Project Learning Tree

PLT's groundbreaking curriculum, the Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide, unveils a treasure trove of 50 hands-on, cross-disciplinary activities engineered to foster a profound connection between children and the natural world, while boosting their awareness and knowledge of their surroundings. Each activity boasts detailed, user-friendly instructions, academic alignments, time and material requisites, and accompanying student worksheets enriched with insights into green careers. This supplementary curriculum is thoughtfully crafted to nurture students' critical thinking and problem-solving acumen.

The Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide presents educators with a rich tapestry of captivating, hands-on experiences meticulously organized into grade bands: K-2, 3-5, and 6-8. Many activities offer flexible adaptations, ensuring they can be tailored to different grade levels and audiences.

Diverse topics covered in the guide encompass trees and forests, wildlife, water, air, energy, waste, climate change, invasive species, community planning, and more. These activities span the economic, ecological, and social dimensions of environmental issues, encouraging students to develop their capacity for independent thought, focusing on "how to think" rather than "what to think."

These activities are equally suitable for traditional classrooms and informal learning settings, with several tailored for exploration in urban environments. Most activities are designed to fit within one or two 50-minute instructional periods.

Designed with ease of use in mind, each activity comes replete with comprehensive information required for delivering the core lesson. This includes background knowledge, preparation guidelines, materials, time allocation, step-by-step instructions, student materials, assessment suggestions, and ideas for extending the lesson.

While outdoor observation and data collection are central to many lessons, there are options for both indoor and outdoor settings, offering versatile opportunities to "Take It Outside!" and expand students' learning experiences. Moreover, many activities encourage service-learning endeavors that connect students with their local community.

Project Learning Tree’s Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers (https://www.plt.org/curriculum/green-jobs-forest-careers/) unit includes four hands-on, NGSS aligned, instructional activities to help youth research forestry jobs, and practice managing and monitoring forest resources.

It is designed for educators, career and guidance counselors, Scouts, 4-H, and FFA leaders, foresters, and job training advisors to use with learners aged 12–25 in settings ranging from community youth programs and school classrooms, to college and career prep.

Treemendous Science! (https://www.plt.org/curriculum/e-unit/treemendous-science/) students will explore, experience, observe, and collect tree data to develop understandings about how trees grow, the roles trees play in ecological systems, and the ways in which trees and humans interact.  

Whether you regularly use the outdoors as a classroom or tend to hesitate every time you take your class outside, this unit is an invitation to increase the quantity and quality of your K-2 learners’ contact with nature and trees.  

Tailored for 3rd-5th grade educators, the Energy in Ecosystems e-unit embarks on a captivating exploration of the intricate connections between living organisms and their environments.

This immersive journey delves into the realm of forests, among the most extensive and complex ecosystems, to reveal the essential interactions that are fundamental to all ecosystems. By undertaking this voyage, students gain a profound appreciation for the natural systems that sustain us, cultivating a broader sense of empathy that encompasses the entirety of the natural world.

Key Features:

• Hands-On Activities: Foster students' enthusiasm for science by immersing them in hands-on activities that transform learning from passive memorization into an engaging and interactive experience.

• NGSS-Aligned: The e-unit's construction centers around the precise performance expectations established by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), ensuring that students receive a contemporary and rigorous education.

• Flexible Curriculum: Educators have the flexibility to utilize individual activities as standalone lessons or progress sequentially through all the e-unit's activities, adapting to their students' unique needs.

MAEOE offers a compelling hybrid training program that integrates this curriculum and its digital resources. With the added guidance of a trained facilitator, the professional development experience is transformed into a dynamic and enriching opportunity for growth.

When it comes to environmental issues, climate change stands out as a unique challenge for science educators. It demands not only the accurate presentation of data but also the exploration of underlying assumptions and the cultivation of critical-thinking skills.

Designed for 6th-8th grade teachers, Carbon & Climate (https://www.plt.org/carbon-climate-unit) provides activities and resources to help educators meet these challenges, introducing students to some of the complex issues involved in climate change.

Key Features:

• Hands-On Activities: Instead of rote memorization, these activities inspire students with interactive, hands-on experiences, making science exciting and accessible.

• Aligning with NGSS: The e-unit is thoughtfully structured around the specific performance expectations of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), ensuring a relevant and comprehensive learning experience.

• Flexible Curriculum: Educators can utilize the activities independently or progress through the entire e-unit seamlessly, adapting to their specific teaching needs.

MAEOE offers hybrid training opportunities that incorporate this curriculum along with its electronic resources. With the guidance of a trained facilitator, this approach to learning becomes truly dynamic, enhancing the educational experience.

Trees & Me: Activities for Exploring Nature with Young Children (https://www.plt.org/curriculum/preschool-learning-experiences-trees-nature/) is PLT’s latest resource for families and teachers of ages 1-6.

Trees & Me contains hundreds of ideas for fun, easy-to-do, hands-on experiences to connect young children to nature, with a focus on trees and forests. Through both outdoor and indoor activities, children explore nature through their senses, experience trees throughout all four seasons, and connect with their community.

Hands-On Learning Experiences

The 12 hands-on Trees & Me activities are designed for families and teachers to use with children ages 1–6 in a range of settings, including preschools, childcare centers, and nature centers, at home, or with families and friends spending time together. Special instructions tailor many experiences to children under 3 years of age.

Families and caregivers, childcare providers, and early childhood educators can easily adapt the activities as necessary to meet each child’s unique needs, the environment where they live, and the materials available.

Social and Academic Skills Development

Children learn concepts necessary to succeed in school, including age-appropriate literacy, math, and critical thinking skills. They make music, create things, and gain physical dexterity. They are empowered to work independently and in groups. Through dramatic play and skill practice, they explore careers which plants ideas for a child’s future.

What’s more, research indicates that early exposure to nature and the outdoors improves emotional and physical well-being, enhances learning, promotes positive social behavior, and makes children more likely to care about their environment throughout their lives.