How beautiful, how beautiful! The
land went up and down, with snow
everywhere, unbroken except where
the little road wound through. But
then there was another little road,
going into the trees. And another.
She stood still, wondering. The
tracks went around—over there and
over there—in a big circle, and ...
She stood staring. Every tree was
hanging with bright buckets. And
every bucket had a little pointed lid
like a cap. Once she had seen a
picture in a book at school. (Miracles
on Maple Hill, pp. 12–13)
Descriptions of the maple syruping
experience often have been depicted in
literature and can be found in Newbery
Award winner and honor books, Miracles
on Maple Hill, A Gathering of Days, and
Calico Bush, as well as in beloved titles
such as Little House in the Big Woods
and The Birchbark House. In recent
years, juvenile fiction and nonfiction
alike have seen excellent additions to the
subject as well. For those who appreciate
quality illustrations in children’s books,
the topic of maple syruping will rival any
other. Be sure not to miss Jim Daly’s
illustrations in Marsha Wilson Chall’s
Sugarbush Spring.
One of the greatest advantages to
this study is its potential to be enjoyed
by people of all ages. Students of
various ages can all glean information
from read-alouds of the same material.
Projects that address differing academic
needs and incorporate the acquisition of
knowledge and skills in areas such as
chemistry, botany, nutrition, economics,
mathematics, American history, and
literature can be assigned to younger
and older students. While your second-grader is drawing forty “pails” of sap to
visualize how much is needed to make
one gallon of syrup, your fourth-grader
can be coloring in maps to show the
limited climate suitable for growing
syrup-producing trees, your eighth-grader can diagram and describe in
writing the biology of maple sap flow,
and your eleventh-grader can research
how the process of reverse osmosis
relates to large maple sugaring operations. A maple syrup unit study lends
itself easily to the family who prefers
hands-on life experiences and using
“real” books to textbooks.
Checking our sap pails
Bringing wood to the evaporator
“Although, in memory, sap runs fast
the actual accumulation is drop by drop,
and slow.” (Catherine Cabot Hall in A
Gathering of Days, p. 54)
Studying maple syruping provides a
great opportunity to focus on the values
of hard work and patience, because
maple syrup does not come about
without the combined efforts of both.
Through both fiction and nonfiction, the
images of families and friends tapping
trees, collecting sap, and boiling 40
gallons of it just to make a single gallon
of syrup is an apt demonstration of
working together and diligence: “He
that tilleth his land shall be satisfied
with bread . . .” (Proverbs 12:11a)
In teaching a unit study on maple
syrup, consider using some of the
following objectives.
Curriculum Areas
Science
Have students draw, trace, or identify
the four types of maple leaves that
produce syrup-making sap.
Explain to younger children that as
living things, trees need “food.” Sap is
the food that nourishes a tree’s roots,
branches, and leaves.
If you live in a sugaring state or
province, record daytime and nighttime
temperatures throughout February and
March. Graph them and predict sap
season’s beginning and end.
Have students draw a diagram or
write an expository essay explaining the
biology of maple sap flow.
Have older students learn how hydrometers are used to check sugar density.
