A teacher at Bath’s Brightfield School has received an award recognizing her efforts in environmental education.

Lorna Fake received the Eberhard Thiele Environmental Educator Award on May 10, when educators and students from across Maine were recognized for their contributions to Maine’s environmental educational ecosystem during the Maine Environmental Education Annual Awards Ceremony at Maine Academy of Natural Sciences in Hinckley.

Fake, a first- and second-grade teacher at Brightfield School, won the Eberhard Award for being an environmental educator who works outside the formal classroom setting and incorporates environmental education into her hands-on lessons.

One aspect of Fake’s teaching is place-based education, with her eight students learning outside about the community on the 7 acres behind the Brightfield School along the Whiskeag Trail. She teaches reading, writing, math, science and theme studies (similar to social studies) at Brightfield.

“We take the children outside as much as we can,” Fake said. “Our morning meeting is held outside regardless of the weather.”

The students learn in “sit spots” where they watch the environment around them and practice observational skills. Last fall and into the winter, her class learned about local farms, like what the farms produce and where they sell produce.

“I have done a lot of field trips to local farms, interviewed the farmers, collected data about the farm, and then we’ve written individual nonfiction books about the farms,” Fake said.

Digital devices are not used in first to fourth grade at the Brightfield School because Fake feels the children will be on computers for the rest of their lives. Hands-on activities are incredibly valuable for her students, Fake said.

This is Fake’s first year teaching at the Brightfield School since it opened its doors for the school year last fall, replacing the Chewonki Elementary and Middle School in Wiscasset. She previously worked at Chewonki.

Fake was trained as a teacher in the United Kingdom at the University of Sussex and has taught in Maine for over 20 years. She came to Maine with her husband, Thomas Fake, in 1999.

Other award recipients were Patti Bailie, associate professor of early childhood education  from the University of Maine at Farmington, winning the Lifetime Achievement Award; Environmental Partner of the Year Award went to Dennis Brackett from Katahdin Schools; and Yujin Harada from Thornton Academy and Leah Burgess from Spruce Mountain High School both won the Student of the Year Award.

Other institutions recognized were Portland Public Schools, winning School of the Year Award, and Veazie Pre-K Nature Based Education Program won the Excellence in Environmental Education Program Award.

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