National Wildlife Week for Educators

These resources and activities from National Wildlife Federation are can be used each day of National Wildlife Week to teach about trees and wildlife. Learn about 45 species of trees and wildlife in the U.S. and fun lessons and activities you can do with your students.

National Wildlife Week Educator Resources:

• Posters that together form a five-foot tree! 
• Lessons and Activities by grade
• Wildlife Trading Cards featuring 45 species of trees and wildlife
• Webinar to help you prepare for National Wildlife Week 
• Free trees for student tree planting events
   

 
National Wildlife Week Posters

The National Wildlife Week poster series for 2013 is actually one big poster! Our "mega-poster" features the different parts of a tree and wildlife that are found in or use that part of the tree. Put all the individual posters together to make one very tall tree! Download your free Mega-Poster >> 

Lessons and Activities

More lessons are being added soon!

Grades K-2

• A Rottin' Place to Live (K-8): learn about decomposition
• Bird Family Album (K-5): learn about the lifecycles of birds
• Tree Detectives (1-8): learn how to identify trees

Grades 3-5

• A Rottin' Place to Live (K-8): learn about decomposition
• Bears in the Sky (3-8): read bear myths and learn bear constellations
• Bird Family Album (K-5): learn about the lifecycles of birds
• House Hunting (3-5): learn about bird nests and make a bird nest
• Tree Detectives (1-8): learn how to identify trees

Grades 6-8

• A Rottin' Place to Live (K-8): learn about decomposition
• Bears in the Sky (3-8): read bear myths and learn bear constellations
• Tree Detectives (1-8): learn how to identify trees

Grades 9-12:

• My Personal Folktale (9-12): read folktales about bears and create a folktale
• Trees as Habitats (9-12): hone observation skills by observing trees to find evidence of wildlife and how wildlife use trees.

Wildlife Trading Cards

Download all five sets of wildlife trading cards below—45 cards in all—and use them in a variety of games and activities. Each set features nine different wildlife species organized by the part of the tree that the wildlife are generally found in or that they often use—the tree leaves, fruit and flowers; the branches; the trunk; the forest floor around the base of the tree; or the roots and soil under the tree. We also feature two tree species with each set of trading cards.

Cards include:

• Photo of the Species
• Species Name (common and scientific)
• Description 
• U.S. Habitat and Range
• Fun Fact
• Conservation Status

Leaves, Fruit and Flowers Wildlife Trading Cards
Wildlife Featured: Baltimore oriole, cedar waxwing, Jamaican fruit-eating bat, red tree vole, squirrel tree frog, kahuli tree snails, and yucca moths
Trees Featured: Douglas-fir and Joshua tree

Branches Wildlife Trading Cards
Willdlife Featured: American beaver, arboreal salamander, flying squirrels, northern spotted owl, Puerto Rican   boa, stick insects, and wood ducks
Trees Featured: red maple and southern live oak

Tree Trunk Wildlife Trading Cards
Wildlife Featured: black-capped chickadee, brown-headed nuthatch, eastern fence lizard, Indiana bat, red-cockaded woodpecker, tan jumping spider, and black bear
Trees Featured: longleaf pine and shagbark hickory

Forest Floor Wildlife Trading Cards
Wildlife Featured: Baja California treefrog, Cheat Mountain salamander, dusky-footed woodrat, western scrub jay, mangrove rivulus, moose, and wood ants
Trees Featured: California bay laurel and red mangrove

Roots and Soil Wildlife Trading Cards
Wildlife Featured: Louisiana pine snake, millipedes, periodical cicadas, pocket gophers, salmon, termites and truffles
Trees Featured: bald cypress and quaking aspen

 
The trading cards can be used in many ways—as a launching point for lessons, for games or as self-contained activities. Download these suggested activities and learn just a few of the many ways you might use the cards.

Webinar

Branching Out for Wildlife Webinar
On Feb. 20, 2013, we held a live webinar about National Wildlife Week for educators and others to learn from experts about this year's featured species and ideas for teaching about and celebrating wildlife during National Wildlife Week. Watch the webinar >> 

If you have any questions about National Wildlife Week, contact nationalwildlifeweek@nwf.org.