2015

Sign up for the Mammadaba Master Class and the invigorating Forest Olympics

"Latvijas valsts meži" (LVM) each fall for the past 10 years gives schools the opportunity to attend the Mammadaba Master Class and take part in the Forest Olympics.

 “Mammadaba Meistarklase” is a chance for both school teachers and children, during regular classes or as an extra-curricular activity, to spend time in the woods, communing with nature, while being taught any number of subjects, make items from wood, go on field trips led by forest rangers and visit the various Mammadaba points of interest.

Having applied for participation by October 1, the school's classes will receive the special “masterpiece board” to record the activities held, as well as news items pertaining to ecology for the entire school year. The most enthusiastic teachers will be able to attend continuing education courses during the summer about forests, its many treasures and ecological issues. The best schools will be bestowed the title of Mammadaba Embassy. Those completing the Master Class – according to what they have accomplished, will receive either the diploma of apprentice or master.

 The Master Class, organized under the auspices of the “Izzini meži” program, has earned praise also internationally, and the International Environmental Education Program LEAF /Learning About Forests/ now also presents its diploma. Rachel Boyle, the program's director, had this greeting: “Kids, who attend classes outdoors, gain much more from the experience, indeed they learn about nature from nature! The quality of the Latvian program, how well thought out it is, is among the leaders globally in environmental education. It is pleasing to see so many teachers and pupils learning with a method other than pages in a textbook at a classroom desk.”

Each year the number of people participating in „Mammadaba meistarklases” continues to climb; at the close of school year 2014./2015, 549 classes from 133 schools had graduated. .

Mammadaba Master Class has one primary goal: to promote greater comprehension about the forest's multi-layered role in human existence.