Learning with Trees: Local businesses support environmental education

With the continued support of East Central Energy and CenterPoint Energy, and a new grant from Cargill Inc., Tree Trust has been able to bring our Learning with Trees program to three Minnesota schools during the 2009-2010 school year.

During the month of April, students in each of these schools will participate in the interactive Our Town Trees exhibit, an environmental learning opportunity that includes five modules such as "Trees Are Cool" and "Trees Clean Our Water," that teach the benefits of trees to build a conceptual framework for the students' hands-on planting experience that will occur later in the school year.

Green teams made up of teachers, principals, maintenance workers and parents from each school have been hard at work with our school coordinators to develop a new landscape plan for their schools' grounds. The goal for each school's green team:  to transform their playgrounds into living laboratories that provide continued opportunities for outdoor learning.

Trailview Elementary School, located in Mora, MN, is a third through fifth grade school with 540 students. Sponsored by East Central Energy, this school was chosen to participate in the Learning with Trees program in order to revitalize the school's existing nature trail and create an outdoor learning area that will enable teachers to take their lessons outside the classroom.  In addition to 10 benches, which will be installed adjacent to the nature trail, students will plant several trees and shrubs throughout the classroom area and nature trail. Community groups like the Mora Lion's Club, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, local high school and area master gardeners are collaborating to make Trailview's vision a reality.

Golden Valley's Meadowbrook Elementary School has 620 kindergarten through sixth grade students. CenterPoint Energy's sponsorship of this school's participation in Learning with Trees will enable the school to create a much desired outdoor learning area that will be surrounded by prairie plantings created and maintained by the school's existing garden group.  In addition, students will plant several trees around the school grounds to create shade for its playground, conserve energy for the school, and produce fruit.

In Maple Grove, Fernbrook Elementary School, a kindergarten through sixth grade school with 950 students, is being sponsored by Cargill, Inc. Our Learning with Trees program will help facilitate a strong environmental learning curriculum with the construction of a cozy but not crowded outdoor learning area.  An area on the school grounds that is currently barren will soon include 12 benches to provide seating for outdoor lessons, various shrubs and fruit-bearing trees to invite birds and other wildlife, evergreens to serve as a windbreak around the benches, and shade trees to keep the area comfortable during hot days. Plans for future enhancements include the addition of a sensory garden.

Students and green team members at Trailview Elementary School and Fernbrook Elementary School will turn these plans into a reality when they help to install benches and kiosks as well as plant, mulch and water trees during an all-school planting day on May 13 and May 21, respectively. Students and Meadowbrook Elementary School will have their planting event this fall.

Thanks to our sponsors and partner schools for helping us teach students the importance of protecting and preserving the environment and helping them realize that they can make a difference.