Ararat Charter School Goes Green with TreePeople & Armenia Tree Project

On Saturday, Dec. 10, students and families from the Ararat Charter School joined forces withTreePeople and Armenia Tree Project to “green” the ACS campus. The event was the beginning of the Ararat Charter School’s partnership in ATP’s Building Bridges environmental education program.

Students getting ready to plant with their first grade teacher

Friends, families, students, and staff assembled at 9 am to assist with the planting of 23 trees on the ACS2-Erwin campus. After a brief training conducted by Tree People and a gathering of all individuals hand in hand, everyone recited: “People need trees, trees need people.”

Families then quickly scurried to get their gloves, shovels, and water buckets. The ground was quite hard but their determination was stronger and boys, girls, moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas used their might to break through the soil in order to plant a tree. “It was the best feeling planting a tree,” stated one student. “I loved playing with the dirt!” a first grader exclaimed.

The adults were also gaining satisfaction from this activity, knowing that planting trees benefits the environment and beautifies their campus, and more importantly stresses to their children the importance of taking care of the environment so that it can take care of them.

Click here to read the rest of the story on Asbarez.com about why the Ararat Charter School decided to partner with ATP. If you’re interested in participating in ATP’s Building Bridges program in 2012, contact Sarah Hayes at sarah@armeniatree.org.

Ohanyan College Students Investigating Dilijan Forest in Armenia's Tavoush Region

This film is about our visit to the Tavoush region in northern Armenia. Our school-teachers helped us to recognize the smallest soil creatures of the woods and we collected some of them. Besides, we understood the structure of the forest and found out that there are at least three levels of plants growing there. We were surprised to learn that there are very easy methods to measure the age and height of a tree.

Our teachers from Ohanyan College helped us explore the biodiversity of the forest and to value it as a whole ecosystem! It was a happy day and a great chance to be closer to Nature and to understand the Forest as a live organism with hundreds of habitats living together in peace and harmony. We are looking forward to having a joint trip to Dilijan Forest with our American friends in coming future as part of ATP's Building Bridges program :-)

AGBU/Chicago Armenian School reports on "Trees All Around Us"

This year, AGBU/Chicago students continued their interaction with the Ohanyan School in Yerevan through our collaboration with the Armenia Tree Project. The exchange combines cultural awareness of how our childrens' peers in Armenia live with education on environmental issues that affect youth around the world. Toward these goals, we created a video project titled "TREES ALL AROUND US."

The short film we produced gave us the opportunity to describe local trees,
what's important about them, and what natural or manmade hazards these trees face.

We look forward to exchanging films, creating service projects, comparing notes on environmental concerns, and forming friendships that strengthen the bonds of our common heritage.

Our film was created during a field trip to the world-renowned Chicago Botanic Garden on October 15. The tour of the Garden, a 156-hectare property with more than 20 planted spaces including an English walled garden and a Japanese garden on three separate islands, was guided by Gary Topalian, a landscape architect with the highly regarded firm of Scott Byron. After visiting a oakland forest preserve and the Garden's "Trees of Illinois" collection, students enjoyed touring some of the garden areas and the Garden's very popular model railway exhibit.

Hi, I'm Jacey!

"Did you like our video?  I was in it!   Your presentation was really good. I wish we had an orchard behind our school!  I'm wondering, why do you like ash trees so much?"








Hi, I'm Talya!

Did you like our video? I was in it too!  I liked your presentation.  I also like how you carved ATP in the bushes!

Hi, I'm Anto--that's Tony in English

 What did you think about our video? I loved yours!

Hi, my name is Vartkes!

I was in our video too!  I liked learning about your trees.

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.