Ask Juniper Hill School first or second grade students what’s their favorite day of the week and the response will most likely be “Friday!” That’s the day the class travels to Midcoast Conservancy’s Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) for reading, writing, math and science lessons outside. This program is a collaborative effort between Midcoast Conservancy and Juniper Hill School for Place-Based Education, an Alna-based school teaching classical academic subjects in the context of the local environment. A core part of the curriculum promotes student interaction with the natural world.

Over the last four weeks, HVNC’s 1000-plus acres of wild lands have served as an outdoor classroom where the young students learn in one of the most “ecologically diverse and undeveloped tracts of forestland in the midcoast” of Maine. Lessons require students to use academic skills (reading/writing, math, science concepts), and physical skills (coordination, balance, etc.) as they learn to master many new concepts and activities including map reading, tracking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. Students also learn winter survival skills such as fire and shelter building taught by expert instructors from the Maine Primitive Skills School.

Kids and teachers emerge from the woods happy, tired, and full of excitement after a rich day of learning. For more information about Midcoast Conservancy, Juniper Hill School for Place-Based Education, or Maine Primitive Skills School, visit  www.midcoastconservancy.org,  www.juniperhillschool.org, and http://www.primitiveskills.com/