Lakes, Oakland students use hands-on activities to learn about the life of a tree

Oakland Elementary School fourth-graders pretended to be trees gathering pieces of paper that represented sunlight, water and nutrients as they worked with Lakes Community High School seniors to learn environmental lessons Tuesday in Lake Villa.

The activity was part of a project arranged by Dave Auston, a Lakes environmental science teacher, to help his students pass on concepts of conservation and environmental stewardship to a younger generation through real-world applications and hands-on activities.

"I think it's really fun for them to come over to the high school and learn a little about the environment," Auston said. "Hopefully, it gets them excited to be outdoors, learn about our project and be conscious of the woods and their surroundings."

Forty environmental science seniors acted as stewards for nearly 100 fourth-graders, using activities that included counting tree rings, drawing pictures of trees and parks, and making name tags from small wooden cookies.

Auston started a conservation project three years ago with his students to restore a small wooded area on the school grounds. A grant from the American Forest Foundation's Project Learning Tree helped fund the project.

"We are having a pretty good time, and I think everybody is enjoying what we are doing like drawing, reading tree cookies and competition," fourth-grader Jake Linck said. "It's all fun."

Auston said he looks forward to the hands-on conservation projects. He added that outdoor learning will be a fixture with the school for years to come and it will create a generation of environmentally conscious students.