Knowledge grows on trees - News from the World of Trees - Brief Article

American Forests, Summer, 2002

Young minds grow with learning and experience. Trees grow with water and sunshine. Together they form an AMERICAN FORESTS Living Classroom, a unique way to combine history, environmental education, science, language arts, and mathematics. Best of all, the kids can get their hands dirty.

Students at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Burbank, California, planted a Living Classroom this spring, thanks to sponsorship from home furnishings store IKEA. Teachers chose 10 trees that matched their curriculum from the collection offered by AMERICAN FORESTS' Historic Tree Nursery. The seedlings are progeny of trees connected with historic people, events, or places.

"How exciting to have pieces of history on our campus," says Cynthia Faust, the school's curriculum coordinator. "Not only can the students learn from the Living Classroom, the trees also remind students of our American history, at a time when patriotism is at a peak." The school chose southern magnolias connected with a number of historic figures including President Andrew Jackson, Red Cross founder Clara Barton, deaf and blind advocate Helen Keller, and Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Lowe.

The school hired a contractor to cut planting holes in the playground pavement and has received a grant to remove 11,000 square feet of concrete from the schoolyard.

"We're hoping to plant grass and gardens instead of having all concrete," says Faust. "It will be like our own little forest out here when the trees grow larger."

IKEA donated money from last year's Christmas tree sales to plant the Living Classroom and plans to sponsor two others in San Francisco and Elizabeth, New Jersey. For information about Living Classrooms, check our website, www.americanforests.org.