Students investigate the reciprocal relationship between people and the natural world by studying the school forest and taking simple actions that support it. Through hands-on observation, journaling, discussion, and documenting change over time, they build science understanding while also naming how outdoor learning affects their feelings, identity, and well-being. The work leads to a public showcase where students share evidence of how they helped the environment and how the environment helped them in return.

Students investigate how living things, habitats, and seasonal changes in the school forest are connected, and use observations, photos, or sketches to describe changes over time. They build habits of care by taking one concrete action that helps the forest and explaining how the environment supports their own well-being, identity, and sense of belonging. Students strengthen communication by keeping paired nature journals with one science idea and one personal feeling, revising their work through feedback, and sharing clear evidence and explanations during the final showcase.

Students will create paired nature journals with weekly entries that capture one science observation and one personal feeling from outdoor learning in the school forest. They will also make before-and-after photos or sketches of a chosen forest spot, adding short captions or oral recordings that explain what changed and what they learned. For the final weeks, students will design simple signs that show one way they helped the environment and one way the environment helped them. By the end, these pieces come together in a Roots and Wings Showcase display that includes journals, photo or sketch evidence, and student-made signs for sharing with others.

Begin with an Eco Story Starter in the school forest: mixed-age teams follow a short mystery trail to investigate tracks, leaves, sounds, and microhabitats, collecting quick photos or sketches of what they notice. At each stop, students name one way the environment supports living things and one question they have about how people can help care for it. Close with a circle share where each student offers one personal connection to the forest and one feeling from the experience, then starts a paired nature journal with one observation and one reflection. End by introducing the challenge to create a Roots and Wings Showcase display that shows how they helped the forest and how the forest helped them.

Host a Roots and Wings Showcase in the school forest or a nearby school space where students display paired nature journals, before-and-after photos or sketches, and student-made signs. Invite families, classmates, and the School Forest partner to visit stations where learners explain one way they helped the environment and one way the environment helped them, using a selected journal entry and brief oral or recorded reflection. Include small-group sharing moments so students can read aloud one academic idea and one feeling from outdoor learning. End with a gallery walk that lets visitors leave simple feedback or “I noticed/I learned” comments for each display.