6-8 Stewardship Lessons

Introduction

Along with helping students develop a sense of connection with trees and a stewardship ethic toward them, teachers can also connect lessons in science, math, and environmental literacy to stewardship tasks. These hands-on lessons can help turn abstract concepts into real and engaging activities for students. We have gathered lessons and activities here that were developed by established organizations and practitioners in the field of outdoor education. 

For practical how-to information and tips on engaging students in the tasks of caring for trees, see the resources in Stewardship Tasks with Students.

Click on the links below to navigate directly to each subject area or scroll down to browse.

© tashanda Giles-JONES

Watering

Build A Tree — California ReLeaf 
This classic role-play activity reinforces the function of roots and xylem in a plant’s water uptake. 

Common Leaf Characteristics — KidsGardening
Students can closely observe and draw leaf veins, key structures for transporting water and food in a plant. This resource helps them identify veins as parallel, pinnate, or palmate.

Follow the Drop — Earth Partnership
Students investigate the movement of stormwater runoff on their schoolyard, comparing impervious and pervious surfaces, examining topography, creating maps, and calculating runoff volume.

Leaf Transpiration (English) and Transpiración de las Hojas (Spanish) — Canopy
This simple experiment on transpiration by leaves explores the role of a tree in the water cycle. 

Testing Soil Moisture — Green Schoolyards America
Students learn about wise water use when caring for trees by using moisture meters to test soil moisture near tree roots. Students determine whether plants need water or not before watering. A worksheet is included. 

Soil Color and Moisture — Science Buddies
This simple science investigation uses color as a means of understanding soil moisture content in different soil samples. 

Wetlands and Ecosystem Services, PDF page 132 — Education Outside
This experiment with vegetated and unvegetated soils allows students to visualize what happens to water runoff in a variety of situations. 

© Thomas Kuoh Photography

Weeding

Parts of a Plant — Learning through Landscapes
Students use an uprooted weed to study the parts of a plant. This simple activity can be adapted for more complex botany in higher grades.

Roots and Shoots — Outdoor Biology Instructional Strategies (OBIS)
Students use uprooted weeds to compare taproot and fibrous root systems.

Seed Dispersal — Green Schoolyards America
This outdoor role-play game is a great way to engage students in learning about the diversity of adaptations by plants for dispersing their seeds as well as the interconnections within an ecosystem.

Mulching

How to Get and Apply Mulch — TreePeople
Use this math resource with students to measure the planting area and calculate the volume of mulch needed. 

Mulch and Evaporation — Green Schoolyards America
In this simple experiment about water evaporation, students test changes in soil moisture over several days, comparing soil covered with mulch to soil that is bare. 

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Leaf Skeletons — Learning WithOutdoors
Students learn about decomposition through observing decomposing leaves, sequencing a variety of leaves, and developing experiments.

Pruning

Fractal Trees — Fractal Foundation
In this math activity, students explore the natural fractal branching of a tree, measure branch lengths and angles, and calculate quotients and ratios. 

Monitoring Tree Health

Leaf Percentages — Educate Outside
This activity on fractions, percentages, and decimals can be adapted to quantify a tree’s health, calculating, for example, the percentage of healthy versus diseased leaves or green versus brown leaves on a branch. If the tree is a young sapling, students should do the activity without picking growing leaves. 

Mystery Marauders — Outdoor Biology Instructional Strategies (OBIS)
Students look for evidence of leaf damage by herbivores and temporarily collect any bugs they can find, while learning about herbivores and their predators.

Tree Health: Survey Your Trees — Green Schoolyards America
Students can use a detailed worksheet or a one-page color photo guide to conduct a survey while learning about possible symptoms caused by insects, disease, animals, or weather. This activity develops observation skills and also connects to units about food chains and ecosystems. 

Schoolyard Forest System℠

The Schoolyard Forest System℠ Resource Library is a set of practical tools for schools and districts working to increase tree canopy on public school grounds to shade and protect PreK-12 students from extreme heat and rising temperatures due to climate change. Funding for the first phase of this initiative was provided by a grant administered by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Urban and Community Forestry Program, and private philanthropy.