A dock-like structure provides access to the wetlands at Madison Elementary School in Madison. The dock is part of a new environmental learning center, for which a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Tuesday. Jake Freudberg/Morning Sentinel

MADISON — Why do turtles come out of the water to lay eggs? What plants and animals live in Madison? How to identify an animal using its tracks?

Those are among the questions Madison Elementary School students can explore through new outdoor learning facilities recently constructed, thanks to a federally funded state grant.

“At the end of the day, it just gives the kids a different perspective,” Principal Scott Mitchell said during a tour of the outdoor classroom Tuesday. “It’s the wonder of children. We want them to ask questions.

The new infrastructure includes an accessible trail behind the school playground, which leads to a wetland, as well as a dock-like structure allowing easy access to view the marsh. The trail also has several benches and activity areas.

Madison teachers, Maine School Administrative District 59 administrators and a dozen state and local officials celebrated the opening of the Environmental Learning Center by cutting the ribbon Tuesday.

The project received a major boost through a state Department of Education grant program called Rethinking Responsive Education Ventures, Mitchell said. RREV, as the state project is called, awarded $100,000 to MSAD 59, according to Department of Education documents.

Two Madison elementary school teachers, Jennifer Swain and Cristina Sirois, led the effort to secure the grant needed to build the environmental learning center, Mitchell said.

A new dock-like structure at Madison Elementary School’s Environmental Learning Center in Madison offers views of wetlands. The school marked the opening of the facility on Tuesday. Jake Freudberg/Morning Sentinel

The RREV program, funded by nearly $17 million from the U.S. Department of Education awarded in 2020, has supported innovative pilot projects across the state, according to its website. Maine was one of 11 states to receive federal dollars.

The program has funded 45 projects in 42 Maine school districts in every Maine county, said Elaine Bartley, RREV project director.

“RREV’s goal was to create systemic change across the state by harnessing the talent of Maine’s educators and school teams,” Bartley said Tuesday.

Principal Scott Mitchell speaks to Madison Elementary School students during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday for the school’s Environmental Learning Center. Jake Freudberg/Morning Sentinel

Outdoor learning has always been a goal of the Madison school since it opened in 2002, said state Rep. Jack Ducharme, a Republican who represents the city, along with Norridgewock and Cornville. Ducharme, who attended the inauguration, said he was on the local school board at the time.

“When we acquired this property and built this school, this is the kind of thing we expected,” Ducharme said. “We expected it to be in a place that was far enough off the beaten path and with woods and everything else, that there could be outdoor activities.”

Mitchell, the principal, said the project is part of several outside initiatives the school is working to develop.

“This is just the beginning,” he said. “There’s more to come.”

So far, the Environmental Learning Center already seems to be a hit with students.

When Mitchell asked the school’s approximately 145 students, from kindergarten through second grade, how many of them had already hiked the trail, he was greeted with a resounding chorus of yeses.

“Me!” they shouted back.

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