions to subjects your schools are already working on. Our TerraCorps members have access to Project Wild and Project Wet lessons and will work with the teachers to create indoor lessons which suit the needs of the class. These lessons can be combined with capacity building projects at the schools. In-class additions are offered weekly or every other week for 4 or 6 weeks.  Lessons include:

  • Tree - identification
  • Migration patterns
  • Recycling
  • Pollinators
  • Parts of a flower (Pre-school-2nd)
  • How beavers affect the ecosystem
  • Composting

Field Trips

Bring your class to one of our amazing conservation areas: Skyfields Arboretum in Athol, Gifford Memorial Forest in Orange, or our Royalston Eagle Reserve. Explore different habitats and meet with the Mount Grace team to learn about the amazing outdoors. Field trip options include:

Full Day ~9am-~2pm

  • Forestry full day
  • Habitats (pond, forest, field)
  • Wildlife and the ecosystem

Half Day ~9am-~12pm

  • Forestry half day
  • Vernal pools (Spring only)
  • Service mornings

Learning on the Land

Build a trail or install a garden with Mount Grace.  Trail Building includes one in-class lesson on respecting nature and safety on the trail plus two or more outdoor trail building days.  Garden Building unit includes one in-class lesson either on “Pizza Gardens: the importance of farms” or on pollinators, plus two days of kids working directly in the garden.

Science Team

A new afterschool program from Mount Grace!  Science Team will provide science and nature based educational programs for up to one hour afterschool suitable for Grades 4 and up, maximum of 8 students.  Science Team is offered weekly or every other week for 4 or 6 weeks.  Themes include:

  • Wildlife and the ecosystem
  • Ornithology weeks
  • Pollinators
  • Pollution and our world
  • Forestry
  • Vernal pools (Spring only)