Students learn about tree importance for Arbor Day

Kate Sleptov, Andrew Sleptov, John Azer and Jackson Lomma help Professor Pricklethorn teach about photosynthesis.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen

LONGMEADOW — Dressed in a lab coat and sporting wild white hair, Canadian arborist and educator “Professor Elwood Pricklethorn” entertained fourth graders at Blueberry Hill School while helping them grow their knowledge and love of trees.

Pricklethorn, whose real name is Warren Hoselton, hosted an Arbor Day program at all three elementary schools in Longmeadow on May 1. Using wacky antics and a trunk full of silly props, Pricklethorn taught the children about the life cycle of trees, all the ways living creatures benefit from them and the importance of planting the right tree in the right place. Blueberry Hill School Principal David Allen explained that the program fits with the fourth-grade curriculum about the water cycle and ecosystems.

Paul Sellers of the Massachusetts Wardens and Foresters Association assisted Pricklethorn by hyping up the kids with tree jokes. The Massachusetts Wardens and Foresters Association and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation co-sponsored the effort to bring Pricklethorn to Longmeadow.

Each year, the schools participate in an Arbor Day program. Last year, children planted trees and sang songs. Tree Warden Leah Grigorov said that this year, at the Willie Ross School for the Deaf, students explored sensory-friendly tree bins, while children at St. Mary’s Academy received the Arbor Day recognition tree — a Ginkgo that was planted on the Hopkins Place tree belt.

At the end of the program, students were given an activity book and a Douglas fir seedling to plant at home. Grigorov said that this is Longmeadow’s 60th year of handing out seedlings to children and 23,575 seedlings have been handed out over the years. This year it was made possible by the Longmeadow Gardeners, Gardeners on the Green and the Longmeadow Tree Committee. Longmeadow is a recognized Tree City USA community.