Maple Day Open House invites community to Portsmouth school's sugar shack

PORTSMOUTH — The annual Maple Day Open House will be held Saturday, March 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Robert J. Lister Academy at the school's new location at 100 Community Campus.

The free event is for the community and families to join student participants in the school's Maple Syrup Makers program to see the sugar shack in operation, allowing students to show off their work. There are educational tables, kids games and activities, tours of the sugar shack, lots of baked items, raffle prizes and branded swag for sale.

For information, email Christine Stillwell at cstilwell@sau52.org.

What is the Maple Syrup Makers program?

The Maple Syrup Makers program at Lister Academy is an interdisciplinary, hands-on learning experience. Students take part in the entire maple syrup making process, from tapping trees to the finished product produced in the sugar shack.

The Lister Academy students work with all the third-graders in the Portsmouth district, as well as third- and fourth-graders from Newington and fourth-graders from North Hampton School. During the past nine years, over 1,000 students have taken part in this program. In five out of the last seven years, the Maple Syrup Makers have been one of the top three schools in the state for the Tucker Mountain Challenge, sponsored by New Hampshire Agriculture in the Classroom, last year winning second place.