Arbor Day in the classroom and beyond

“Planting tree is an act of kindness.  The trees we plant help us clean the air, beautify our environment, provide homes for wildlife, conserve energy and topsoil, and help keep the atmosphere in balance. A life is just better when we live amongst the tree.” - Arbor Day Foundation.

Last year, my students and I celebrated Arbor day in the school for the first time. It had been done is a small scale, compared to other schools in other countries. The celebration is priceless as it provides children with positive actions to make their world a better place and to learn about trees, the natural world and to celebrate life and the interconnectedness of all creation. This is very much in line with Montessori’s cosmic education.

This was what we had done in 2014 - inside the classroom and outdoor prior to the school wide activity

Science

Children were taken to a nature walk and collected tree leaves. They were exposed to the different tree trunks and the different shapes of leaves. They also collected leaves of various sizes and colors for their art and craft. A group of children had blast planting garlic in a flower pot and were left in the classroom for observation for a couple of weeks.

Art and Craft

The leaves collected from the nature walk were used to create trees. Creativity in the Montessori classroom acknowledges the importance of self- expression. Children were only given a card stock, recycle papers, glues, scissors and leaves they collected to make a tree.  Children then came up with their individual unique pieces. In another project, the children learn to make trees using recycle toilet roll. Here, techniques and methods were thought step by step to further enhance the children’s crafting skills.

Culture – Social Studies

Children were gathered on different days to talk about and discussed the important of trees, when is Arbor Day, why the need to observe Arbor Day and how planting trees can benefit us in the planet.  They were also exposed to the different tools required and steps involved in planting a tree.

 School Wide Activity

Finally, the day has arrived. Children and parents dressed smartly with their colorful boots. Although it was drizzling in the morning and throughout our travelling journey, the effort paid off. Drizzle stops when we arrived at destination. It was partly cloudy and we had a long walk into our planting ground. It was indeed a quiet and peaceful area, surrounded with plants and flowers. Upon arrival, excited children and parents, including teachers, rolled up their sleeves and kick start the activity. The whole process took approximately 2 hours and children were seen happily working with the soil. Some children even found earth worms on the soil and started to invite others to take a look.

It was indeed a fruitful event to end the week. As Aldo Leopold (an American ecologist, 1887 - 1948) said, “Act of creation is ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a tree, one only needs a shovel.”

The study and understanding of this topic is not confining to Arbor Day and tree planting activity. There are a whole lot more of Montessori curriculum (from everyday life activity, senses exploration, vocabulary bank, literature, math, social studies, art and craft to drama and play that can be incorporated in the learning.