New Canaan Country School Continues Maple Syruping Tradition

Every winter, New Canaan Country School students in Pre-K through Grade 9 collect maple sap and boil it down to syrup in the school’s Sugar Shack. The students tap the maple trees all over the school’s 75-acre campus, collect the sap, boil it down and then sample it.

Woodshop Teacher Chris Lawler has been teaching the sugaring process for the last 25 years. The unit combines science, history and math. Students learn about the early history of the school’s campus as a working farm and how the syrup production hasn’t changed much in the last 500 years. They learn about the physiology of trees, how to use the proper equipment and how to calculate density and temperature.

“What I love most is watching them learn from nature and actually learn how to make something from nature,” said Mr. Lawler.

New Canaan Country School is a co-ed, independent day school for students in Pre-K (ages 3 & 4) through Grade 9. Located on 75 acres in New Canaan, the school serves families living throughout the region. For more information about the school, please visit www.countryschool.net.