The workshop begins at the Burton Packard Center at Foxcroft Academy. FA Dean of Academics Elizabeth Postlewaite, who is also a Supervisor of the Piscataquis County Soil & Water Conservation District, will discuss the Forest Discovery Box. The group will brainstorm applications for this teaching tool that meet today's curriculum needs. Some materials on the Maine Learning Results will be available, but educators possessing full copies of the Maine State Learning Results should bring them along.

The Forest Discovery Box, designed by Irving Corporation, contains videos, posters, seed samples, wood cookies and more. Irving donated 20 of these boxes to the conservation district to help promote natural resource education and the district's demonstration forest in Williamsburg Plantation. Every school represented at the workshop will receive the boxes (limit, two per school). Other workshop expenses have been offset by grant funding from the Plum Creek Foundation.

Following the discussion period, teachers will be carpooled out to the Piscataquis County SWCD Demonstration Forest. The forest encompasses 180 acres of land, featuring two historical homestead sites, a glacially formed canyon that allows hikers to view tree canopy at eye level, an outdoor classroom and miles of nature trails with interpretive signposts. Postlewaite, along with Associate Supervisor Gordon Moore of the Maine Forest Service, will conduct a two-hour tour of the forest. They will touch on wildlife habitat, ways to work with students in a forest near each school, sampling techniques that align with the Maine Learning Results standards and more.

A snack will be provided between the discussion and the forest tour. To register, or for more information, call 564-2321.