Teachers awarded for environmental lessons

State Rep. Anne Gobi, Harvard Forest Schoolyard Coordinator Pamela Snow, Nashua River Watershed Association Environmental Educator Mary Marro, and John R. Briggs teachers Laurie Munroe, Katherine Bennett, and Mary Gagnon are joined by award presenters Massachusetts DCR Environmental Educator Tim Rayworth, EOEA Secretary Ian Bowles and a representative from Sen. Brewer's Office.

By using their own backyard as a place to teach their students five teachers at john R. Briggs were awarded the Secretary's Award for Excellence in Environmental Education.

The award was given to Katherine Bennett, Mary Gagnon, Laurie Munroe, Nancy Gera, and Kellie Robichaud, along with principal Candace Wright at the Massachusetts State House on April 27 by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA).

The award honors "individual schools, teachers and students across the Commonwealth who have distinguished themselves in environmental education initiatives," according to the EOEA.

The teachers were recognized for their outstanding work in teaching math and science skills to their students by participating in the Harvard Forest's Schoolyard Ecology program.

The third grade students from Laurie Munroe's and Mary Gagnon's classes participate jointly in a vernal pool study looking at seasonal changes in water levels.

The fifth grade students in Katherine Bennett's class participate in a "Hemlock Trees and the Pesky Pest, the Woolly Adelgid" project that focuses on invasive species.

Fourth grade students in Nancy Gera's and Kellie Robichaud's classes participate jointly in a "Buds, Leaves and Global Warming" study looking at whether the growing season for trees in their schoolyard is getting longer as a result of global warming.

See more about these Schoolyard Ecology projects on the Web at: http://harvardforest. fas.harvard.edu/museum/schoolyard. html. Included on that Web site are data analysis lesson plans developed by teachers with Harvard Forest ecologists Betsy Colburn, David Orwig and John O'Keefe.