ONLY MADE OF WOOD STORYBOOK AND TEACHER’S BOOK. Brian Keaney. Southgate. pound;11.90. THE WONDER OF WOOD. Bill Jerman, Cath Allen and Debra Burdis. Forest Education Initiative. pound;9.50 including postage. From Great Eastern House, Tenison Road Cambridge CB1 2DU.
INVESTIGATING TREES AND TIMBER. Steve Tilling, Lucy Kirkman and Tony Scharer. Forest Education Initiative. pound;11.50. Address as above.
Looking for a wide ranging set of resources to support your project on trees and timber? Then look first at this series of booklets from the Forest Education Initiative.
This highly commendable project aims to develop a greater understanding and appreciation of trees, woodlands, forest management and forest products among young people. What could be more wondrous for young children than to study a tree in its natural environment?
Only Made of Wood is a storybook for five to seven-year-olds, although many of the activities in the teacher’s book are suited to older pupils. These include testing wood for strength and hardness and opportunities for language development, art, estimation and observation.
The Wonder of Wood is an activity-based work programme for key stage 2 with pupil work sheets, teacher’s notes and suggestions for further work. Pupils are encouraged to look at wood use in their immediate sur-roundings and in a variety of other environments. Forest management and the harvest-ing and processing of timber are described with the aid of clear text and pictures.
Investigating Trees and Timber includes a pupil reader, teacher notes and three colour posters illustrating woodlands in the UK, France and Ghana. It will, therefore, also appeal to teachers of geography, global and environmental education.
Bob Welch is a senior adviser for Berkshire
