Forest Teacher Resources

Spark interest in a current issue while simultaneously developing a deep understanding of complex ideas. This excellent cross-disciplinary unit idea incorporates English and science in the study of the rain forest and the dangers facing it and its inhabitants. Through a series of authentic learning tasks including a research report, a poem, a travel brochure, a letter, and a puppet show, students learn declarative knowledge about the rain forest while practicing procedural English skills.

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Students explore forest communities.  In this biology and ecosystems science lesson plan, students view National Park web sites and identify specific plants and animals.  Students sort pictures into groups of animals or plants and complete a "What am I?" worksheet.

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Students complete pre reading, writing, and post reading activities for the book Accident in the Forest. In this guided reading lesson plan, students complete writing, go over vocabulary, answer short answer questions, have discussions, and more.

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Students become familiar with the temperate rainforest.  In this forest ecosystem instructional activity, students identify the producers, consumers and decomposers in the forest ecosystem.  Students sort cards and identify the trophic level of the rainforest.  Students view and discuss various artifacts of the rainforest.

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Students consider the interdependency of life in a temperate forest by studying selected organisms from an Asian temperate forest and creating a food web.

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Students discuss the different kinds of life in a forest, the three major types of organisms that live in an ecosystem, and a food web. They research organisms from the four seasons in a temperate forest ecosystem in northern Japan. After researching and answering questions, they work with other students from the same season to create a food web.

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Young scholars explore the Forest and the vocabulary associated with it. In this Forest lesson plan, students take the roles of photographer and reporter to examine an area of land for evidence of past life. Young scholars take a close-up and complete picture of the area. Students switch jobs every ten minutes at teacher's instruction. Young scholars complete a worksheet.

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Students play the role of a Ranger with the Department of Forestry.  In this forest fires lesson, students examine data on biomes and images to determine high risk areas for forest fires to develop.  

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Adopt a playground tree! Working alone or in groups, class members adopt a tree to monitor, measure, and chart throughout the year. Suggested activities include drawing seasonal changes, taking pictures, making graphs of tree size, making leaf and bark rubbings, and conducting Internet research. Young researchers use their collected observations and data as a basis for their informative paper.

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