instilling in students the desire to protect and enhance it. Some students have never been in a forest before. It’s


unfamiliar, but the support of their classmates, teacher, and a team of engaged adults will allow them to relax and enjoy the new experience. In class before the field trip, Greenspace board members


give students the materials they need to effectively engage with the forest, including vocabulary like ecosystem, symbi- otic relationship, seedling, and sapling. While not on a test, these words appear in pictures, and students use the words by writing sentences that each include accurate usage of one or more of the words. “Some of the words are [part of] basic Environmental Ed.


vocabulary, and some are very specific to our… field trip,” says Ms. Narzisi. Their assigned weekend homework is to do something


outside. Back in class, they spontaneously report on their activities, such as camping, going to the beach, hiking, or rid- ing a bike. There are also two days of instruction on soil testing


to prepare students for one of the more complex in-forest activities.


Down the forest path Ms. Narzisi and her students arrive by school bus and gather at the entrance to Strawberry Canyon, Greenspace’s 21 acres of Monterey Pine forest. Greenspace founder and Monterey Pine forest expert Rick Hawley greets the group and leads them down the trail. While this setting offers much that is distracting, it is also


peaceful. The walls are gone. Students can gaze around at their surroundings, smell the pines, and listen to the birds calling. “It’s wonderful to see the kids put down their cell phones


and get engaged in nature,” Hawley says. The trail passes five learning stations, each one holding


scientific materials specific to forest research. The group arrives at the first station, Seeds and Insects.


Crawly critters At Seeds and Insects, the students experience how a heat- treated Monterey Pine cone releases its seeds, and then they get to plant these seeds in germination cones. They let out a big “Yuck!” followed by a smile when they are introduced to the pine forest’s beetles, including the larva of a California Fivespined Ip (a wood-borer). As they stroll along the forest path, they collect insects. The insects, particularly certain beetles, can be carriers of pine tree diseases. One budding seventh-grade Entomologist lifts up tree


bark to find termites, bark beetles, and sow bugs, also known as “roly-polies.” “He [is] totally enthralled with tak- ing apart a dead log,” says Education Project leader Robert Cichowski, also along with the group at this point. As Mr. Hawley leads them, they take note of other plants


that are growing in the forest, including native Poison Oak. “Leaf of three, let it be!” Another native plant is Dwarf Mistletoe, a parasitic species that reduces the growth, wood quality, seed production ability, and life span of the trees it infects.


Green Teacher 119 Page 13


A rare woodland


The Monterey Pine forest is one of the Central Coast’s rarest habitats. Only five native stands still exist globally, three in California and two on islands off the coast of Mexico. The cones are fire-dependent, meaning they only open and release seeds when triggered by the heat of fire. The forest’s understory typically consists of shrubs like Salal, Coyote Brush, Mock Heather, and Huckleberry.


“Learning some basic forest pathology facts about the


[Monterey] Pine forest is essential to understanding the forest ecosystem,” Mr. Hawley says.


Art under the trees Bringing their collected insects in magnifying boxes to the Insect Art Station, local artists Sarah Blair Field and Art Van Rhyn give the students pointers on how to draw them. “The kids draw just fine,” says Mr. Van Rhyn. “Mine is a


small part. I just give them a piece of paper and a pencil and step back.” Director Ann Cichowski observes that after walking


through the pine forest, the students draw Monterey Pine trees as tall, slender trees with that distinctive rounded top, rather than the cone-shaped Christmas trees kids usually think of as pine trees. “Their artwork reveals a lot about what they are learning and how they see the world.” “The kids become aware of the replenishment of the eco-


system,” says Mr. Van Ryhn. “Big things die and little things come along.”


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