Join the LEAF team!
We're hiring a half-time Outreach Specialist.
This position will focus on supporting forestry education initiatives for schools in underserved communities by helping them develop and utilize their school grounds for educational purposes.
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Celebrate Black Professionals in Green Careers! | |
Celebrate Black History Month by showcasing some of the Black professionals working in the forest and conservation sectors.
LEAF’s Journeys Guide Kit gives you resources to introduce your students to green careers while celebrating the paths of many historical and current environmental heroes.
This kit contains a class set of the book Black Faces in Green Spaces: The Journeys of Black Professionals in Green Careers, as well as links to other forest-focused careers resources.
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Celebrate Career and Technical Education Month! | |
Partner Spotlight - WFC's Applied High School Curriculum | |
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During Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month, LEAF would like to highlight a new forestry curriculum resource designed by our partners, the Wisconsin Forestry Center (WFC). The Applied High School Curriculum is part of the WFC's Wisconsin Forestry Careers Coalition*– whose goal is to address the urgent need for skilled workers in the forest industry in the state of Wisconsin. The curriculum is designed to help students develop workforce related skills while achieving content learning standards.
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The curriculum is made of four modules that easily fit into many existing STEM courses like biology, environmental science, forestry and natural resources. While the Applied High School Curriculum is written as a progression of lessons, the modular nature allows teachers to select specific modules to fit into their existing curriculum. Within the modules, activities can be scaled from foundational knowledge to more complex applied concepts based on the needs of students.
Though WFC’s Applied Curriculum differs from LEAF’s Forestry Lesson Guides in its focus on workforce skills, there are conceptual connections between the two. Several LEAF lessons and field enhancements, like LEAF 7-8 Field Enhancement 3: Forest Diversity or LEAF 9-12 Field Enhancement 2: A History of Succession, can be used to teach important concepts in the Applied High School Curriculum. In addition, LEAF has educational kits and tree identification tools that can be used to support learning throughout the Applied High School Curriculum modules. All LEAF lessons, kits and resources are free to use by educators throughout Wisconsin.
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Use these LEAF kits to support the WFC Applied Forestry Curriculum modules.
• Tree ID Kit – Module 1: Tree Identification and Biology
• Forest Health Kit – Module 2: Forest Health
• Forest Education Kit – Module 3: Forest Management
• Forest Products Kit – Module 4: Forest Products
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Use these LEAF resources to support Module 1: Tree Identification and Biology.
• LEAF’s Printable Summer Tree ID Key
LEAF’s Printable Winter Tree ID Key
LEAF’s Online Dichotomous Tree ID Key
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*The Wisconsin Forestry Careers Coalition was supported by a state Workforce Innovation Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. | |
Training Alert: Applied Forestry in the High School Classroom | |
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If you are interested in learning more about the Applied High School Curriculum and how to use LEAF materials to support student learning throughout it, consider attending a free workshop – Applied Forestry for the High School Classroom. The workshop will be hosted by the WFC and LEAF at Schmeeckle Reserve (UW-Stevens Point) on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm. Register by April 7, 2025. Lunch will be provided and guest teacher stipends of up to $125 are available.
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Connecting Wisconsin Career Readiness Standards to science standards | |
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Wisconsin educators have a newly updated set of academic standards to guide their instruction and help ensure that all students are leaving the K-12 classroom more prepared for success in the world.
The Wisconsin Career Readiness Standards (WCRS) - formerly Common Career Technical Standards - serve as an umbrella over subject-area learning and are designed to be integrated across content areas. With a focus on “future-ready” skills, the WCRS have three strands: Career Ready, Learning Ready, and Life Ready.
It’s no surprise that the WCRS connect well to Career and Technical Education instruction, including classes that integrate forestry and other natural resources standards. But science teachers who have been working with the Wisconsin Standards for Science or the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) that the Wisconsin standards are based on might also feel a quick kinship with the three WCRS strands, since the NGSS standards are also designed to produce students that are more prepared for college, careers, and citizenship. Because of this shared focus on skills and practices, career readiness education is also a great partner of NGSS-style learning and fits nicely into a science classroom.
For example, one WCRS learning outcome states that students will “Use design thinking and valid research practices to develop solutions to authentic problems and opportunities.” Another asks them to “Integrate diverse cultural perspectives and informational sources…to inform decisions and actions.” Compare those to the Science and Engineering Practices from NGSS and you will see quite a bit of overlap, which means that when you are achieving the science and engineering goal you are also achieving the career readiness goal.
To think about what this looks like on the ground, picture an activity like Project Leaning Tree’s (PLT) If You Were the Boss, which asks students to develop a land use plan for a forest plot. Students must consider the wide range of values, needs and desires held by members of the community, then come to a consensus about what to do with their forest plot and present their decision in a visual report. Not only are students gaining important life and academic skills in this activity, but they are also getting exposed to a variety of forest-based career options that they might not otherwise know about.
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To further explore the interconnections between NGSS and the WCRS, attend LEAF’s “Green Careers Education and Science Class: A Mutually Beneficial Connection” workshop at the Wisconsin Society of Science Teacher's (WSST) annual conference in April.
Read more below.
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For a self-paced training for those who want resources and activities to help introduce their students to the wide range of careers related to forests , try LEAF's Teaching about Careers in the Forest. | |
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The Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers (WSST) is the largest membership organization in Wisconsin focused on the advancement of science education. It’s holding its annual conference this year from April 3-5 in Oshkosh.
LEAF and KEEP, our partner energy education program, will be there and we’d love to connect with you at our exhibit booths or at one of the many workshops and sessions we’ll be leading.
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LEAF sessions
• Forest History Didn't Start in 1850: A Fresh Look at How Forests Built Our State on Thursday from 10 – 10:50 a.m.
We will review the recent revisions made to LEAF's 4th Grade Guide, exploring why and how the revisions were made in an effort to produce a broader, more inclusive approach to teaching about Wisconsin’s forest history. Participants will try some of the new hands-on activities together and reflect on how Wisconsin forest history and information about the Indigenous people of our state fit into their elementary science curriculum.
• Forest Measurement: Tools You Can Use on Thursday from 1- 1:50 p.m.
Participants will practice with a variety of tools used to measure trees and estimate density, make management decisions, and consider what products can come from a harvest.
• Green Careers Education and Science Class: A Mutually Beneficial Connection on Friday from 10-11:50 a.m.
Among other activities, participants will work in small groups to do one indoor and one outdoor activity from Project Learning Tree’s Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers guide, practicing skills like data collection and analysis, tree measurement and identification, and scientific discourse. Participants will receive a free copy of the guide, courtesy of a grant from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
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KEEP sessions
• Clean Energy Field Trip - Energy Tour = solar + sheep + wind! on Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to noon
• Empowering Students to Lead: A Green Team Toolkit for Energy Savings on Thursday from 1-2 p.m.
• Becoming a Building Energy Detective on Friday from 2-3 p.m.
• Bright Lights, Bright Minds! Exploring Energy Phenomena in Elementary Classrooms on Friday from 3-4 p.m.
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LEAF On-Demand, Online Offerings
Project Learning Tree On-Demand, Online Offerings
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Substitute reimbursement available
Introduction to Forestry Education for the K-12 Classroom Workshop
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This workshop presents principles, activities and techniques to integrate hands-on forestry education into the K-12 classroom. Whether you're teaching about science, social studies, agriculture, mathematics, technology education, or ELA, forestry education has a role to play. A variety of ready-to-use activities will be supplied so teachers can integrate relevant lessons right away.
Cost: $50
Date & Time: 9:00 a .m. - 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 5, 2025 - Register by February 28!
Location: Severson Learning Center, Cambridge, WI
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School Forest Seedlings Still Available! | |
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One benefit of being a registered school forest is access to free seedlings from the DNR Nursery to plant in the school forest. Popular species of trees go fast. If you desire to plant a certain type of tree, get your order in early. Once they are gone, they are gone!
Follow these steps to place your school forest seedling order:
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Attention 4th grade teachers! | |
The DNR is also accepting Arbor Day free seedling orders.
The deadline to order is March 15.
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Landscapes for planting are very diverse. Consult your school forest management plan and DNR forester to find out which tree species are most suitable for your property. Available seedling types and descriptions can be found in the Nursery Seedling Catalog and DNR's tree and shrub inventory. The catalog does a great job explaining the growing requirements and provides pictures and a distribution map of each species.
- Once you have decided which species to plant,
Fill out the paper form (online orders are closed for the season). In the "Free Order" section, choose "Registered School Forest or Community Forest". Note: school forests do not need to order the bulk number of trees. You may order less than the minimum requirements listed; however, there is a maximum of 5,000 trees and 3,000 shrubs school forests can receive. If you have questions, contact Carey Skerven at Carey.Skerven@wisconsin.gov or 715-424-3700, or contact your local DNR forester.
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Teach Wisconsin Climate: An Overview | |
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Wondering how to bring climate education to your classroom? Looking for high quality resources you can trust?
Join teachers from across the state in a 5:30 p.m. webinar on February 24th to learn about Wisconsin's Teach Wisconsin Climate education resource hub from Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Milwaukee Public Schools, Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education, and Subject to Climate.
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Have questions or need additional resources? Contact us at leaf@uwsp.edu. We are here to support educators and students with forestry opportunities. | |
Published for February 2025 | | | | |
