The Gambo Dam in Windham was the setting in September for Portland Public Schools third-graders to get some real-life lessons about life science and the Wabanaki, the Indigenous peoples whose homeland encompasses present-day Maine. The students got to experience the dam’s impact on the Presumpscot River in person and learned from Wabanaki guides about the relationship of animals and humans to the ecosystem.

The visits by all the district's third-graders, which took place on four days during the week of Sept. 22, were part of a Wabanaki Studies, life science, and environmental literacy unit. This integrated fieldwork experience was part of “Take Me to the River,” a unit of study in the district’s Pre-K through 12 Wabanaki Studies curriculum. The Portland Public Schools has led the state in creating a comprehensive Wabanaki Studies curriculum that integrates life science and social studies standards. Through this unit, third graders learn about the formation of the Presumpscot watershed, pre-contact human history, colonization, and Indigenous water protectors today, and consider the role of power and economics in the creation and continuation of dams. 

Students engaged in a variety of river-relationship-building activities at Gambo Dam, including close observation of water, wildlife, and plant life. For example, students created mini stream tables in order to better understand how the presence of a dam changes the flow of water. Presumpscot Elementary School third-graders visiting the dam on Sept. 26 enthusiastically scraped at trays of sand to make a path for the “river” of water they poured from a container of water. They then could see what happened to their river when they dammed it up with sticks and stones. 

Students also learned directly from citizens of Wabanaki tribes, who talked to students about how to respect rivers and the beings that depend on them. They provided opportunities for students to fully engage their senses in order to connect with this river ecosystem. For example, Harley Bassett, a member of the Passamaquoddy tribe, showed the Presumpscot students a cooler of fish he had caught in the river that day, answered questions about the fish and talked about their role in the river ecosystem. 

Passamaquoddy language teacher Sandra Bassett and a representative from Maine Audubon talked to the students about another river friend: the beaver. Students gathered around a plastic display case of a taxidermied beaver that had died of natural causes. Bassett told them the Passamaquoddy word for beaver, “qapit,” derives in part from the word for “red” because beavers have red teeth, and she detailed the relationship between beavers and the river.

At the conclusion of their visit, students listened to Sandra Bassett drum as they reflected quietly and offered gratitude to the river.

The field trip aligns with two goals of the PPS Strategic Plan, the Equity goal, which calls for educators to cultivate an inclusive environment where all students and families feel supported, and the Achievement goal, which commits the district to elevating learning for every student through intentional curriculum and instructional support.

Watch a WCSH-News Center Channel 6 story on the Presumpscot third-graders’ visit: "Portland students see Presumpscot River ecosystem during field trip"