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Since our very first community tree planting
on Arbor Day in 1981, Friends of the Urban Forest has been
involved with San Francisco schools.
Educating San Francisco’s youngest
learners and youth about trees may ultimately help mitigate
urban environmental problems, bring communities together,
and increase appreciation of street trees. This appreciation
may help to protect trees from violence, vandalism, inattention,
and improper treatment, increase FUF’s ability to reach
neighborhoods least likely to plant street trees, and provide
a long-term strategy for a healthy and vibrant urban forest.
FUF is committed to the belief that street
trees are a critical element of a livable urban environment.
Trees in the city represent contact with nature in the midst
of urban sprawl, traffic, noise and pollutants. Trees improve
water and air quality, muffle noise, block unsightly views,
slow automobile traffic, increase property values, reduce
crime, and soften harsh stretches of concrete. In many instances,
street trees are the only greenery that city dwellers come
in contact with on a day-to-day basis. Having trees in our
city satifies our basic human desire to live among growing
things that both nurture and inspire us.
 City
Trees: A Curriculum Guide to Our Urban Forest
FUF prepared the City Trees curriculum
guide to give teachers and students a way to use the trees
growing just outside their classroom as a laboratory to explore
their physical environment and community. The curriculum,
an experientially based tool that links scientific principles
to the practical knowledge needed to plant and maintain urban
trees, was developed from national, state, and local scientific
and educational sources.
The 86 activities in the City Trees curriculum
guide have been developed around six major topics. Four charts
are included to help teachers select activities that are appropriate
to their class level and subject. The charts have been designed
to help teachers locate efficiently those activities that
correlate with the concepts they wish to explore with their
students (incuding Language Arts, Social Studies, Math and
more).
Our City Trees curriculum is currently
out of print. We are working to make it available here on
our website.
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