Finding my Forest: new conservation curriculum

Hey Teachers, Educators and Students!

Check out this free new resource from the US Forest Service and the Ad Council. These organizations collaborated to create a conservation curriculum that inspires students to get outside. Focused on grades 3-8, this project encourages a new understanding and redefinition of “forests,” ranging from their schoolyard outside to national forests around the country. For teachers, it offers a way to make our natural spaces relevant to students. This curriculum addresses the problems of living in a modern world where the importance of a connection to the natural world are overlooked as fundamental to the human experience. The US Forest Service and Ad Council responded to these problems by not only creating an interactive online curriculum to help teach about forests, but to also offer advice and lesson plans that take kids outside.

Looking around this site, you can find an interactive map that helps you find forests located near you to walk, bike, hike, fish and camp. A whole section of the website is also dedicated to games and activities students and educators can play while in forest or parks. Time spent in natural spaces has been proven to help children succeed by reducing stress, improving concentration, increasing academic engagement and achievement. This is an important new resource that encourages growth in students and makes it easy for teachers and educators to take students out of the classroom but to still meet national standards and requirements.