RESOURCES FOR TEachers

Elementary Level Pre & Post Activities

Pre
1. Vocabulary List
Biome
Canopy
Carbon Footprint
Climate
Conservation
Deciduous
Evergreen
Forest Layers
   Forest Floor
   Under story
   Canopy
   Emergent Layer
Photosynthesis
Producers
Download a Pdf of the vocabulary list here

2. Plants & Oxygen: Breathing Easy Experiment Lesson Plan
http://reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/
agesubject/lessons/tnrcc/breathingeasylesson.html

3. Nature Journal: Have your students spend 5 quiet minutes at a special place outside once a month, once a week or even once a day.  Ask the students to sketch, sit quietly and reflect or explore the special place during this time.  At the end of each 5 minute session, students should write a brief journal entry that includes the date, weather and any observations they wish to record. In the end, students will have a record of changes that happen in this particular spot over the course of time and will hopefully see a pattern of seasonal changes.

4. Plant Life Cycle Activities
• Sprout seeds and observe how they change
• Dissect a seed or flower
•  Build a small worm bin for your classroom to learn about decomposition and plant decay

Post
           
1. Calculate your Carbon Footprint at http://www.zerofootprintkids.com/

2. Spread the word about Forest Conservations
*T-Shirt design contest: Hold a T-Shirt design contest at your school.  Students will use their artistic skills to design a t-shirt that will teach others the importance of forest conservation and promote awareness of conservation within the school and surrounding community.

*School Posters:Create an poster to display in your school that will help inform other students about their carbon footprint, forest conservation or other relevant topics.

3. Plan an Earth Day event at your school and plant some trees!  Visit http://www.update2010.org/index.php to register your school as an official Green Columbus Earth Day worksite and be one of the 10,000 participants at this year’s event!

4. Facingthefuture.org is a great resource for teachers to find lesson plans on environmental sustainability and global issues.

LINKS TO CARBON FOOTPRINT CALCULATORS

These calculators are recommended because they generate results in terms
of annual carbon emissions, which allows for comparison to the annual carbon
uptake by forests or other vegetation.

For younger children
http://www.zerofootprintkids.com

For older children
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/calc/

For adults
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html

LINKS TO MATERIAL ON FORESTS & THE CARBON CYCLE

EPA Kids – interactive web movie about the carbon cycle
http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/carbon_cycle_version2.html

NASA carbon cycle website
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/CarbonCycle/
carbon_cycle4.php

US Forest Service – Forests and Carbon
http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/carbon/

Woods Hole Resource Center
http://www.whrc.org/carbon/index.htm

TeachEngineering – carbon cycle and technology
http://teachengineering.com/view_lesson.php?url=
http://www.teachengineering.com
/collection/cub_/lessons/cub_carbon/cub_carbon_lesson01.xml