Celebrating Arbor Day in your Classroom

This traditional national holiday was the idea of J. Sterling Morton and is celebrated in all 50 states. Like The Morton Arboretum, this holiday promotes the planting and protecting of trees. Communities often celebrate this holiday by planting trees with school children. Listed below are resources to help you celebrate Arbor Day in your classroom and teach your students about the importance of trees and conservation. (Note: Illinois celebrates Arbor Day on the last Friday in April.)

• Description & History of Arbor Day - A holiday started by J. Sterling Morton, father of Joy Morton (founder of The Morton Arboretum.)

• Games, activities and information for younger grades wanting to celebrate Arbor Day. Developed by staff at The Morton Arboretum.
  The Story of Arbor Day (how J. Sterling Morton founded Arbor Day)
  One Tree, Many Homes (drawing activity)
  Break the Tree Code (coding activity)
  Know Your Tree (labeling activity)
  One Tree, Many Thoughts (writing activity)
  One Tree, One Child (reading tree rings)
  Know Your Oaks (a song)
  Trees Help Us (math activity)
  Tree Jokes (for a good laugh!)
  How Many Leaf Shapes Can I Find? (sorting activity)
  Leaf Rubbing (art activity)
  What We Get From Trees Scavenger Hunt (outdoor scavenger hunt)
  Why Plant Trees? (good reasons to plant trees)
  
  

• Plant Trees!
  How to Germinate Tree Seeds
  How to Plant a Seedling
  How to Plant a Tree

  Find the Age of a Tree - Use this chart from John Dwyer, a researcher at The Morton Arboretum, to determine the age of one or more trees. You will need a diameter tape (see following link).
  Make your own diameter tape - instruction from the University of Florida School for Forest Resources & Conservation. (Can also be used to determine how much lumber you can get from a tree.)

• More Links:
  Arbor Day Foundation's website provides lots of resources to celebrate Arbor Day including:
  • games and videos for youth and educators
  • information about their annual Arbor Day poster contest

A Teacher's Guide to Arbor Month from the Minnesota Arbor Month Partnership.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT TREES AND THEIR BENEFITS

• Urban Forestry Lab Exercises - developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service for elementary, middle, and high school students. One of our researchers, Gary Watson, was on the development team!

• TreeLink - established in 1996 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Urban Forestry program to serve as a national urban forestry hub.

• Conservation Education - NEW website developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.

• Treetures characters activities developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, American Forests, America the Beautiful Fund, United Nations Environment Programme, and Davey Tree Expert Company.

• Soil Education - website developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Services

• Environmental Education - website developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

• The Illinois Department of Natural Resources offers hundreds of brochures, fact sheets, guides, and reports designed to inform citizens, educators, and business people about Illinois' natural resources. Most of the publications are free of charge and may be ordered.

• The Michigan Forests Forever online Teachers Guide is good source for teachers wanting to teach about trees. The site is sponsored by Michigan State University Extension, the Michigan Forest Resource Alliance, and the Michigan Forest Association.

• The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has coloring pages about leaves.

• Products from Trees - detailed information from the Arkansas Forestry Commission about the wide variety of everyday products trees provide for us.

• Foods from trees and shrubs - basic list of some of the many foods trees and shrubs provide for us.

• SimRoot - root architecture modeling tool for root research from Penn State University. Includes short, interesting movies showing how roots grow.

• Make Paper! - instructions to make your own paper from the Wisconsin Paper Council.

• Use this free, online National Tree Benefit Calculator provided by the Davey Tree Expert Company to calculate the economic and environmental benefits of a specific tree.

• The Morton Arboretum is a partner in National Environmental Education Week. Visit www.eeweek.org for more information and resources for classrooms.