Growing Curiosity: Learning About Tennessee's Forests with Tennessee Forestry Association

Caley Peyton reading to students at Anniston Academy.

At Anniston Academy, we believe some of the best learning happens when students have opportunities to connect what they are learning to the people, careers, and world around them. That is exactly why our Community Helper and Hobbyist Program is such an important part of the Anniston experience.

Recently, we were excited to welcome Caley Peyton, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Tennessee Forestry Association, to Anniston Academy. Caley spent time with our students sharing her knowledge of Tennessee’s forests, forestry, natural resources, and conservation.

For our students, having a community expert come into their school transforms a topic from something they might read about into something they can experience, explore, and ask questions about firsthand.

Bringing Tennessee’s Forests Into the Classroom

A student touches tree bark.

Tennessee is home to an incredible variety of forests and natural resources, and understanding those resources gives children another way to understand the world around them. During Caley’s visit, our students had the opportunity to learn from someone whose work is directly connected to forestry education and conservation. Experiences like this are particularly valuable at Anniston because our approach to education emphasizes hands-on, meaningful learning. We want students to have opportunities to touch, see, explore, ask questions, make connections, and discover new interests. A lesson about trees can become a conversation about ecosystems. A discussion about forests can introduce conservation and responsible use of natural resources. Learning about forestry can expose a child to a career they may never have known existed. And meeting someone who actually works in that field gives students an opportunity to see how those ideas exist beyond the walls of their classroom.

Why Community Helpers Matter at Anniston

Our Community Helper and Hobbyist Program was created to introduce our students to the incredible variety of people, skills, careers, interests, and hobbies that exist within their own community. Not every child learns best by reading about a profession or watching a video about it. Sometimes the most meaningful learning happens when someone walks through the classroom door and says, “This is what I do.”

For neurodivergent students especially, interests can become incredibly powerful pathways to learning. A child who develops an interest in trees, animals, weather, machinery, maps, insects, or the outdoors may suddenly have a natural bridge to science, reading, math, communication, and even future career exploration.

Our goal is to expose our students to as much of the world as possible so they have opportunities to discover the things that make them curious. We are so grateful to Caley for being part of that mission.

Bringing Outdoor Learning Back to Students

One of the resources incorporated into the workshops is Project Learning Tree, an award-winning environmental education program that provides educators with hands-on activities and curriculum resources designed to help students learn about forests, sustainability, and the environment. We love the idea behind programs like this because outdoor and environmental education does not have to exist separately from academics.

Nature can become part of science, math, literacy, communication, sensory exploration, problem-solving, and social learning. When educators are given the tools and confidence to use the natural world as another learning environment, students gain even more opportunities to discover how interesting their world can be.

Thank You, Caley!

We want to extend a huge thank-you to Caley Peyton and the Tennessee Forestry Association for spending time with our students and sharing a little piece of Tennessee’s forests with Anniston Academy.

Community partnerships like these help us create the kind of education we want for our students, one that extends beyond textbooks and worksheets and gives children opportunities to experience their community and discover new possibilities. And who knows?

A conversation about trees today may be the beginning of a lifelong love of nature, a new special interest, or even a future career.