This fall, forests were the organizing idea at Peconic Community School, where students of all ages spent a trimester exploring trees, ecosystems and the natural world through a shared, schoolwide study.
From September through December, the Cutchogue school’s students studied forests and trees, an “integrated unit” designed to connect every classroom — from kindergarten through middle school — to a shared theme. The result was a layered exploration that blended science, art, math, writing, local ecology and environmental awareness.
“It’s an umbrella topic that connects the whole school under one basic learning experience,” said Peconic Community School co-founder Liz Casey (above, left).
At the end of each trimester, that work culminates in a “celebration of learning” exhibit, where families and community members are invited into the school to see what students have made — and to hear them explain it all.
That ability to explain it is the goal, Casey said. “If they can talk about it and teach others what they’ve learned, we know they’ve embodied it.”
Nowhere was that more evident than in the PCS‘s youngest classroom, where kindergarten coordinator Paola Flórez (above, right) guided students on a journey that began with a simple question: “When I say ‘forest,’ what do you think of?”
Predictably, “they said trees,” Florez recalled with a smile.
But from there, the questions multiplied. If you could talk to a tree, what would you ask it? Do trees sleep? Do trees fight? Do they get pimples? Why do some look sick? What are trees afraid of? One child wondered if trees were record keepers, school officials said. Another asked whether a forest could be considered a community.
The process is intentionally fluid, especially for younger students, allowing their curiosity to shape the direction of the project, Florez said.
“I’m following them.”
That curiosity led the youngsters from individual trees to forests, and then back home again. “Is there a forest on Long Island?” the kindergarten students wondered.
What followed was a class trip/nature walk through Dwarf Pines Plain in Westhampton with the Central Pine Barrens Commission‘s educational outreach and communications coordinator, Tim Motz.
“We’re always happy to welcome schools to join us to learn about the wonders of the Central Pine Barrens,” Motz said. “Though just in kindergarten, the Peconic Community School kids had already, before arriving, been taught how southern pine beetles use pheromones — among other weighty topics. When I was in kindergarten, I learned to finger paint.
“We appreciate the job the school’s teachers are doing to educate their students about the southern pine beetle, the vital role of fire in the Central Pine Barrens and the importance of the region as a whole.”
The work at PCS was tactile and multi-sensory. Students designed their own trees, stamped and painted them, and extracted pigments from leaves during science experiments to use as ink. They used leaves and tree branches to create fossil imprints. Writing emerged alongside artwork, phonetically for the youngest, as children gave voice to the forest with hand-written phrases like, “I make the world beautiful; I hold the soil; I give animals their home.”
“How amazing is it that we live in this very unique, special place?” Florez would ask the children, and then follow with “If something is that special, how do we take care of it?”
Across the hall, older students explored related ecosystems: raising oysters, experimenting with terrariums and drawing connections between eelgrass habitats and forest biomes.
“It’s not just about the finished product,” Casey said. “It’s about the process.”