Yerevan's Ohanyan School reports on "Trees All Around Us"

Trees All Around Us

Text by Manya Gevorgyan

The seventh grade students from Yerevan’s Ohanyan School created this presentation about their trip to ATP’s nursery in Karin Village, where they learned about trees and Armenia’s environment.

The “Trees All Around Us” presentation was uploaded to this blog as part of ATP’s Building Bridges program launched in 2010 to connect Armenian students with their environmental heritage. This site was created so students and teachers in Armenia and the Diaspora can share resources like this and collaborate.

The children from the Ohanyan School had a chance to see the whole process of growing trees, from seed to an adult tree at the Karin Nursery. “It was amazing to see so many tree species like ash, poplar, maple, apricot, peach, quince, and pomegranate trees covered with juicy fruits,” one of the students exclaimed!

After a tour, the young “tree specialists” had a walk in their school backyard and did several measurements on tree height, age, and root diameter, and tried to identify the different types of trees.

The researchers found out that they have 10 apricot (the oldest one was about 20 years old), 5 plum, and 10 sweet cherry trees in their schoolyard. There were also many decorative trees and shrubs in the school garden, but no ash. Since the children liked ash very much, ATP promised to present an ash seedling to the group for planting this fall at the school!

Building Bridges newsletter connects diaspora Armenian students with their environmental heritage

Armenia Tree Project has released the second edition of its Building Bridges newsletter for children ages 6-12. The United Nations has declared 2011 as International Year of Forests, so this issue has a special focus on trees.

ATP's new Ranger Jeff character is teaching

kids about Armenia's natural heritage

It was created as part of ATP's innovative Building Bridges program to connect diasporan students with their environmental heritage. The newsletter was designed by the creators of the Gakavig children’s publication.

It includes fun activities about trees and wildlife, information about ATP's mission, and a kids news page that shows how students have met peers and gotten involved with this program in Armenia and in the diaspora.

The activity is guided by Ranger Jeff, a unique character that shares the enthusiasm and likeness of the head of the organization. The newsletter is being distributed to families and schools across North America and elsewhere, and is available in PDF format here.

For more information or to get involved with ATP's Building Bridges program, contact Sarah Hayes at (617) 926-TREE.

New edition of Natural Inquirer science education magazine focuses on the world's forests

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the United States Forest Service have released the 15th issue of the Natural Inquirer, an integrated science education magazine for students aged 11-14.

The issue is based on the results of the 2010 Global Forest Resources Assessment. The 68-page magazine is interactive and includes lessons plans for teachers. It covers topics such as types of forests, biodiversity, the role of forests in society, climate change, and forest management.

This special World's Forests Edition of the Natural Inquirer is available by clicking here.

Building Bridges sighting in Saint Petersburg...

Angelika Airapetyan, winner of the Saint Petersburg Chess Championship, is pictured here with a copy of ATP’s Building Bridges environmental education newsletter. Angelika was presented with an ATP Tree Planting Certificate by Astghik Nalbandyan at a benefit event hosted by Hamlet and Svetlana Airapetyan at Kuznechny Dvor in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

ATP presents environmental education programs at Green Cross conference in Moscow

Environmental Education Program Assistant Manya Gevorgyan (at podium) represented Armenia Tree Project at the conference on "Environmental Education for Sustainable Development" in Moscow. The event was hosted by Green Cross International on June 29-30, 2011.

Manya presented ATP's tree planting, environmental education, and sustainable development programs to an audience of 60 participants from Russia, Ukraine, Tatarstan, Kazakhstan, and Armenia. Manya's slides are available here in Russian.

Ari Guiragos Minassian Armenian School Visit to Karin jointly with School # 190

On 27th of June a group of 7 students from Ari Guiragos Minassian Armenian School of Santa Ana, Orange County visited Armenia Tree Project (ATP) Ohanian Environmental Education Center in Karin accompanied by their parents and Armenian language teacher, Ani Geloian. Here in Karin they met the students of the newly established eco-club of School #190 in Yerevan who were led by their Biology teacher Tatevik Melkumyan. Within the framework of ATP’s “Building Bridges” Project the students played “get-to-know-each-other” games, had a discussion on environment and trees and went on a wonderful tour in ATP Nursery. Together they planted seeds each of them with a large wish to grow their own tree in Armenia. At the end they all enjoyed the nice open-air lunch.

Minassian School group and the students from School # 190 in Yerevan

Ani Geloian - the head of the Minassian School Group

Children planting seeds together.

Nursery Program Manager Samvel Ghandilyan explaining the students how to plant seeds.

St. Stephen's School visit to Ohanian Environmental Education Center in Karin

On 27^th of May 12 students from St. Stephen’s Armenian School in Watertown, MA visited Armenia Tree Project (ATP) Ohanian Environmental Education Center in Karin accompanied by their teacher Ardemis Megerdchian as well as by 10 students from Anania Shirakatsi School in Yerevan along with their teacher Hasmik Petrosyan. Within the framework of ATP’s “Building Bridges” Project the children took part in several environmental activities that aimed to built closer connections between the US-Armenian children from St. Stephen’s School and the Armenian schoolchildren from Anania Shirakatsi School. The children altogether also planted seeds and toured the nursery led by ATP nursery specialists.

ATP activities depicted on the poster.

Drawing "Building Bridges" the way we see it.

The whole group together.

Taking a walk in ATP greenhouse in Karin Nursery.

Tigran Palazyan showing us around ATP Nursery in Karin.

Here we are planting seeds.

Together we are "building a bridge."