If you visit Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) in Jefferson on the right day you might just get to witness something special and unfortunately rare: 20 or more school kids out in the woods measuring, describing, observing and recording information about the natural world.

Tight budgets and strict scholastic standards have been enough to keep many classrooms indoors, even when it comes to lessons about tree identification and forest ecology.

HVNC has partnered with the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association (SVCA), and with funding from the Horizon Foundation they will host fourth grade classes from Whitefield Elementary and Great Salt Bay Community School on a monthly basis for the entire school year.

Each school will visit HVNC no less than eight times.

HVNC has hired Susan Kistenmacher to lead the project. With over twenty years of experience in public school science education and immense enthusiasm for teaching about the natural world Kistenmacher is the perfect teacher for this role.

“I feel like a kid myself when I’m out here” she said. “I find these topics fascinating, and the kids always bring interesting perspectives.”

Kistenmacher will be working with educator Lynne Flaccus from SVCA, also a highly qualified teacher and naturalist.

Whitefield’s Principal, Josh McNaughton, is excited about the project as well.

“I think it’s great that the kids will have a chance to get to know a place over the course of a whole year. A place that isn’t just their backyard.”

When they are at HVNC students will be engaged in all kinds of lessons, but they will also develop some ongoing projects that will be repeated each visit.

They will keep close observations on forest inventory growth plots to study changes in a particular part of the forest. That data will be contributed to a state-wide study led by Maine’s Project Learning Tree.

“HVNC is a special place,” Director Andy McEvoy said. “One of its best uses is to inspire kids, to encourage them to enjoy and cherish places like this.”

More information available online at www.hvnc.org, info@hvnc.org, or call 207-200-8840.