With the school year having finally come to a close, Maine Audubon is celebrating the end of another year of working with schools to get kids outside and exposed to Maine to wildlife and habitat.
Research tells us that children who have positive experiences outdoors are more likely to develop pro-environmental behaviors as adults. Maine Audubon is proud to play a part in creating safe, wondrous, and meaningful learning experiences for students both in and outside of the classroom.
School Programs at Scarborough Marsh: 741 Students
In May and June, student groups of all grade levels visited Scarborough Marsh to learn about how important salt marshes are to birds, mammals, insects, and humans. Students learned about adaptations of wildlife of the marsh by walking the nature trail and witnessing egrets, cormorants, and Red-winged Blackbirds in their habitat. Students also conducted experiments and even learned that Mummichogs are astronauts!
Early Childhood Programs in Greater Portland: 1,036 students
Spring was a bustling time for early learners in the Greater Portland area! Maine Audubon staff members Emma Ottenheimer and Joan Newkirk paid visits to local preschools, childcares, and public Pre-K classrooms to learn about pond life, pollinators, colors of nature, and more! We visit with many students on a seasonal or monthly basis, building relationships and routines that help our youngest learners feel connected to Maine wildlife. This year, we’ve expanded our work with the public Pre-K classrooms in Cumberland County, growing from regular visits to all 18 Portland Pre-K classrooms into Westbrook and South Portland schools as well. To celebrate the end of the school year, each Pre-K student gets to take home a wild strawberry plant.
Springtime at Gilsland Farm also brings an influx of families to soak in the sights, sounds, and sensory exploration that warmer temperatures bring. Between our three spring family programs—Family Fun, Pollinator Parade, and Mother Earth Says Witapehtipon—we welcomed more than 100 families. We hope to see folks again at a future family program, and in the meantime, come walk the trails or visit the Discovery Room at Gilsland Farm in Falmouth any day from 10 am-5 pm.
Northern Programs: 6,352 Students
Programs at Fields Pond in Holden and the greater Bangor area saw more than a double-digit increase from 2,989 students the previous school year. Students ranged from pre-K to 12th Grade, and for many schools, it was their first time working with Maine Audubon! The Northern Programs Team initiated a new pre-K program with the Bangor School Department focused on getting students outdoors year-round. At the Fields Pond Audubon Center we started a new center-based afterschool program (called Eco Explorers) and continued to increase our numbers in our popular Homeschool Naturalist & Curious by Nature programs.
School Programs at Gilsland Farm: 961
Due to construction, we were not able to host programs at Gilsland Farm for the majority of the fall and winter seasons. That said, demand for spring programming was high and we were able to grow our numbers by approximately 400 students from the previous year! Springtime is always bustling, with groups eager to explore macroinvertebrates in the pond, look and listen for birds returning from their southern wintering grounds, and discovering budding plants and awakening wildlife in the forest and meadow.
Afterschool Programs in Portland and Lewiston Schools: 299 Students
For the 2025-2026 school year, Maine Audubon educator Wyatt Steffensen spent every Wednesday afternoon at Reiche Elementary School in Portland with LearningWorks, an afterschool program for 2nd-5th graders. Students learned about Maine wildlife and their adaptations, and explored their schoolyard through the changing seasons.
In the spring, we ran a six-week wildlife club at Talbot Elementary School in Portland, and also visited every elementary school in Lewiston to do a lesson on wildlife and habitat, and conduct our own schoolyard investigation. Both LearningWorks and Lewiston are recipients of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, a federally funded program to support out-of-school learning programs for low-income students.
School Visits in Greater Portland: 437 Students
In addition to hosting students at our sanctuaries, we are thrilled to bring our programs to students too. This year we traveled not just to schools but also to parks, libraries, and the Adaptive Outdoor Education Center in Brunswick.
Wabanaki Studies Fieldwork with Portland Public Schools: 2,292 Students
Throughout the school year, our educators met at various locations across the greater Portland area to support Wabanaki Studies and outdoor learning in Portland Public Schools. Sites included Gambo Dam (in Windham) and Mackworth Island (in Falmouth) in the fall, the sugar shack at Portland Arts and Technology High School in March, and Mayor Baxter Woods this spring. We also hosted every Portland Public School first grader at Gilsland Farm in May! Through this programming, Maine Audubon met with every student in Portland in grades K-4. Read more here!
All this and more! As well as our school programs, we also engage with youth through our vacation camps, and our work with teens through community partnerships.
Learn more about our school programs on our website.
