This book can be used on Earth Day or any day in school in order to help students understand more about both the environment and the process of making positive change in the world. Wangari Maathai, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has a true life story which will inspire and motivate children and adults alike. Students will need access to this book and other similar biographies during most of the activities to encourage rereading, reading for information, checking sequence, and other related research skills.
Setting the Stage for a Unit on the Environment or Earth Day
Set up a table or center with this wonderful book about Wangari and other related books. Be sure to include A Seed is a Promise by Claire Merrill [Scholastic Trade,1990]. A project to be done across time can be gradual construction of a tree by daily glueing seeds or beans onto a poster board in the shape or outline of a tree. (This can be done as a reward for each task accomplished on the unit of study.) Over the time period of the unit, students will see the tree appearing before their eyes, thus experiencing some of Wangari's happiness at seeing progress toward a long term goal.
Time Lines to Help Children Understand Projects Across Time
Part of teaching students historical perspective is to develop appreciation of projects that took time and perseverance to accomplish. In groups or individually, students can make a time line of the activities from the book. This is a wonderful chance to reinforce sequence as students give careful attention to the order of the events on the time line.
To extend and apply the idea, they can take an event at home, school, or in the community and make a time line to show how one accomplishment can grow from many past events.
Cause and Effect Skills Taught by Wangari's Trees of Peace
Make cards with cause on one side and effect on the other. Some may choose cause on the top half and effect on the bottom, folding in the middle. Another variation is to cut them into two groups of cause and effect and use them for matching games at an activity center.
During extra moments here and there, an oral game may be played: The leader says an effect (from this story or elsewhere) and the person chosen tells a possible cause for it. Since language skills are first developed orally, time spent developing concepts this way is invaluable.
Leadership Skills Developed by Studying Positive Peer Pressure
It is well accepted among educators that modeling is a strong teaching technique. Wangari's action and her obvious beliefs in gradually reversing the damage done by clear-cutting a forest helped influence others to join her. Their actions multiplied as they realized they were planting "seeds of hope."
To extend the concept, students may make Venn diagrams or use other methods to compare and contrast positive and negative peer pressure on people.
Concept of Investment Taught by Wangari's Trees of Peace
In teaching across the curriculum, a math concept of compound interest can be developed here. Discuss how investment of time and energy eventually made a significant difference. Compare that with how adding a few seeds each day gradually makes the classroom tree begin to appear.
While Wangari was in prison, her investment in the idea of planting trees grew as others continued planting. Students can make charts and line or bar graphs to show progress toward the goal.
To extend the idea, some students may want to research compound interest and report back to the class. Here the class can compare how the charts and graphs of trees is like financial investments which over a long time can grow. (Some may notice that there are setbacks in the economy; this presents a great chance to discuss setbacks in accomplishing a goal.)
Biography Studies During Unit on Environment or Earth Day
Discuss how Wangari was only one person, yet she voiced her concerns and acted on her ideas. Instead of just criticizing or griping, she used a problem-solving approach and followed through to remedy the situation.
Students may use writing, time line, or poster activities to present a real, imagined, or historical problem and show how a character made a difference. To extend, tell how others joined and the efforts grew. End by how it made the world, community, or classroom a better place.
Every day is Earth Day when your family or class reads Wangari's Trees of Peace. First, set the stage for learning to respect the environment, then proceed to teach skills of time line, cause and effect, leadership, and even investment! Students of any age will be inspired. This unit will give them multicultural understandings and historical perspective to bring to the reading of any biography.
Reference:
Winter, Jeanette. Wangari's Trees of Peace. Singapore: Harcourt, 2008.
Hildra Tague - Mrs. Hildra Tague is a freelance writer, consultant, and teacher dedicated to issues of education and parenting. This all started when she ...
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