Earth Partnership for Schools

Students transplantingLitzsinger Road Ecology Center uses Earth Partnership for Schools from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum as a model for teachers interested in incorporating restoration into their curriculum. One of the program’s missions is to foster the idea that soil, plants, and animals are part of the community to which we belong, and that we should act in a way that allows for their continued existence.

The program is structured to follow a 10-step process of ecosystem restoration, with each step containing a variety of lessons:
(Click on each heading to expand that section and download lessons.)

What is an ecosystem and how do ecosystems interact? Students create a mental model of ecosystems and habitats.

Girl clutching dried seedheads

  1. Observations from a Single Spot
    Record impressions of an area in nature over time
  2. Rain Shadow Play
    Demonstrate the history of prairies in North America
  3. Botany Bouquet
    Introduction to native plants
  4. What’s Green and Grows All Over?
    Study ecosystem biodiversity
  5. Ecosystem Comparisons
    Collect data and compare similarities and differences between communities
  6. Ecosystem Modeling
    Using a systems model, develop a model of an ecosystem
  7. Is There Really a Food Web Out There?
    Observe a step in a food chain, and reconstruct a food web
  8. Prairie Scavenger Hunt
    Study prairie plant adaptations
  9. Woodland Scavenger Hunt
    Study woodland plant adaptations
  10. Plant Families
    Plant classification
  11. Taxonomy & Field Guide Warm-Up
    Learn how to use a wildflower field guide
  12. Construct a Key
    Students devise a classification key for plants
  13. Visual Assessment
    Draw the prairie in two different views
  14. Creating an Underground Prairie
    Build a full-sized model of a prairie plant’s roots
  15. Ecosystem Observation Cards
    Familiarize yourself with ecosystems throughout the year
  16. Winter Ecology Observations
    Investigate plant/animal winter adaptations

Students determine the history of their ecological community using original and local sources.

Missouri History Museum Library sign

  1. Research Land History Through Primary Sources
    Gain a deeper understanding of our relationship to the land
  2. Land Use History Through Literature
    The human experience in relation to land through reading
  3. Land Use Over Time: Examining Living History
    Interview senior citizens about the area’s history
  4. Land Use History: Survey and Land Ownership Records
    Research the original land surveys, survey notes and ownership records
  5. Early Surveying Experiences: Locating Witness Trees
    Surveying methods using compasses and tape measures

Students investigate the current site conditions to determine the suitability for different species and restoration strategies.

Girl recording observations in a notebook

  1. Conducting a Site Analysis
    Students analyze their school grounds
  2. Compass Basics
    Learn how to determine direction and locate objects
  3. Mapping Your Schoolyard
    Use compasses and measuring tapes to create a schoolyard map
  4. Noting Notable Features
    Survey your schoolyard, and learn about the layout of the school property
  5. The Hidden & Informal Curriculum
    Investigate school grounds and determine what appeals to students
  6. Exploring Your Site Through Color, Texture, & Pattern
    Discover and analyze your school grounds
  7. What’s Possible? Analyzing Existing Vegetation for Answers
    Students identify plants on school grounds and determine significance of each
  8. How Do You Measure Up?
    Measuring tree height
  9. Measuring Up Tree Size
    Identify, measure, and chronicle trees growing on school grounds
  10. How Tall Are You? Measuring Up Plant Size
    Measure and compare plant heights
  11. Woodland Layer Assessment
    Investigate a woodland area using scientific collection methods
  12. Topography: Measuring Slope
    Calculate the percent of slope in your schoolyard
  13. Soil Texture Feel Test
    Collect soil samples and classify according to texture
  14. Infiltrations Tests: Exploring the Flow of Water Through Soils
    Explore water flow into and through soils
  15. Soil Profile Investigations
    Examine soil profiles
  16. Soils Studies: Living Versus Non-Living Examination
    Dissect a cubic foot of soil

Students reach out to both the school and local communities to share their expertise and resources and to get more connected with the school.
Girls working with community member to clear brush

  1. Community Assets Mapping
    Identify and activate the assets of the community to support your project
  2. Telling the Restoration Story
    Create a photographic essay of restoration

Students choose an area for the habitat based on the site analysis, create a design, lay out the design, develop a budget, and select appropriate species.

Students lay out their habitat

  1. A Prairie Year
    A play that illustrates the seasonal order of bloom in a prairie
  2. Designing a Restoration
    Create a restoration landscape plan for your school
  3. Where Does Your Garden Grow?
    Choose a garden to match the conditions of your site
  4. What’s a Square Foot Anyway? (Laying Out the Design Plan)
    Use a scale drawing and square foot templates to map out your design
  5. Prairie Garden Species Selection
    Create a list of species for your restoration site
  6. Woodland Species Selection
    Create a list of species for a restoration using an electronic database
  7. Up Close & Personal
    Research a plant and create an information sheet about it
  8. How Much Seed Do I Need?
    Measure and calculate quantity of seed needed for a planting site
  9. Balancing the Budget
    Create a final seed order that is balanced and fiscally realistic

Students, with the help of the community, remove existing vegetation using a variety of approaches including cultivation, mulching, and sod removal.

Student and teacher remove unwanted plants from site

  1. Site Preparation Techniques
    Learn about site preparation strategies
  2. Site Preparation Scenarios
    Read, discuss, and make judgments about scenarios related to restoration
  3. How Much Mulch
    Students research mulching techniques and costs

Students sow seeds and/or transplant seedlings.

Students transplanting from pots to site

  1. Seeds to Seedlings: Seed Collection
    Collect and learn about seeds
  2. Seeds to Seedlings: Seed Cleaning and Storage
    Learn how seeds adapt to survive in their environment
  3. Seeds to Seedlings: Propagating Seeds in the Classroom
    Learn the mechanics of how to start seedlings
  4. Mixing the Seed
    Mix seed and filler noting each species being added
  5. A Time to Sow
    Planting the restoration site
  6. Planting Birthday Celebrations
    Ideas for celebrating your planting
  7. Celebrating a Community
    Print a Celebration “Quilt”

Students learn to identify and how to control invasive plants.

Students together in a prairie on a work day

  1. Managing Your Restoration
    Manage restoration site with weeding, mowing, cutting, mulching, watering
  2. Invasion of the Non-Natives
    Learn the identification of non-native plants in the school restoration site
  3. Weed Cards
    Create a set of laminated cards to identify weeds in the restoration
  4. Weed Lotto: How Brazen is the Invasion?
    Determine frequency of non-native plants in restoration
  5. Young Prairie Check-Up
    Inventory and determine the health of restoration

Students ask questions and gather data throughout the restoration process, using their own creativity to find the answers.

Students planting seeds in a flat

  1. Inquiry-based Field Problems
    Students ask questions and design experiments on their schoolyard restorations
  2. Germination Determination
    Calculating germination percentages
  3. What Does a Seed Need?
    Design an experiment to geminate seeds
  4. Sweeping Discoveries
    Study the insect world in your restoration project
  5. Inquiry Learning: Students as Ecological Researchers
    Design, conduct research and present results
  6. Inquiry Learning: What’s Your Favorite Color?
    Conduct research on insects with colored plastic bowls

Students engage in activities that incorporate language arts, science, math, social studies and service learning opportunities. They participate in creating a living legacy at their schools and can learn how to be citizen stewards of their own communities.

Girl looking at lotus leaf

  1. Bison Skin Art
    Create a work of art Plains Indians used to record important events
  2. Dialogue Between a Plant & Pollinator
    Observe insect and plant interactions
  3. Geometry in Nature
    Locate native plants that represent geometric shapes
  4. Going After the Cows
    Tell a story that reflects how nature has spoken to you
  5. Insect Charades
    Learn about major categories of insects through acting
  6. Letter to Relative
    Reflect on why do a native restoration
  7. Nature’s Patterns
    Locate mathematical and geometric patterns
  8. Navigating the Woodland Web Site
    Learn about woodland ecosystems through the EPS Woodland Web Site
  9. Phenology: Nature Walks
    Observe and record seasonal changes
  10. Plant Immigrants
    Research introduction of non-native plants to the New World
  11. Plant Power! (Food & Medicinal Plant Uses)
    Research Native American uses of plants in a prairie restoration
  12. Reflective Journal
    Record your outdoor observations
  13. Schoolyard Poetry/Rap
    Express your feelings and experiences about a natural system
  14. Spring Fever
    Take a prairie’s temperature
  15. Twigs Are for Kids
    Use twigs to identify trees on school grounds
  16. Phenology: Sharing & Comparing Your Schoolyards’ Clocks
    Life cycles and climate trends across geographic regions
  17. Phenology: Climate Change in Your Schoolyard
    Explore how changes in climate affect life cycles in their restorations