Portland Public Schools (PPS) recently announced the content completion and implementation of a Wabanaki Studies curriculum, for which fieldwork is a key component.
“In 2001, Maine passed a landmark law — An Act to Require Teaching of Maine Native American History and Culture in Maine Schools (Chapter 403, Title 20-A MRSA 4706). Commonly known as LD 291, it was the first law of its kind in the nation. Despite this historic step, the law has not been fully implemented across schools in Maine, even after the important work of the Wabanaki Studies Commission in the early 2000s.
Portland Public Schools is proud to be the first district in Maine to design and carry out a comprehensive, standards aligned, Wabanaki Studies curriculum for students in pre-kindergarten through grade 11, which includes upwards of 300 lessons. This curriculum was developed over seven years through close collaboration between Wabanaki advisors and PPS educators. More than 100 individuals and partner organizations contributed to its creation, including over 60 contributors from the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet/Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq, and Abenaki.”
—Portland Public Schools
Over the course of the last five years, Maine Audubon has been an important community partner with PPS and has worked on a continuum with students across the district in grades kindergarten through four as part of the fieldwork central to this curriculum. Our education team has contributed resources and collaborated to develop fieldwork structure and activities, and continues to work to refine and seal outdoor learning, so that future generations can receive this truly profound education.
Our district-wide work has included:
• working with kindergartners at Maple Thanksgiving celebrations, held at Portland Arts and Technology High School;
• hosting all Portland first graders at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center each May;
• Exploring layers of the forest with second-grade students at Baxter Woods in while learning about Indigenous cultural connections to forests and trees such as the Brown Ash;
• Taking part in third-grade field trips to Gambo Dam in Westbrook, which we have done for four years, and
• Joining all Portland fourth-grade students at Mackworth Island in Falmouth.
This year, the fourth-grade field trips to Mackworth took place during a beautiful and blustery week in November. Having recently read the book The Canoe Maker in their classrooms, students congregated on the island’s shore and learned about indigenous cultural practices such as canoe and basket making from Passamoquoddy citizens Harley Bassett and his mother Sandra Bassett. The Bassetts, who have children and grandchildren in Portland Public schools, also led students in a blessing, similar to an offering made by the characters in the book.
As part of their visit to the island, students also met and heard from Chris Sockalexis, the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for Penobscot Nation. While walking students through our geological history, he shared stone tools carved and used by the Wabanaki over thousands of years.
As part of the program on Mackworth Island, Maine Audubon educators guided students along the trails and through the forest to discover Birch trees and other fauna. For many students, this was their first trip to Mackworth Island. Together we observed Portland and Casco Bay from a new perspective, as we searched for rocks that help to tell the story of the land.
Maine Audubon is always thrilled and honored to support Wabanaki Studies district-wide fieldwork. It is an opportunity to work outdoors with more than 500 students over the course of one week, connecting children with nature, green spaces in their communities, and content that is directly connected to what they’re learning in school.
In a time when the biodiversity and climate of the earth are rapidly changing, and people are more disconnected from nature and its systems, it is critical that youth learn our natural and social histories, so we can step into the future with greater awareness, care and commitment.
Congratulations to Portland Public Schools and everyone involved in the creation of Wabanaki Studies. Learn more about the unit here. (Teachers and school districts who are interested in learning more and accessing the curriculum should visit the PPS webpage and complete the form by March 1, 2026. All Maine Indian Ed Schools have access to the entire curriculum already and do not need to complete this form.)
