To get started with Maple In The Classroom:
Identify a partnership between a producer and interested teacher.
We encourage producers to reach out to teachers they know in their local schools as well as teachers to reach out to producers. If you are struggling to find a local producer, we can assist locating the closest producer to your school.
Contact Us with your partnership.
Collaborating producers will agree to:
- Use their community contacts to identify a school, a few maple trees on or near the school grounds, and teacher(s) who want to be involved.
- Participate in a project kick-off meeting with Mike Rechlin, Kate Fotos, and the interested teachers and school officials.
- Work with the school kids and their teachers on their designated tree-tapping day.
- Invite the classes involved in the project to visit their sugaring operation
- Act as an information source for the teachers
- Provide a sap-for-syrup swap for sap collected on school grounds
Collaborating schools and teachers will agree to:
- Allow three trees on their school yard to be tapped, or make arrangements with nearby neighbors
- Work to integrate maple related topics into their curriculum
- Provide time for students to collect, store, and process sap
- Report back to us on their successes and failures
- If possible, provide transportation for a field trip to the producer’s operation
Meet with Us.
During this meeting, we will discuss the specifics of the projects the teacher and producer would like to undertake as well as how best we can assist you. We will also provide you with equipment to tap trees near your school.
Thisequipment includes:
- 3 sap buckets with lids
- One syrup pre-filter
- A 6 quart electric kettle for evaporating sap
- A thermometer
- 5 sap spouts
- 3, 5 gallon sap collection and storage buckets
- 2 copies of Maple Syrup: An Introduction to the Science of Maple Syrup Making
- 2 copies of Miracle on Maple Mountain
- Refractometer for older grades
Get Creative.
We hope to provide you with the stepping-stones to incorporate maple syrup into your curriculum. We would love to hear how Maple in the Classroom worked for your school! Let us know what worked better or worse, and stay in touch with questions as you venture into the sweet world of maple education.