Sanfordville students tap into agriculture for lesson with sweet results

Sanfordville Elementary School tecaher Lorna Nyland and her students welcomed Warwick Valley School District's K-12 Agricultural Education Consultant Nancy Colgan into their classroom for multiple visits during their recent unit entitled "Sap to Syrup!"

The unit wrapped up recently with the students learning how to prepare arguably the best syrup vehicle out there... the pancake! First, though, the fun began with a taste test.

On her first visit, Ms. Colgan gave each student a small sample of a clear liquid that looked just like water, but it was actually maple sap taken straight from a tree. In fact, the students learned that real maple sap is mostly water, and has only a tiny bit of natural sugar. Next, they took a reminder taste of some store bought maple syrup, and the comparison was eye-opening. To go from one to the other, all of the extra water in the sap must be boiled away, and that it takes roughly 40 gallons of sap to produce just one gallon of syrup.

"From there, the class dug into how maple trees actually work: the different parts of the maple tree, where the sap comes from, and how maple trees are tapped," Ms. Nyland explained. "Ms. Colgan even explained to them what the temperature conditions need to be in order for the sap to flow."

When Ms. Colgan returned for her second visit, the class learned what age a maple tree has to be before it can be tapped for syrup, which led to learning how to tell a tree's age. That involves taking a cross-section from a tree and counting the concentric rings that appear in the wood. To illustrate this, Ms. Colgan gave the students "tree cookies" that had rings baked into them to represent such a cut cross-section. 

Students also learned a few things about sowing and planted their own maple seeds in the courtyard. With their new knowledge of maple trees, they know that in give or take 40 years, the trees will be ready to be tapped! For now, they're all excited to monitor their growth for the rest of the school year.

"And then Ms. Colgan finished off the unit with a sweet treat," Ms. Nyland said. "She helped the students mix up some pancake batter and spoon it onto a griddle; they enjoyed eating their pancakes with delicious maple syrup!"