HARRISON — The Boxberry School is utilizing a new curriculum framework this year as staff work toward educating for sustainability.

Seal Rossignol, administrative coordinator for the school, attended a weeklong summer institute at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont, in July. She received training in understanding the tenets of educating for sustainability, which include place-based education, project based learning, service learning, and systems thinking.

She is bringing the information back to Boxberry and working with new staff, Deanna Fahey and Cassandra Harmon, to design curriculum.

The first Learning Expedition of the year is titled “Magnificent Mapmakers- Exploring Our World.” Students will learn the basics of mapmaking and apply them to their school campus before venturing into local towns later in the year.

Educating for Sustainability has place-based education at its heart, the understanding being that one can care for a place until one loves it.

Quinlan Friel, a third-grader from Albany Township, gathers items from nature for his tinker tray. (Submitted photo)