2015

Teachers celebrate, seek wisdom from forests

As part of World Teachers' Day, JSC "Latvian State Forests" has invited faculty members from a number of schools to Forest Wisdom Day on October 2 for  inspiration and new ideas for outdoor classes at Tērvete Nature Park. The company's environmental education specialists will share the experience they acquired during the international program Learning About Forests.

Teachers will have an opportunity to acquire useful information about conducting classes in open-air, as well as about the international program Learning About Forest and its activities in Latvia. Because it is easier to learn something by doing it first hand, the teachers will put themselves in the role of a student and solve complicated tasks at four checkpoints in the park's territory. One of these locations will offer getting familiar with ancient carpenter tools, another – forest wisdom through role playing, while another one – interesting facts about Latvia's treasure of treasures – the forest, and - LVM's environmental education activities. Each of the checkpoints will also provide information about exploration trips, environmental creative workshops, and other activities available for schoolchildren at Tērvete Nature Park. Furthermore, on this day, teachers will be able to apply their students for the Mammadaba Master Class, as well as to acquire the "masterstroke board" and work green throughout the entire academic year.

"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," says Rachel Boyle, the program's director.

The number of schoolchildren, who relax wholeheartedly and are party to various revelations from the ever-wise forest at Tērvete Nature Park, keeps growing every year. Last year, participating in the Learning About Forest program were more than 10 thousand kindergarten pupils and schoolchildren from all over Latvia. They went on exploration trips, worked at environmental workshops, made bird-cages, and took part in forest clean-up chores. The children also planted trees and supervised the park's territory.