K-12 Foresty Lesson Guide
LESSON NUTSHELLS
K-1st Grade Unit
2nd-3rd Grades Unit
4th Grade Unit
5th-6th Grades Unit
7th-8th Grades Unit
9th-12th Grades Unit
K-1st Grade Unit
Lesson 1 - Tree Hardware
Students are introduced to the parts of a tree and its life stages
through songs, games, and role playing.
Lesson 2 - What's in a Forest?
Students learn about living and nonliving parts of a forest
by playing a game and creating artwork.
Lesson 3 - My Favorite Forest Use
Students discover the value of forests by studying Tree Spy collages
and singing a song.
Lesson 4 - Forest Product Time Machine
Students explore historical uses of forest resources and compare
them to present day goods by surveying pictures and creating
drawings.
Lesson 5 - Animals Need Forests Too
Students find out what forests do for animals and play a game to
search for basic needs.
Forestry Careers
Students learn about forestry-related careers, participate in a
matching exercise, and draw their favorite career.
Field Enhancement 1 - All About My Tree
Students adopt a tree and record their observations to create a
class scrapbook.
Field Enhancement 2 - Sensing the Forest
Students use all of their senses to discover the living and
nonliving parts of a forest.
Field Enhancement 3 - Searching for Basic Needs
Students examine the needs of animals and evaluate if their
playground can support various critters.
2nd-3rd Grades Unit
Lesson 1 - To Be a Tree
Students use their knowledge of tree parts to learn basic tree
identification skills. Basic needs and life stages of a tree are
also emphasized through a game and drawing activity.
Lesson 2 - What Makes a Forest?
Students discover how living things are influenced by nonliving
things through a matching activity, song or skit, and creating a
class mural of Wisconsin forests.
Lesson 3 - Forest Energy Flow
Students learn about energy flow in the forest by role-playing
producers, consumers, and decomposers.
Lesson 4 - Forests Are Important to Me!
Students explore forest values and discover what forest products
come from Wisconsin using a checklist. Creative writing and an art
project help students examine why they value forests.
Lesson 5 - Decisions, Decisions
Students are introduced to the concept of forest management by
creating a plan for their schoolyard. A card game and song highlight
some of the people involved in forest management.
Lesson 6 - I Can Be a Forest Steward
Students find out what it means to be a forest steward and make
decisions about good stewardship activities through an I-Spy picture
and board game.
Forestry Careers
Students learn about professionals in Wisconsin with
forestry-related careers, match jobs and duties, and draw themselves
in a career that interests them.
Field Enhancement 1 - I Can Be a Forester
Students get a taste of what foresters do by collecting and
discussing data.
Field Enhancement 2 - Observing Forest Interactions
Students explore living and nonliving forest features on a hike and
spend time observing and drawing parts of a forest.
Field Enhancement 3 - Forest Energy Scavenger Hunt
Students follow the flow of energy in a forest by going on a
scavenger hunt.
4th Grade Unit
Lesson 1 - Native Americans and the Forest
Students learn what Wisconsin forests were like before European
settlement and how Native Americans used the forests by reading the
journal of an early explorer.
Lesson 2 - Forests Built Our State
Students explore the importance of forests to early settlers and
learn how forests played a role in settling Wisconsin through a
mapping activity.
Lesson 3 - Help Wanted-Lumberjacks
Students examine the steps and people involved in an 1800s logging
process by following a tree from Northern Wisconsin to a house in
Iowa.
Lesson 4 - Broken Dreams
Students experience what it was like to farm in Wisconsin during the
"cutover" by role playing and studying letters, photographs, and
documents.
Lesson 5 - I Saw It on the 6 O'clock News
Students learn about 150 years of events in Wisconsin that have led
to the forests of today by participating in a live newscast.
Lesson 6 - Forests are Important to You and Me
Students discover reasons why Wisconsin forests are important to our
quality of life through guided imagery, brainstorming, and an
interactive media presentation.
Lesson 7 - Sustaining Our Forests
Students are introduced to the sustainability and stewardship of
forests by listening to a fable, brainstorming, reading situation
cards, and creating an art project.
Forestry Careers
Students learn about professionals in Wisconsin with
forestry-related careers, play career bingo to learn about skills
used in each profession, and describe and draw themselves in a
career.
Field Enhancement 1 - Unlocking a Forest's Past
Students uncover a forest's history by becoming detectives,
collecting data, and making predictions about a forest.
Field Enhancement 2 - Are Forests Important Today?
Students find out why forests are ecologically, economically, and
socially valuable by searching a forest and playing scavenger hunt
bingo.
Field Enhancement 3 - Caring for the Future of Forests
Students learn what a tree needs to grow, how to choose an
appropriate site, and how to properly plant a tree by putting one in
their schoolyard.
5th-6th Grades Unit
Lesson 1 - Me as a Tree
Students learn about a tree's functions, basic needs, life stages,
and role in the forest community by comparing trees and humans.
Lesson 2 - What Makes A Forest?
Students explore parts of forest ecosystems and forest layers
through an interactive game and discussion.
Lesson 3 - Forests are Always Changing
Students examine forest succession, disturbances, and renewability
by completing a sustainability worksheet and role-playing.
Lesson 4 - Ecosystem Extravaganza
Students are introduced to forest functions such as photosynthesis,
energy flow, and the cycling of matter through reading and creating
diagram. The role of producers, consumers, and decomposers in
forests are also examined.
Lesson 5 - We All Need Trees
Students learn about the values of forests and their impact on the
environment by categorizing values and writing and producing a
commercial.
Lesson 6 - Who Owns It?
Students observe how management goals of landowners impact forest
ecosystems by studying a plat map and answering questions. They also
learn about the roles individuals and groups play that affect forest
management.
Lesson 7 - What is Management?
Students discover what has happened in Wisconsin's history that led
us to modern forestry and about management techniques by creating a
timeline and reading a choose your own adventure story.
Lesson 8 - Whose Job Is It?
Students learn about stewardship and how their choices affect the
future of forests by participating in a mock town meeting.
Forestry Careers
Students become aware of careers that are forestry-related by
listening to descriptions of them and playing charades.
Field Enhancement 1 - Woods' Worth
Students make their own tree scale stick and use it to calculate the
number of products that can be made from individual trees. They also
go on a scavenger hunt to explore many ways that forests are
valuable.
Field Enhancement 2 - Studying Forest Layers
Students observe the structural layers of a forest and draw a
color-coded picture. They also embark on two exploration activities
to discover which animals can be found in each of the forest layers.
Field Enhancement 3 - Competition in a Forest
Students learn how trees compete for their basic needs through
observation and a simulation.
7th-8th Grades Unit
Lesson 1 - Discovering Wisconsin's Forests
Students are introduced to the types of forests in Wisconsin and
factors that affect their distribution through data comparison, a
mapping activity, and video research.
Lesson 2 - Biodiversity and the Forest Connection
Students analyze three ecosystems to determine their
interconnections and create a Venn diagram. They also discuss the
value of Wisconsins forests in terms of biodiversity.
Lesson 3 - How Forests Are Managed
Students explore forest management plans, multiple use, and
sustainability through a simulation, video, and game.
Lesson 4 - Forest Management Issues
Students examine forest management, factors that influence
decisions, effects, and conflicts through brainstorming, discussion,
and issue analysis.
Lesson 5 - Many Forests, Many Values, Many Reasons
Students assess forest values and discover how forests shape the
economy, environment, and society using games, story analysis, and
brainstorming.
Lesson 6 - Making Broader Connections
Students make connections between forests of Wisconsin and forests
worldwide and discuss challenges to Wisconsins forests by tracing
the life cycle of a product and playing Forest Jeopardy. They also
participate in a sustainability simulation to learn about demand.
Lesson 7 - Key Strategies For Our Future
Students learn how science, technology, and collaboration are key to
sustaining Wisconsin's forests by analyzing articles. They then make
predictions about the future by creating a Fantasy Future Forest.
Lesson 8 - Sustaining Our Forests-Citizens Role
Students discover how people in Wisconsin practice good forest
stewardship and debate their own choices through jigsaw readings and
dilemma cards.
Forestry Careers
Students learn about professionals in Wisconsin with
forestry-related careers and examine skills, education, and
experience necessary for each type of job.
Field Enhancement 1 - Tree Identification
Students are introduced to dichotomous keys and tree identification
vocabulary to identify common Wisconsin trees.
Field Enhancement 2 - Forest Mapping
Students work in groups to map features of a forest plot using data
collection, tree identification, measurement, and ageing.
Field Enhancement 3 - Forest Diversity
Students study and collect data on three components of diversity
that can be found in Wisconsin forests.
9th-12th
Grades Unit
Lesson 1 - The Forest Odyssey
Students learn about forest ecosystem functions and processes by
reading an Aldo Leopold essay, doing research, and creating an
original science-based essay as a class.
Lesson 2 - A History of Succession
Students explore how Wisconsin's forests have changed due to human
and natural influences through a teacher presentation, readings, and
a video. Current changes in Wisconsin's forests are discussed using
a Wisconsin Land Cover Map.
Lesson 3 - Forest Biodiversity: Tree Case Studies
Students study how Wisconsin's climate and natural history influence
forest biodiversity. They use case studies to develop insights into
the question, "What is a healthy level of forest biodiversity?" In
groups, they create an original poster and presentation.
Lesson 4 - The Forest Marketplace
Students identify factors that influence the supply of and demand
for forest resources using basic economic principles. Using veneer
as an example, students use graphs to describe markets in different
geographic regions and examine the relationship between Wisconsin's
forest resources and those of the rest of the world.
Lesson 5 - Forest Science and Technology
Students analyze the environmental impacts associated with wood,
concrete, and steel by creating life cycle analyses. They study the
role forest management, technology, and consumption play in
sustaining forests and develop proposals to reduce the environmental
impact of wood use.
Careers Exploration
Students learn about job opportunities in natural resource fields by
creating a resume from the education and experiences of college
students in Wisconsin.