Learning About Forests

Languages

Introduction

Maths

Languages

Natural

Sciences

General

Vertical Poems
Children write poems about trees in a special format. (Kindergarten - Grade 2)

Solitaire
An enjoyable activity which allows pupils to absorb and appreciate their surroundings. (Primary school, but can be adapted for older pupils)

An International Exchange Project
A project combining international contact and cultural exchange with experiences in forests and second language acquisition. Classes share information and experiences by giving each other assignments on local forests. (9-12 years old)

Points of View
Explore how different people and creatures may see the forest. (Adapt for any age)

Word Search
Find things in a word pile of forest soil. (Primary school)

Vertical Poems

From: Denmark, Skoven i Skolen
Grade: Kindergarten to Grade 2.

Purpose

The pupils should learn how to write a poem
The pupils should work creatively with language via their experiences during play. They can experiment with words, language and texts.
The pupils work with the aesthetic aspects of language, for example, with rhymes, rhythms, word-games and symbols
The pupils can submerge themselves in the task of describing a tree.

Preparation
You should find a place in a forest, where there are different species of trees.

Things to bring

Paper and pens
Something to sit on if the forest bed is wet (such as a plastic bag stuffed with a newspaper)

How long should this activity take?
Approximately two hours in the forest and two lessons in the classroom.

How to do it
You'll start by practising vertical poems in the classroom. As an example you could make a poem about your pencil, by finding words that start with each letter in the word PENCIL.

P    (Please do)
E    (Enjoy)
N    (Nature�s own)
C    (Classroom)
I     (It makes)
L     (Learning fun)

In this way you can make simple poems about anything, and it will teach children to play with language.

By now you should be ready for a trip to the forest - preferably to a place with different species of trees. You could start by making a poem about a tree together with all the pupils, but later on each of you should find your own tree, for which you will then invent a name! The normal names of trees (like oak or spruce) are quite short, so you can invent you own nickname for your favourite tree. If you find an old and bent oak tree draped in vines you could call it "Treebeard", and then make a poem like:

Depending on the maturity and age of the pupils, you can let them find their own tree or you could select one for them. The pupils can work in pairs or alone. When the pupils have finished their poems, they will gather at the place where you started the activity. You should then select a partner for each pupil, and send both of them back to their trees to read their poems to each other.

Some teachers like all pupils to read their poems to the others in the classroom. An alternative is to make them read their poems in smaller groups. In the end you could then ask the pupils to choose the ones which should be read to everybody. Usually a couple of pupils will have some good examples. It can be a great relief not to have to read a truly horrible poem to a large forum, and the poem will usually not improve by being read to the whole class.

The poems can be improved by a drawing of the tree and by writing the real name of the tree. The poems and the drawings can then be made into an exhibition back at the school.

Background
For many people it is easier to get going with writing poems if somebody sets a task for you. This educational exercise is constructed as a task where you will use the name of the tree as a vertical guideline. But there is also room for improvisation, and you don't have to follow set traditions of making poems.

Much of our view and understanding of nature is influenced by the songs and poems that we sang and heard as children. By letting the pupils express their understanding and impression of nature in poems, you have a greater chance of making these impressions last in the minds of the pupils. This exercise can make children, and adults, appreciate many aspects of nature that we do not normally notice.

Solitaire

From: South Africa, Share-Net
Grade: Primary school (but can be adapted for older pupils).

This is an enjoyable activity that allows pupils to absorb and appreciate their surroundings. Let each child find a quiet spot and let them sit quietly without speaking for 10 minutes. They need to look and listen carefully and then write down as many words as they can to best describe their patch in the forest. For very young pupils you could provide a 'word bank' with some suitable vocabulary. Older pupils can simply draw on their own vocabulary. This can also be an enjoyable way of teaching a second language. To guide the writing you could suggest they focus on
Colours, Sounds, Forest Secrets, My Feelings. You could copy and hand out a page such as the one below.

An International Exchange Project

From: Denmark, Skoven i Skolen
(Malene Bendix & Sten Moslund)
Grade: 9-12 years old

Purpose
In brief, the project combines international contact and cultural exchange with experiences in forests and second language acquisition. The purposes of this project are to exploit the opportunities of modern communication to develop friendly and inspiring contacts between pupils of different countries and cultures. The forest is the thematic focal point of the exchange and the classes share information and experiences by giving each other assignments on local forests. If English is the medium of communication the project can be particularly useful for language acquisition of pupils with English as their second language.

The purposes of this project are to encourage pupils to
� Appreciate and value natural environments,
� Share their knowledge and experiences with children from other countries � and to establish positive cross-border relations,
� Increase their knowledge about forests and environments in other countries,
� Take part in the internationalisation of the world which is becoming an increasingly significant fact of their future and everyday lives, and
� (For pupils with English as their second languages) expand their English vocabulary and gain proficiency by using the language in practical situations.

Preparation
First you will need to find a foreign class interested in starting an exchange project and which is about the same age-level as yours.

You can find interested teachers and schools by contacting the international Learning About Forests coordinator e-mail kwa@friluftsraadet.dk. Or you can contact your national Learning Abotu Forests co-ordinator.

When you have established a contact with another teacher, discuss ideas for the exchange - themes and tasks you imagine the exchange project should include, by what means the pupils should communicate, the duration of the project, and so on. The notes that follow provide frameworks and ideas which might inspire you and your foreign partner. You can use the recommendations as you please to shape your own exchange project. There is also a Danish version of the project suggestions at Skoven i Skolen.

Before you and your partner start shaping the contents of the project, it is important to find out what technical options you have. Do both schools have computers and Internet or do you have to communicate through ordinary mail? Do both classes have access to photo and video equipment and will you be able to e-mail photos and recordings?

Make timetables for the various parts of the exchange in order that the exchange will run smoothly for both classes. Your timetables also depend on your technical options.

What Do You Need
� A foreign partner
� Computers and access to the Internet (preferably)
� Possibly cameras, video and tape recorders
� Possibly forest notebooks for the pupils (there are ideas for forest notebooks, in Danish, at Skovnotesbog)

How Long Does the Project Take?
The duration of the project is really up to the two teachers as you are the ones who decide how extensive the exchange should be � exchanges can last for months and years. For a minimum you need 7-8 hours: 2 hours for the preparation and the presentation of the classes, 1 hour for your pupils to get to know the foreign class, 1 or 2 hours in the forest, 3 hours for handling the information you gather in the forest and exchanging it with the foreign class.

This Is How And What You Do
When you have established a contact with a foreign teacher and you have discussed and negotiated the frameworks and timetables of the exchange, you go on to the actual exchange between the two classes. First the two classes have to get to know each other. Each class presents itself to the other.

Advice: if you are working with very young classes, it is an excellent idea to ask older classes to be your pupils� technical consultants at the computers and language consultants � if your pupils are not first-language English speakers.

Step 1: Presentation
It is important that the classes get to know each other well. The better the pupils know each other, the more engaged they will be with the project. Both teachers start the project by asking their pupils to prepare a presentation of themselves and their class.

The extent of presentation itself varies. You could include the following information:
� A brief description of your country
� A brief description of your city or town
� A brief description of your school
� A detailed description of your class
� A description of each student and the teacher

Before you make the presentation you have to decide how you want to present yourselves. Is the class to be speaking, describing the individual pupils or should each pupil describe themselves or one of their classmates? Is the class to be divided into groups each with the task of describing your country, town, school, etc.?

You also have to decide whether you want to supply your presentation with other elements than written texts. Do you want to send drawings and photos? Do you prefer to record the presentation on video or audiotape - or do you want to mix all these alternatives? The benefit of choosing other means than the written text is, for speakers of English as their second language, that you get your pupils to speak English. In order to enhance this purpose of the project, the class can make it a rule that they only speak in English when they are working on the project.

It is not necessary that the two classes present themselves in the same way. You only have to consider the difference between the two classes in technical capacity, so that you don�t send videotapes to a class with no VCR.

Before you send anything off to the other class, you need e-mail addresses. Decide whether you want to make an address for the class as a whole or whether each group in the class � or each pupil � get their own e-mail address. You can also consider if you want to create a common web-site for the two classes � or a web-site for each class.

Step 2: The Forest as Your Topic
The central topic of the exchange project is the forest and the two classes have to give each other assignments on forests and wood, in order that both classes learn about forests both in their own country and in the foreign country. Each class solves the assignments by gathering information and answers in the forest, at the library, on the Internet, etc.

You could get ideas from the Themes section of this website.

However, it is recommendable that the particular assignments relate to an overall theme of the exchange. Accordingly, a fine start is to make an introductory assignment, which shapes an overall perspective for the succeeding tasks.

The smaller tasks can start when you have specified the overall perspective.

Here are three examples of assignments that introduce overall themes. Ideas for further assignments have been included at the end of the theme:
1. Forest and Ecology
2) Forest, Society, Economy
3) Forest and Culture

Suggested Theme 1: Forest and Ecology
Refer also to the theme on 'Forests in Our Country' on this website.
Assignment: Describe a forest in your country.
Questions to get you started:
� What does an ordinary forest in your country look like?
� What animals are in the forest?
� What trees and plants?
� Are there any animals or plant in the forest which are unique to your country?
� How do you take care of forests in your country? How do you protect the forest from environmental damage and how are the animals protected?

You can split the class into groups and let each group provide different kinds of information. For example, different groups could take investigate:
� Trees
� Predators
� Herbivores
� Decomposers
� Flowers and plants
� Food chains
� Ecological cycles
� Types of forest
Use drawings, poems, written texts in English, photos with texts, etc. to describe your forest to the other class.

Carry out research tasks on the Internet (you can use the Learning About Forests links for ideas), the library and make trips to forests to get inspired.

When each class has received the other class�s answer to the assignment, the exchange can continue based on questions that arise when classes read each other�s assignments.

A lot of questions may arise spontaneously with regard to the animals and forests of the other country. The amount of work it takes to answer these questions depends on how much the pupils already know about their country�s forests. However, spontaneous questions are excellent for keeping a steady flow in the exchange of information and experiences.

Suggested Theme 2: Forest, Society and Economy
Assignment: How important is the role of forests in your national economy?
Questions to get you started:
� What percentage of your country is covered by forest?
� How are forests important in your country? Forestry, Tree and wood industries, jobs, leisure, nature, ecology, environment� etc.
� How many people are employed in forests?
� Do you know anybody who works in a forest?
� What do they do?
� What products do you use which come from the forest?
� What kind of forest products are exported to other countries?
� Is there a tourist industry in your forests?
� How do you take care of forests in your country? How do you protect the forest from environmental damage and how are the animals protected?

Do your research on the Internet, in the library, in the forest and at wood factories, etc. You can start your research using the Learning About Forests links. Scandinavian pupils may also want to visit Skoven i Skolen�s Leksikon.

Suggested Theme 3: Forest and Culture
Assignment: Do you have any stories, fairytales, myths about forests in your country which are very important in your culture?

Tell the story to the other class. You can write it, tape it or videotape it.

Your interpretation of the story may show in the way you choose to tell the story and in the illustrations you choose to make. There are several ways of telling and illustrating the story:
� The class tells and interprets the story with their own illustrations (you can take photos of yourselves dressed as the animals and characters in the story with beautiful background scenes or you can make your own drawings and paintings). Send the illustrations with the story and write a bit about the significance or popularity of the story in your country and a bit about the story�s message.
� Tell the story to the other class and let it illustrate the story. The culture of the recipient will affect its understanding of the story. The results can be very surprising and inspiring. Afterwards you can exchange your different understandings of the story.
� A third way is to start out with the illustrations of a story. One class chooses a story and sends only its illustrations of the story to the other class (photos or drawings). Now the other class has to write the text to the illustrations. Afterwards the two classes compare the new text with the original story.

There is a large collection of myths about forests from all over the world on this website, but you can also start your own story hunt.

Exchanging games and plays in the forest or starting rambling travelling stories are other ideas you may consider.

Suggestions for Further Reading
The Global Guestteacher. Edited by Patricia Brander and published by AFS Interkultur, Denmark: 1999.

Points of View

From: South Africa, Share-Net
Grade: The activity can be adapted for any age.

It is important to learn that people will have different points of view. These will be affected by their situations and their attitudes.

Look at the following list and discuss how each person would see a forest:

an industrialist who wants to build a sawmill in the forest;
an escaped prisoner hiding in the forest;
a forester who makes a living cutting down trees;
a conservationist who is looking after the forest;
a school child like yourself.

Add any others you can think of to the list.

Also consider how these creatures might use a forest:

a bird;
an insect;
a squirrel;
a deer.

These points could be discussed or written depending on which skills need to be developed. You could also consider doing this activity in a second language to encourage learning.

Word Search

From: Share-Net, South Africa
Grade: Primary School.

A good forest soil consists of many different components including countless small creatures who have made it their home. Let children "dig" through the "topsoil" or pile of words below to try to find as many things as possible that make up a good forest topsoil. Words run across or down and the answers can be found below.

Answers:

Animals		Other material
Termite	Earthworm	Twigs	Petal
Centipede	Snails	Bark	Leaves
Ants	Spiders	Air	Water
Beetles	Millipede	Sand	Seeds
Woodlice		Hair	Droppings
		Roots