Visit the Tale Trail at BPES this summer

Starting this summer, members of the Broadalbin-Perth community are invited to visit the “Tale Trail,” a path with stories set up along the nature trail at Broadalbin-Perth Elementary School. The trail begins at the entrance near the solar panel field and runs to the sports field.

At the trailhead, there is an introduction to the Tale Trail, instructing visitors to follow along the outside rim of the trail to read the story. Pages of a story are displayed in wooden cases, which were created by B-P alum Trenton Richmond. At the end of the trail, there is a listing of additional activities that can be done, typically related to the book that was on display. Stories will be rotated out each month until the trail is closed for the winter months.

The trail was brought to BPES by Tammy Staie, a media center teacher at BPES. For the first book for the Tail Trail, she selected “The Hike” by Alison Farrell, a story about three friends and a dog who go out on a hike. During the hike, the friends note all the plants and animals they see along the way in a journal. At the end of the story, visitors are encouraged to create their own nature trail journal of all the trails they hike.

“I always dreamed we'd have an official trail with wooden cases to display the pages,” Staie said. “I’m grateful to Trenton Richmond for creating the display cases – we could not have made this happen without him. Now, families can enjoy a little hike to see the plants and animals in the woods while enjoying a story. It's a great way to tie in literacy with the great outdoors!”