The Boston School Forest is a field trip destination for 6,000 students each year providing high quality outdoor environmental education programs that expand and authenticate classroom learning. Science education in our district is transitioning to provide greater opportunity for inquiry, and teachers are now searching for resources that can be used in either face-to-face or e-learning formats. The Backyard Habitat Series focuses on connecting kids to an outdoor place through use of sensory observation, exploring the natural features and animals, and engaging in the improvement of habitat for neighborhood wildlife species. Classroom teachers, preservice teachers, and families will discover straightforward instructions, few materials or background knowledge required, and a format that is easily adaptable to the e-learning environment.

Lesson plans and ideas for recognizing people that work in the forestry and environmental fields .

Context:The teachers facilitate an author study every year among our K-2 unit. This year, we wanted to focus on local authors who have written picture books that address both cultural and environmental literacy. The books included in this unit by Miranda and Baptiste Paul. These texts teach about the water cycle, the life cycle of plants, how our environment impacts our recreation, and how individuals can rally their communities to make improvements in their environment.  understanding.About the author: Ned Dorff has been teaching for 20 years. He has taught regular, gifted, special, and alternative education classes. Ned holds a master’s degree in Environmental Education from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

This lesson plan about green transportation for kids will help you teach them to be mindful of the impact that transportation has on the environment!

he LEAF Wisconsin K-12 Forestry Lesson Guide includes complete interdisciplinary units for teaching students about forests and forestry in Wisconsin.
Subject areas addressed in the lessons include Arts, English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. The Wisconsin Model Academic Standards and H. Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory were referenced during the development of the guide. The LEAF Lesson Guide is based on principles outlined in the LEAF Conceptual Guide To K-12 Forestry Education in Wisconsin.

Unit-Based Lessons The unit-based lessons are divided by grade levels: K-1, 2-3, 4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-12. Lessons build upon one another to provide connectivity in the students' educational experience. When taught as a unit, these lessons provide students a well-rounded understanding of forestry in Wisconsin. You may find that they are also effective when taught individually and integrated with other classroom material. Each lesson includes an introduction, step-by-step procedure for activities, and a conclusion. Formative assessment is woven throughout each lesson. Questions with answers are provided to help teachers follow the level of understanding of students. Summative assessment ideas are listed at the end of each lesson. Suggested activities have students apply what they have learned in a new way.

In this series of activities, students build their background knowledge about bats through a variety of media and texts (Activity 1), play games to learn more about how bats interact with their prey and how they use their bodies, and choose an action(s) to help make the world a better place for bats, and therefore, humans (Activity 2). My students decided to create educational posters convincing people to help bats, plant a bat garden, build a bat house, and adopt-a-bat. They also wrote persuasive letters to hang the bat house on our school, which they presented to the administration (and the project was approved - in addition to which the principal asked us to create additional educational materials to teach the school community - teachers, students, other staff - and families about the benefits of bats).

Author: Ned Dorff, Teacher, Aldo Leopold Community School, Green Bay Area Public SchoolsUnit Title: Monarch MathGrade Level: 2nd gradeContent Areas: Mathematics, Science, Social StudiesContext: Second grade students engaged in a seven-lesson integrated math, science, and social studies unit of study of monarch butterflies, migration, life cycles, and habitat needs. The unit concluded with students proposing environmental actions to help protect and support the endangered Monarch butterfly.

Context: Our Ancient Roots Homestead collaborates with students, elders, and community members in the surrounding Tribal Nations— both Menominee and Stockbridge Munsee. We recognize all students learning in different ways. Some students join us in person, while others join us virtually. People are invited to tell stories, garden, preserve food, make music, create art, and learn different Indigenous life skills. The culturally-relevant text sets offer different perspectives for students to see as well as wonderful conversation starters. Students learn of different careers within the Indigenous World. Some of those careers being: Seed Keepers, Gardeners, Knowledge Keepers, Storytellers and more! Dig your bare feet into the soil and feel those connections to your ancestors, the land, the plants, animals, and all things. We are all connected. Let’s work together and connect our past to the present for the future… of learning!

“Square Foot Gardens: Healthy Spaces for People and Pollinators” is an interdisciplinary unit of study for twenty-four second grade students at Maple Grove Charter School. Part of a year-long science program, the unit complements the second grade EL Education English Language Arts Curriculum in which two Modules (approximately 18 weeks of literacy instruction) focus on the following guiding questions from Modules 3 & 4: “How do plants grow and survive?How do pollinators help plants grow and survive?How do we get the fruits, flowers, and vegetables that we enjoy?How do we become researchers and share our learning?Why should people help pollinators to survive?How can I take action to help pollinators?” (https://eleducation.org )