Teacher Resources: bringing nature into the classroom.
National Public Lands Day encourages classrooms to get involved.
Register a site or locate an event near you.
Curriculum Ideas
If Trees Could Talk: A wealth of information on trees and accompanying lesson plans.
The Wild Ones Teacher Connection: Great outdoor exercises for your class.
What Shapes Trees? A game that permits students to make connections between plants and their surrounding environment.
EE Week's Forestry Curricula: Environmental lesson plans assorted by grade level.
Reading Materials
Ages 4-8
A Tree is Nice
Janice May Udry (Author) and Marc Simont (Illustrator)
ISBN # 978-0060261552
From the Publisher: Trees are beautiful. They fill up the sky. If you have a tree, you can climb up its trunk, roll in its leaves, or hang a swing from one of its limbs. Cows and babies can nap in the shade of a tree. Birds can make nests in the branches. A tree is good to have around. A tree is nice.
The Giving Tree
Shel Silverstein
ISBN # 9780060256654
From the Publisher: ‘Once there was a tree…and she loved a little boy.’ So begins the story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein….This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting Interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another’s capacity to love in return.
The Great Kapok Tree
By Lynne Cherry
ISBN: 015200520X
From the Publisher: Exhausted from his labors, a man chopping down a great kapok tree in the Brazilian rain forest puts down his ax, and, as he sleeps, the animals who live in the tree plead with him not to destroy their world.
The Life Cycle of a Tree
Bobbie Kalman and Kathryn Smithyman
ISBN # 9780778706892
From the Publisher: The Life Cycle of a Tree follows the growth of a tree from the time it sprouts to the time it is mature and capable of producing new seeds. The complex lives of these everyday plants will startle and delight young readers.
Tell Me, Tree: All About Trees for Kids
Gail Gibbons
ISBN # 9780316309035
From the Publisher: “Gail Gibbons offers a bright and lively introduction to the world of trees…This is one of those books that takes a commonplace subject and makes it fascinating.” -Orlando Sentinel
Grades K-3
Someday a Tree
Eve Bunting (Author) and Ronald Himler (Illustrator)
ISBN # 9780395613092
From the Publisher: Alice is dismayed when one day the leaves on the old oak tree start to fall. Although she can’t save the tree, Alice remembers something that gives her hope: the acorns she collected when the tree was still healthy.
Grades 4-7
The Bee Tree
Stephen Buchmann / Diana Cohn (Authors), Paul Mirocha (Illustrator)
ISBN: 0938317989
From the Publisher: The Bee Tree is a picture book that tells the magical story of a honey hunt in the dense rainforest of Malaysia. The story is narrated by Nizam, a young boy whose grandfather Pak Teh is the leader of the honey hunting clan, the one who has the honor of climbing up the 120-foot tualang tree in the annual honey hunt. But Pak Teh is getting older and is now ready to prepare someone to take his place. He believes that Nizam is the one.
This Land Is Your Land: The American Conservation Movement
Sylvia Whitman
ISBN # 9780822517290
From the Publisher: The story of American conservation began nearly a hundred years before the first Earth Day in 1970….In This Land Is Your Land, you’ll read about the conservation movement in the US—from Teddy Roosevelt’s western adventures to the founding of the Girl Scouts and the 1960s back-to-the-land movement. Songs, sayings, journal entries, and breathtaking photographs capture the American landscape—and the people’s efforts to save it.
Teen and Adult
National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees—Eastern Region
National Audubon Society
ISBN # 9780394507606
From the Publisher: Tree peepers everywhere will enjoy these two guides which explore the incredible environment of our country’s forests—including seasonal features, habitat, range, and lore. Nearly 700 species of trees are detailed in photographs of leaf shape, bark, flowers, fruit, and fall leaves—all can be quickly accessed making this the ideal field guide for any time of year.
Note: The Eastern Edition generally covers states east of the Rocky Mountains
National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees—Western Region
National Audubon Society (ISBN # 9780394507613)
From the Publisher: All 933 identification pictures are full-color photos of significant details of virtually all native trees and many cultivated species as you see them in their natural habitat.
The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter
Colin Tudge
ISBN # 9780307395399
From the Publisher: From tiny saplings to centuries-old redwoods and desert palms, from the backyards of the American heartland to the rain forests of the Amazon and the bamboo forests, Colin Tudge takes the reader on a journey through history and illuminates our ever-present but often ignored companions. A blend of history, science, philosophy, and environmentalism, The Tree is an engaging and elegant look at the life of the tree and what modern research tells us about their future.
The Urban Tree Book: An Uncommon Field Guide for City and Town
Arthur Plotnik
ISBN # 9780812931037
From the Publisher: The Urban Tree Book will inform even the most knowledgeable plant person and delight urbanites who simply enjoy strolling beneath the shade of welcoming trees. An engaging excursion into the “urban forest,” this complete guide to city trees will both entertain and enlighten nature lovers, urban hikers, gardeners, and everyone curious about their environment.
Nature’s New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement
Neil M. Maher
ISBN # 9780195306019
From the Publisher: From the colorful life at CCC camps, to political discussions in the White House and the philosophical debates dating back to John Muir and Frederick Law Olmstead,Nature’s New Deal captures a key moment in the emergence of modern environmentalism.