Teachers and Educators
Our educational programs for school, scout, and homeschool groups are an important part of how we fulfill our mission to connect people to the land. Designed to support Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, our programs are led by experienced Farm-based Educators on our farm and on local forested land.
To register for an educational program, please click here. For more information about any of these programs, please contact Douglas Cook, Education Director, at 781-893-1162 or email greenpower@landssake.org.
Please click on an age group from the list below for more information about available programs throughout the year:
General (pre-K thru grade 5)
Pre-schoolers
Grades K-2
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
Grades 9-12
General (Pre-K thru grade 5)
Chickens in the Classroom
Grades: Pre-k thru grade 5
Offered: Spring, Summer, Fall
We will bring chickens to your classroom and allow you to keep them in your school yard! Land’s Sake invites classrooms, preschools and home school groups to host two chickens for a two week period to learn about chickens. At the start of the program, a Land’s Sake educator will visit your classroom and introduce your students to the chicken life cycle, behavior and proper care. Once the group knows the ins-and-outs of chickens, they will go into the school yard and setup the chicken tractor for the chickens. Over the next two weeks, students will have the opportunity to observe the chickens and record behavior, as well as learn to care for the birds and collect their eggs.
Learning Standards: Characteristics of Living Things
Pre-Schoolers
Seasons of Life tours
Spring: Spring Seed Planting
Spring, Summer, Fall: Chicken Coop Roundup
Late Summer/Early Fall: Soup Harvest
Introducing children to the wonders of the natural world cannot begin too early. We invite you to bring your preschool group to the farm to learn about each season’s cycle of life. During the spring, children can get their hands dirty planting seeds. In the fall, children harvest vegetables for a soup. Each program is hands-on, actively engaging your young ones in a meaningful experience.
Grades K-2
Five Senses Farm Tours
Grades: K-2
Offered: Fall, Winter, Spring
Students are invited to Land's Sake Farm during the fall, winter and spring to observe seasonal changes. Using their five senses, students explore the natural world by getting their hands in the soil, smelling fresh herbs, and tasting seasonal produce. Students also enjoy the opportunity to observe wildlife and view our working beehives.
Learning Standards: Life Science: Characteristics of Living Things, Living Things and their Environment.
Maple Sugar Tours
Grades: K-2
Offered: February-March
Land's Sake invites school groups to come learn about the science and history of maple sugaring in New England. This two-part program starts with the Land’s Sake education staff visiting your classroom to teach students the biology and history of maple sugaring in New England. After a classroom lesson, we bundle up and take students to the local forest or schoolyard for a tree tapping demonstration. The sap collected by the students in the following weeks can be used to make their own syrup. We’ll show you how!
The second half of the program is a field trip to the Bill McElwain Sugar House in Weston, MA. Here students learn first-hand the process of making high quality, local syrup. Tree tapping, wood splitting, boiling and bottling are all explained in fun, educational, and interactive ways. Students see, hear, smell, touch, and even taste the various steps of the mapling process. Our sugar house tour also includes a discussion of the historical importance of sugaring in New England.
Learning Standards: Life Science: Characteristics of Living Things, Living Things and their Environment. Technology/Engineering: Materials and Tools, Engineering Design
For a brochure with more information on prices and booking details, please click here.
Plant Parts
Grades: 1-2
Offered: Spring, Summer, Fall
Students will eat their way through the farm as we search for edible roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. On our journey, we will examine the different functions of each plant part and how they connect to the larger natural world.
Learning Standards: Life Science: Characteristics of Living Things, Living Things and Their Environment, Structures and Functions
Soil Scientists
Grades: 1-2
Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Students visit the farm to explore and identify the building blocks of soil: sand, clay, and humus, using various tools and soil identification tests. Acting as soil scientists, students explore the soils in a forest, on the farm, and in a wetland and compare the three.
Learning Standards: Life Science: Characteristics of Living Things, Living Things and their Environment, Life Cycles. Earth Science: Earth's Materials, Sun as Source of Heat and Light
Tree Whisperers
Grades: 1-2
Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Explore the forest and learn how to listen and talk to the trees and forest. Our staff will teach your students the seasonal nature of trees and how these changes are impacted throughout a tree’s lifetime by analyzing the composition of the forest. Students will also understand the basic tenants of succession as they dig through pillows and cradles, roll over dead logs and examine falling leaves. All participants of this program will be given certified “Tree Whisperer” cards and will be asked for care for current and future trees.
Learning Standards: Life Science: Characteristics of Living Things, Living Things and their Environment, Life Cycles. Earth Science: Periodic Phenomena
Grades 3-5
Structures of Life
Grades: 3-5
Offered: Fall, Spring and Summer
Understanding the connections between different organisms' life cycles is a critical skill our farmers use daily to grow crops, raise animals and manage the land. We will explore the cycles of red wiggler worms, a variety of seeds and our chickens to show your class the practicality a knowledge of life cycles can yield.
Forest Ecology Walks
Grades: 4-5
Offered: Fall, Winter, Spring
While exploring forested conservation land, students are guided through hands-on activities designed to help them discover the relationships between local plants, soil and animals in New England. Students can also learn about the history of their area through the observation of old trees, stone walls, and other features in the woods.
Learning Standards: Life Science: Living Things and Their Environment, Energy and Living Things
Grades 6-8
Farm Tours
Grades: 6-8
Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
At Land's Sake we use organic farming methods to grow a variety of vegetables, berries, and flowers. During this tour, we discuss the concepts of agriculture and ecology and how we can responsibly limit pollution and resource use. We introduce the students to the ecological history of the farm and powerfully link their everyday experiences back to the fundamentals of food production and their agricultural heritage. Students are encouraged to smell and taste seasonal produce while on this tour.
Learning Standards: Living Things and Their Environment, Energy and Living Things
Grades 9 - 12
Farm Tours
Grades: High School
Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
At Land's Sake we use organic farming methods to grow a variety of vegetables, berries, and flowers. During this tour, we discuss the concepts of agriculture and ecology and how we can responsibly limit pollution and resource use. We introduce the students to the ecological history of the farm and powerfully link their everyday experiences back to the fundamentals of food production and their agricultural heritage. Students are encouraged to smell and taste seasonal produce while on this tour.
Learning Standards: Living Things and Their Environment, Energy and Living Things
Forest Ecology and Management
Grades: High School
Offered: Winter and Spring
Within the Town of Weston forests we sustainably harvest timber for firewood and timber purposes with both an emphasis on the ecological and anthropological needs of the local community. Throughout this program, students will join our foresters in the woods to understand the principles of natural and human pressured succession and their impacts on the natural state of the forest. Additionally, participants will gain an understanding of the connection all humans have to wood products and how we as stewards of the Weston community utilize a local, natural resource to reduce our demand on distant, environmentally destructive harvesting techniques.
Envirothon
Grades: High school
Offered: January-mid-May
Land’s Sake, in conjunction with the town of Weston, prepares a team of Weston high school students to compete in the two-day Massachusetts Envirthon competition. Using a multidisciplinary approach, students apply their environmental knowledge to current local ecological problems through hands-on challenges. Please contact Douglas Cook, Education Director, at greenpower@landssake.org for more information regarding the program or to help set up a program at your school.
Long Term Monitoring Program
Grades: High School
Offered: Spring, Summer and Fall
In conjunction with Brandeis University and the Town of Weston, Land's Sake invites your class to be a part of a long term monitoring program to track the invasive Woolly Adelgid's impact on the local Hemlock species. Meeting researchers in the Highland Forest, participants will gain knowledge of scientific practices used to collect, analyze and interpret data from this study being completed. Results from the program will be used to determine future treatment methods for the hemlock stands throughout the town. In addition to gaining real world skills, your class will also increase their knowledge of forest composition, succession and individual species recognition.
