Late winter in Penns Valley means the snow is still tucked in the shadows, but the temperatures are just right for maple sugaring. When nights dip to around 25°F and days warm up to 45°F, it’s time to tap the trees and set out the buckets. This past season, PVCA shared the magic of this process with the 5th grade students at Penns Valley Elementary School.
Local homesteader and PVCA volunteer Dan Shimp—known to students as “Farmer Dan”—joined PVCA Environmental Educator Jim Flanagan and the 5th grade teachers to give students a hands-on experience of how maple syrup is made, from tree to table. What started as a simple idea turned into a four-week science mini-course, full of connections to real-world topics like variables, ratios, observation, and environmental science.
The lesson began with a surprising question: “What’s actually in that pancake syrup from the store?” Students were shocked to find that many common syrups contain a long list of artificial ingredients—and no butter, despite the “butter flavored” label. This sparked a discussion about nutrition labels, food ingredients, and the value of simple, whole foods like pure maple syrup, which contains just one ingredient: sap.
To bring learning to life, students helped identify and tap four red maples and one birch tree as a comparison. Using traditional metal spiles, tubing, collection bags, and covered pails, the students collected sap daily—often checking the buckets more than once. Farmer Dan guided them through the different collection methods and answered their many questions: “Does tapping hurt the tree?” “How much sap do we need?” “Why maple trees?” “Can we taste it?”
And they did taste it—finding raw sap to be cool, faintly sweet, and refreshing. They learned that it takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, a ratio that amazed them and helped explain why pure syrup is so much more expensive than store-bought alternatives. They also discovered that sap flow is tied to tree species and weather, and that the birch tree, for example, produced little to no sap. Farmer Dan introduced the students to a refractometer, which measured their sap’s sugar content at about 3%—far from the 60% needed for syrup. They also explored how trees heal after tapping and how the timing of the season affects taste and quality as trees begin to bud.
By the end of the collection period, the students had gathered nearly 40 gallons of sap.
The program culminated in an all-day sap boil on school grounds. With a tented outdoor boil set up on a chilly day, students from across the school stopped by to watch the transformation, ask questions, and sample the syrup in progress. Next year, pancakes may be on the menu.
Fifth grade teacher Shelley Feltenberger reflected on the experience:
“Teachers are lifelong learners, and this experience gave us the opportunity to explore the process of turning maple sap into syrup. I’ve learned so much from Dan and Jim—it’s sparked my own curiosity about sugaring. Now, as I drive to and from school, I notice other collection setups around the valley and think about the tree my students are gathering data from. They’re absolutely thrilled when there’s sap in the buckets—sometimes checking more than once a day!
Beyond the science of sap to syrup, our students are learning to read nutrition labels, think about where food comes from, and observe the natural world around them. It’s an experience I hope continues, helping students gain a deeper appreciation for the land and how they can take part in its abundance.”
To cap it off, several students presented their experience to the Penns Valley Area School District Board, receiving enthusiastic support. At PVCA, we’re inspired by their curiosity—and committed to providing meaningful opportunities like this that connect students with nature, science, and the land they call home.
