"Forests Are Renewable Resources" Lesson Plan

Keywords: renewable, nonrenewable, resources
Prepared by: Patricia Wagner, fifth grade teacher, Our Lady of Victory School, State College, Pa.
Lesson Plan Grade Level: fifth grade
Total Time Required for Lesson: 40 minutes
Setting: classroom or science room
Subjects Covered: science (forestry)
Topics: forestry, renewable resources, uses of wood, conservation

Goals for the Lesson

• Students will identify nonrenewable and renewable resources in PA.
• Students will identify forests and wood products as renewable.
• Students will list forest or wood products from around the house or school.

Materials Needed (for six small groups)

• paper
• pencil
• chart paper

State Standards Addressed: (4.2) Environment and Ecology Standards: Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources

Methods

1. Introduce the ideas of nonrenewable and renewable resources, reviewing what a natural resource is first. List examples of the two types together as a class.
2. Have students take 5 minutes to look around the room and out the window, and think about home. Have each write a list of products that come from a renewable resource: trees or forests. In groups, compare lists, make a master list, and then report on it to the class and make a class list. Some examples of wood or partial wood products they might not know or think of are cellophane, erasers, racecar tires, cattle feed additives, newspaper, ceramic vases, ceiling tiles, paint resins, magazines, ping pong paddles, ice cream, salad dressing, rayon, toothbrushes, toothpaste, photo film and slides, steering wheels, linoleum. (Georgia-Pacific Corporation has pamphlets available, check the Web at www.gp.com/EducationalinNature.)
3. Use facts such as "each American uses enough wood products per year to make a tree 100 feet high, 16 inches in diameter" to illustrate how each person needs to be concerned about renewing forests. See the first "Evaluation" bullet point for further activities.
4. Another fact to share is that PA's harvested trees are used for lumber: 70%, paper products: 25%, and 5% for other things like veneer, baseball bats, and so forth. Bark is used for mulch and sawdust is used for animal bedding and particleboard, so none of a harvested tree is wasted.
   

Evaluation

1. Review the fact that "each American uses enough wood products per year to make a tree 100 feet high, 16 inches in diameter." Have students use this as a jump-off point for an assignment figuring the number of trees needed for your lifetime, where they live, and at 125 or so mature trees per acre, how many acres you would need for your group or the class or the school or family.
2. Students should be able to easily list ten or more items made from trees or forests, and at least two that are not just pure wood.
3. Students can identify forests and trees as renewable resources, and also can give an example of a nonrenewable resource.
   

References

Forests: From the Forest, the Products We Get from Trees. (1999). Georgia-Pacific Corporation.

Hansen, Robert S. (1996). Trees + Me = Forestry. University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University.

Hansen, Robert S., Sanford Smith, and James Finley (1992). Advancing in Forestry. University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University.

Smith, Sanford, Roy Adams, and Anni Davenport (2000). From the Woods: Hardwood Lumber. University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University.

Smith, Sanford, James Finley, Shelby Chunko, Stephen Jones, and Ellen O'Donnell (1999). Forest Stewardship No. 3: Teaching Youth about Forest Stewardship. University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University.