On May 17, BLM forester, Abe Wheeler, spent the afternoon with two Buckman Elementary kindergarten classes talking about the benefits of trees in the Pacific Northwest. The afternoon focused around learning about photosynthesis, the importance of carbon and oxygen, and replanting trees. When asked about the uses for trees the savvy kindergarteners quickly rattled off an impressive list of items including pencils, homes, cardboard, and of course – toilet paper.

After delving in to photosynthesis the kindergarteners listened intently to Abe’s reading of the Dr. Seuss classic, the Lorax. Wheeler explained both the benefits of forestry, as well as the potential downsides to overconsumption. The afternoon wrapped up with some good ol’-fashioned cutting and glue-sticking that allowed the kindergarteners to “cut” their own tree, build a house, and replant the trees that they had cut.

Buckman Elementary is an arts-focused school in Portland, Oregon. The classroom teachers, arts specialists, support staff and volunteers all work to nurture the whole child–intellectual, emotional, social, and physical–using a variety of teaching strategies. Notably, staff use a multiple-intelligence approach working with students’ verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical-rhythmic, bodily-kinetic, visual-spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist and existentialist intelligences.