WVFA Mountain State Forestry Fall 2020

P R O J E C T L E A R N I N G T R E E www.wvfa.org Fall 2020 |  West Virginia Forestry Association Mountain State Forestry 27 Connecting Kids to Nature ©SustainableForestry Initiative Inc.Adapted fromActivity13:WeAllNeedTrees fromProjectLearningTree’s PreK-8EnvironmentalEducationActivityGuide. www.plt.org Make LearningFun! Encourage your child’s school to incorporate learning outdoors. Formore activity ideas an dmaterials: • Attend a PLTworkshop,www.plt.org/state-network/ • Visit shop.plt.org Nature is a great teacher and getting kids outside to learn and play is good for their brains and their bodies.Try this outdoor activity from Project LearningTree ® – it’s safe, fun, and educational! Project LearningTree ® (PLT) is an i nitiative of the Sust ainable Fo restry Initiative. We All Need Trees Children are often surprised to learn howmany different productswe get from trees.Use this activity to help children learn just howmuchwe depend on trees in our daily lives. Take awalkwith children, and bring along a daypackfilledwith a few tree products, for example, fruit (e.g., apple, orange, banana), a pencil and a journal or a book, sunblock, and chewing gum. Pick up a downed tree branch and askwhere it came from (a tree). Eat the fruit, and ask childrenwhere it came from (a store? a tree?).Ask children to think of other items that come from trees.Discuss some unusual tree products, using the samples from your daypack.Ask critical questions, including: • Have youused anything that comes from trees today? • How are treeproducts alike andhow are theydifferent? • Whatdo you likemost about trees? In addition to giving uswood, paper, food, and other products, trees are invaluable assets to our communities. Take a neighborhoodwalk, and look for newly planted trees and shrubs.How are they protected? Find a place without trees, and compare itwith a placewithmany.Which place do you like best?Why? For a children’s story about the gifts of trees and our responsibility to care for them, check outTheTree Farmer byChuck Leavell andNicholasCravotta, 2005, ISBN: 1893622169. Complete thisword search puzzle to discover ten tree products. Look below for the answers. A U R A T I U G I T P E T O S B E L T O P A C H O N I E T A L O C O H C P E P U E H K D N P O S T C A R D E U E W E N I W I P T E E R S R O T H C I N N A M O N C Answers: apple, book, cinnamon, chair, chocolate, guitar, house, newspaper, pencil, postcard Engage children in learning about the environment and theworld around themwith this hands-on activity from Project LearningTree ® – it’s fun and educational! Connecting Kids to Nature ©SustainableForestry Initiative Inc.Adapted fromActivity45:WebofLife fromProjectLearningTree’s PreK-8 EnvironmentalEducationActivityGuide. www.plt.org Project LearningTree ® (PLT) is an initiative of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Web of Life In this activity, childrenwill learn about foodwebs, discovering themanyways that plants and animals of a forest ecosystem are connected. A forest is a complex living system.While its appearance is often dominated by trees, a healthy forest is composed ofmany different animals and plants that interactwith and depend on each other. A food chain isa simplifiedwayof showingenergy relationships betweenplantsandanimals inanecosystem.Forexample,a food chainof sun>plant seed>mouse>owl shows thataplant seed that grows from the sun’senergy iseatenbyamouse,which in turn iseatenbyanowl.However, in reality it is rare foran animal toeatonlyone typeof food.A foodweb represents the interactionofmany food chains inanecosystem. Invite children to think about the foodweb of a nearbywooded area.Ask: 1. What plants and animalsmight youfind in a healthy forest ecosystem? (Be sure to includemammals, insects, birds, reptiles, trees, and other plants). 2. Whatmight happen to the forest ecosystem ifwe remove an item from this list? 3. Whatmight happen if humans are introduced to this ecosystem? Have children visually depict a foodweb by drawing awoodland scene (hills, valleys, streams, trees, etc.) on sheets of cardboard or poster paper.Add photos or drawings of the organisms they came upwith inQuestion 1. Place a push pin next to each plant or animal, and use yarn to connect the organisms to otherswithwhich they interact. Thediagram showsexamplesoforganisms thatdependoneachother for food. Startingwith the sun, can you connect theorganisms intofivedifferent food chains to forma foodweb?One food chainhasbeen completed for you.Hint: therearemultiple combinations!When youhave connectedall theorganisms youhave created the foodweb! Example Forest Food Web EncourageYourChild’s School to Incorporate Environmental Education Formore activity ideas andmaterials: • Attend a PLTworkshop ,www.plt.org/state-network/ • Visit shop.plt.org Connecting Kids to Nature ©SustainableForestry Initiative Inc.Adapted fromActivity63:TreeFactory fromProjectLearningTree’s PreK-8EnvironmentalEducationActivityGuide. www.plt.org Make LearningFun! Encourage your child’s school to incorporate learning outdoors. Formore activity ideas an dmaterials: • Atte nd a PLTwork shop,www.plt.org/state-network/ • Visit shop.plt.org Nature is a great teacher and getting kids outside to learn and play is good for their brains and their bodies.Try this outdoor activity from Project LearningTree ® – it’s safe, fun, and educational! Project LearningTree ® (PLT) is an initiative of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Tree Factory By acting out the parts of a tree, childrenwill learn about tree structure and function. Engage children by asking them to think aboutwhat trees need to survive (food, sun,water, air, and space).Discuss how a treemight get these re- quirements, especially since they can’tmove around theway animals can. • How does a tree get thewater it needs? • How does a tree get the food it needs? • How doeswater and food get around to all parts of the tree? Explain that in addition to having leaves and roots, trees have special layers in their trunk and branches that help themmove nutrients and water to every part of the tree.The trunk and branches also contain a growing layer of cells that create the tree’s annual growth rings,making the trunk, branches, and roots thicker each year. Review the following treeparts andhave children label thediagram. (a) Heartwood - forms the central core of the tree. It ismade up of dense deadwood, and it provides strength. (b) Xylem - bringswater and nutrients up from the roots to the leaves. Older xylem cells become part of the heartwood. (c) Cambium - a very thin layer of growing tree tissue. Itmakes cells that become new xylem, phloem, or cambium. (d) Phloem - carries sap from the leaves to the rest of the tree.At cer- tain times of the year, phloemmay alsomove stored sugars from the roots up to the rest of the tree. (e) OuterBark - protects the tree from injury caused by insects, animals, plants, diseases, andfire. Build a Tree Factory Using the chart below, have children build a “Tree Factory” by coming upwith their own actions and chants to represent the structure and function of the tree parts reviewed above. The chart has been started to help you. Hint:The chant helps to determine the function! To reinforce learning and fire up thisTree Factory, have children shout the chant and perform the action chosen for each tree part. Tree Trunk Layers (e) (d) (c) (b) ( a ) STRUCTURE FUNCTION CHANT ACTION Roots Anchor the tree,absorbwaterandnutrients “We anchor!” Lay down and hold onto the ground tight Leaves Make food through photosynthesis “Wemake food!” Flutter your hands Heartwood “I support!” Flex yourmuscles Xylem “I pump!” Cambium “Imakenew cells!” Phloem “I carry sap!” Outer Bark “I protect!” Holduphandsor cr ssarms tomakea shield C onn ecting Kids to Nat ure ©SustainableForestry Initiative Inc.Adapted from Activity76:TreeCookies fromProjectLearningTree’s PreK-8EnvironmentalEducationActivityGuide. www.plt.org Make LearningFun! Encourage your child’s school to incorporate learning outdoors. Formore activity ideas andmaterials: • Attend a PLTworkshop ,www.plt.org/state-network/ • Visit shop.plt.org Nature is a great teacher and getting kids outside to learn and play is good for their brains and the ir bodies.Try this outdoor activity from Project Learn ingTree ® – it’s safe, fun, and educ ational! Project LearningTree ® (PLT) is an initiative of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Tree C ookies Oneway to learn about tree growth is to look at annual rings.Tree rings show patterns of change in a tree’s life aswell as changes in the areawhere it grows. In this activity, you can trace environmental and historical changes using a cross section of a tree, or “tree cookie.” Have youever counted tree rings?Every growth season,a treeaddsanew layerofwood to its trunkand limbs.This means you candetermine theageofa treeby counting its layers,or rings.Have children learnmoreabouta tree’s lifebyexamininga tree cookieandasking: • How oldwas thispart of the treewhen the tree cookie was cut? • Can you seedifferentmarkings? Evidence of scars or narrow,misshapen rings? • Whatmighthavehappened to the tree to cause these differentmarkings? Use a hand lens to get a closer look at the tree cookie’s texture.Can you see any holes or channels thatmight allowwater and nutrients to travel up the tree? Finally, ask children to draw a tree cookie the same age as themselves.What can they do to showwhen important events in their lives took place? For a children’s book that describes the various parts of trees and their functions, check out Outside and InsideTrees by SandraMarkel, published by Simon and Schuster, 1993, ISBN: 0027623130. Tree Cookie Parts Cambium Heartwood Xylem (or Sapwood) Outer Bark Phloem Do thisword search puzzle to discover some components of trees and forest cycles. Look below for the answers. H M Z E S B M I L T F G E C F D T C A K L B E T A M I L C N X A I S H M R G R U E R U S A G B P T R E K S N G E U I H T W O R G N N S O U P H L O E M A I I R M S A P W O O D R D D X Y L E M Z D W R When using these activities, keep a few things in mind: ƒ Adapt the activities to your specific situation or comfort level. Don’t feel like you must follow the instructions to the letter. ƒ Keep the children you’re speaking with in mind as well. These activities have proven effective with children ages 3 to 15, but the way you present them will change depending on the child’s knowledge and ability. Some activities work better for younger children, others work better for older children. Help the children in your life experience the importance, beauty, and wonder of the natural world. Take your children, grandchildren, and neighbors’ or friends’ children on an adventure this weekend and give one or more of these activities a try! As you can see, Project Learning Tree is a valuable resource for West Virginia. By learning to integrate the hands-on activities in a classroom or in an outdoor environment, many formal and non-formal educators, natural resources professionals and industry are helping our next generation of forest stewards to understand the complexities of our environment. It also helps them understand where they fit into that complex system and hopefully will encourage them to make wise decisions in the future.