LESSON PLAN 2. Key Terms and Concepts. animal habitat bad fire campfire. Purposes. Objectives

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1 and Wildland Fire Prevention Wildland fires are a natural process, but there are two sides to wildland fires. They can threaten lives and destroy property and natural resources, but they can also renew wildlands and forests and help them survive. Key Terms and Concepts animal habitat bad fire campfire forest products habitat healthy forest good fire no fires recreation Purposes To help students understand the importance of the forest and how they can help prevent wildland fires To impart an understanding to students that wildland fire can be good for the forest Objectives The students will Create a mind map to illustrate the importance of the forest. Survey their homes to see how many different things they can find that come from the forest. (Home Connection) Use magazines to find pictures of forest products to create an ongoing class bulletin board to illustrate what the students found in their surveys of forest products. (Home Connection) Create a bar graph of forest products found in the home. (Linking Across the Curriculum) Compare animal habitats in the forest with those of people living in the wildland/urban interface, including pros, cons and special precautions. (Linking Across the Curriculum) Read and discuss age-appropriate literature about trees and forests. (Linking Across the Curriculum) Use If the Forest Could Talk with role plays to understand why wildland fire can be good for the forest. Discuss how the causes and results of wildland fires have changed as more people frequent our forests and move closer to them. (Linking Across the Curriculum) Read A Tree in a Forest by Caroline Arnold and Jan Thornhill to help understand the many ways the forest is important and ever changing. (Linking Across the Curriculum) Masters of Disaster, and Wildland Fire Prevention, Lesson Plan 2/ 1

2 Visit the Smokey Bear Web site to learn more about wildland fires and firefighting. (Linking Across the Curriculum) Activities You and the Forest Good Fires in the Forest Masters of Disaster, and Wildland Fire Prevention, Lesson Plan 2/ 2

3 You and the Forest SET UP 5 minutes CONDUCT one 30-minute session Science: Life Science; Language Arts: Oral Communication 1. Write the word forest in the center of the chalkboard or on a large piece of chart paper. Ask the students to tell you what they think about when they hear the word forest. As the students call out their ideas, write them around the word. TEACHING NOTE Remember, in a brainstorming session for a mind map, no answer is incorrect. When the students begin to classify their answers, those that do not fit will be left out. Materials Chalkboard and colored chalk or chart paper and colored markers Magazine pictures of forest products (Home Connection) 2. When the students are finished brainstorming, ask them how some of their ideas are connected animals that live in the forest, forest products, things you do in the forest, where the forest is located, etc. Assign a different color for each category suggested by the class. Using the color for the category, circle words within the category or draw lines from among the connected ideas. For example: Bears Things to do in the Forest Hiking Grocery bags Forest Products The Gift of the Tree by Alvin Tresselt (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1992) or The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (HarperCollins, 2005) (Linking Across the Curriculum) Animal Habitats Wood to build houses Termites Eagles FOREST Musical instruments Bird watching Wrap-Up Based on the words and ideas generated by the students, talk about what would be different if our forests were lost to wildland fires. Ask the students to consider things based on their senses. What would they no longer see, hear, feel, taste or smell? (Answers will vary, but could include We would no longer see tall trees reaching to the sky, birds flying from tree branch to tree branch, new paper in our notebooks or newspaper comics. We would no longer hear birds chirping in the trees, squirrels skittering through the dry leaves or the sound of turning pages in brand new books. When we go on hikes, we wouldn t feel the bark of the trees or the pine straw beneath our feet. We would no longer taste the wild Masters of Disaster, and Wildland Fire Prevention, Lesson Plan 2/ 3

4 berries that grow in the forest, the maple syrup that runs from the trees or the medicines that come from forest plants. There would be no scents of pine sap, wet leaves or campfires.) Make sure students refer to all five senses as they discuss wildland fires. Home Connection Have the students take surveys of their homes to see how many different things they can find that come from the forest; the students could also use magazines to find pictures of forest products. Create an ongoing class bulletin board with pictures and labels, as appropriate, to illustrate what the students found in their surveys of forest products. Linking Across the Curriculum Mathematics: Graphing Use the students surveys to create a bar graph of forest products found in the home. Social Studies: Population For older students, use the idea of an animal habitat within the forest to introduce the concept of people living in the wildland/urban interface. Have the students create a class list of benefits and drawbacks of life in the wildlands and discuss the special precautions necessary to live there safely. Language Arts: Reading There are many books to help young students understand the importance of trees. The Gift of the Tree by Alvin Tresselt is a classic story of the role of an oak tree in the cycle of nature. Even as the tree dies, it returns to the earth and provides nourishment for new life all around it. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein shows the many things we gain from trees. Although the lesson taught is open for interpretation, it can show how greed, and asking for and taking too much, can destroy what you love. Masters of Disaster, and Wildland Fire Prevention, Lesson Plan 2/ 4

5 Good Fires in the Forest SET UP 5 minutes CONDUCT one 20-minute session Science: Ecology; Language Arts: Reading and Role Playing 1. Review the concept of good fires and bad fires. Have the students consider the helpful ways fire is used. (Cooking, lighting birthday candles, getting warm by the fireplace.) What could make these fires harmful? (If the flame from the stove made the curtains catch fire; if a lighted birthday candle fell onto a paper tablecloth and no one noticed; if there was no screen on the fireplace and a spark flew onto a pillow too close to the fire.) 2. Now, ask the students whether they think that wildland fires can be good or bad. Distribute copies of If the Forest Could Talk for guided reading. You and your students can take the roles of the forest characters. Materials If the Forest Could Talk, 1 copy per student TEACHING NOTE Understanding the following vocabulary words will improve the students reading comprehension of the activity sheet. Help students define these words before reading the activity sheet. great blue heron Jack pine redwood tree sprout huckleberries Kirkland s warbler sapling A Tree in a Forest by Caroline Arnold and Jan Thornhill (Maple Tree Press, 1991) 3. Have the students act out what each forest character says. For example, the little pine tree may smile and stretch toward the sun in a healthy forest or shrivel and die when crowded in by bigger trees or during a drought. Wrap-Up Based on the class role play, have the students write a list of reasons wildland fires are helpful to the forest. Discuss with the children the ways these fires could become harmful. (If they become so large that they burn out of control and damage homes and towns; destroy animal habitats; or cause erosion that destroys human habitat.) How can humans control damage from wildland fires? (Firefighters put out fires or contain them in a small area; we can keep the areas around our homes clear of fuel to prevent fires from burning them.) Linking Across the Curriculum Social Studies: Population Fire has always been part of the natural cycle for forest growth. In the past, fires started by lightning kept forests healthy. As more people use our forests and move closer to them, the causes and results of wildland fires have changed; discuss these changes with the class. Is a home close to the forest a safe habitat for people? Why or why not? What can people do to make it safer? Masters of Disaster, and Wildland Fire Prevention, Lesson Plan 2/ 5

6 Language Arts: Reading; Science: Ecology A Tree in a Forest by Caroline Arnold and Jan Thornhill begins with one maple seed fluttering onto a rotting log and ends more than 200 years later when the tree becomes a rotting log itself. Following this cycle helps the students understand the many ways the forest is important and ever changing. Science: Technology For over 50 years, Smokey Bear has helped all of us learn more about wildland fires and how to prevent them. You and your students can access Smokey s site at to find interactive games, wildland fire stories, firefighting information and resources. Masters of Disaster, and Wildland Fire Prevention, Lesson Plan 2/ 6

7 If the Forest Could Talk Page 1 of 2 Name Directions: Read what each forest character says about living in the wildlands. If bigger trees grow around me, they block my light and use my water. Then, I grow weak and can die. If a fire burns my forest, the bigger trees will be gone and I can grow back quickly. Kirkland s warbler I will build my nest only in a young jack pine. Jack pines can grow only after there has been a fire. Pine tree I wait until there is a fire. Then, I crack open and my seeds can sprout. Only a fire can make me open. It is so hard to get any sun down here. I can grow better if the big trees are cleared away by fire so they do not block the sun. This way, I may never become a tree. Lodgepole pine cone Sapling IF THE FOREST COULD TALK Masters of Disaster, and Wildland Fire Prevention, Lesson Plan 2/

8 If the Forest Could Talk Page 2 of 2 I love huckleberries. Old huckleberry bushes do not make much fruit. Without a fire to clear the way for new bushes, there will not be many berries to eat. Not one baby tree has grown from my seeds in over 100 years. There has not been a fire in my forest in a long, long time. Without fire, the soil is not healthy, and so my seeds do not grow. Redwood tree Grizzly bear I like both the grasses and the water. Fire keeps the grasses from choking the waters. Great blue heron IF THE FOREST COULD TALK Masters of Disaster, and Wildland Fire Prevention, Lesson Plan 2/