4-H Sustainable Schools Volunteer Handbook

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION TO 4-H SUSTAINABLE SCHOOLS ...... 4 Program Overview ...... 4 4-H Sustainable Living Member Schools ...... 5 Program history ...... 6 Cost to create a Sustainability Project Site ...... 6 4-H Sustainable Living Coaches make it Happen! ...... 7 Steps to become a 4-H Sustainable Living coach: ...... 7 Managing Your Project for Success ...... 10 Keys to Success ...... 10 Vandalism Prevention ...... 12 Working with Your School District Staff ...... 15 Building Support within Your School Community ...... 16 Creating an Annual Calendar ...... 16 School Bulletin Boards ...... 16 Developing a Project Notebook ...... 17 Celebrating Your Success ...... 20 Promoting Your Program ...... 24 Strategies for Promoting Your Program ...... 25 Media basics ...... 27 Other Important Considerations for Media ...... 28 Writing Grants ...... 30 Common requirements of most grant proposals ...... 30 Grant writing “top ten” list ...... 30 Major Components in a Proposal to Foundations ...... 32 Building Support through Volunteers ...... 35 Why volunteers are important to a successful project ...... 35 Recruiting volunteers for the project ...... 35 Recognize and reward volunteers ...... 38 THE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT MODEL ...... 40 Place-Based Learning ...... 40 Place-based Education ...... 40 Science Inquiry ...... 40 The 4-H Learning Model ...... 42 The role of the 4-H Sustainable Schools Coach ...... 42

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Sample projects that meet science education benchmarks ...... 43 Student Journals ...... 46 Getting Started ...... 46 What goes in a Field Journal? ...... 47 Journaling-The Process ...... 48 The Left Brain and Right Brain of Journaling ...... 48 4-H After School Clubs ...... 50 Benefits of an After-school 4-H Club ...... 50 Enrollment ...... 51 Features of a 4-H After-School Club ...... 51 Developing and Managing Your Garden Year Round ...... 54 Fall ...... 55 Summer ...... 59 Developing Your Summer Maintenance Plan ...... 59 Typical tasks in the summer include: ...... 59 Tips ...... 60 Other considerations for Summer Maintenance ...... 60 FARM AND GARDEN ...... 62 Sustainable Agriculture and Gardening ...... 62 Why are Sustainable Gardening and Agriculture Important? ...... 62 Sustainable Garden Practices ...... 63 Soil ...... 67 Introduction to Soil ...... 67 Soil components, Soil texture and properties of each ...... 67 Gardening with Compost ...... 71 The 7 Factors of Composting ...... 71 Trouble-shooting ...... 74 Designing and Creating Your Food Garden ...... 75 Designing Your School Food Garden layout ...... 75 Site Layout Assessment ...... 76 Site analysis ...... 79 Site Evaluation ...... 81 Base Map ...... 81 Planting Tips and Techniques ...... 82 WILDLIFE STEWARDS ...... 84 Researching Site History ...... 84

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Historical Documents ...... 85 Literature ...... 85 Oral History Interviews ...... 86 Historical Surveyor Notes and Ownership ...... 86 Mapping and Site Analysis ...... 88 Site Plans and Working Sketches ...... 88 Inventorying the Habitat Education Site ...... 89 Designing, Creating and Improving Wildlife Garden Sites ...... 91 Design Considerations ...... 91 Creating and Improving the Site ...... 92 Monitoring Your Wildlife Garden through Photograph Plots ...... 94 General View Photographs ...... 96 Interpretive and Informational Signage ...... 98 In this section you will learn: ...... 98 Why Signage is important ...... 98 Special Design and Installation Considerations ...... 98 Native Plants for your Habitat ...... 101 Why should we use native plants? ...... 101 Invasive and Toxic Plants ...... 102 Selecting Your Plants by Plant Community ...... 104 Using Taxonomy and Field Guides for Monitoring ...... 120 Information/Content ...... 120 Resource Suggestion List (Available through 4-H) ...... 124

Tools and Resources Appendix (Attached)

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their school food garden spaces. Here are a few Designing and Creating elements that can be added to enhance physical activity, as well as creative and investigative Your Food Garden play:

• Height-if the site has a flat area, consider In this chapter you will learn: adding hills or terraces that facilitate active movement throughout the space. Food • Facilitate the process of designing a garden beds don’t have to be on a flat school food garden with students surface.

• Facilitate the process of planning and • Movement- Consider adding play elements, designing what to plant in your food or physical activity components that fit the garden landscape. Slides integrated into the sides of hills, caves, tunnels, logs to walk on, Designing Your School Food stepping stones, pulleys, paths, benches Garden layout and ropes to facilitate structured but ‘stealth’ exercises and balance activities

such as: tandem walking, pushing and • Physical elements of school food pulling, stepping, squatting, lunging, gardens stomping, reaching, and twisting. These Most schools food garden projects start with a features encourage muscle typical type of space; a grassy area in a flat open strengthening, balance, flexibility, and field. This un-stimulating, semi barren cardiovascular endurance activities as landscape can make it challenging to imagine participants negotiate the garden how to begin. Keep in mind the most basic environment. Consider new and elements of a food garden are really simple. The interesting ways to make the paths wind basic garden needs: beds, paths, irrigation, more or go up and down more than signs, tools, a tool shed, and a compost bin or necessary to facilitate extra movement. area. In the first phase begin with these basic elements. For the second phase consider adding • Mind Enhancing- Natural mazes and things like fences, gates, fruit trees, labyrinths facilitate exploration and greenhouses, and shelters. If developing a discovery. They also draw on memory and larger space in which food garden beds are one problem solving skills. Plants can be used to component, keep in mind that an outdoor create the borders of these features. Use natural area can enhance play and physical plants like: corn, bulbs, shrubs, and bushy activity. A well designed landscape can foster upright growing species that grow close activity by moving people through the together. landscape in an intentional way. For inspiration be sure to tour other gardens and see what unique design elements others have included in

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Site Layout Assessment as vegetables can become contaminated from the spray. Labs can test for nitrates, pesticides

and coliform bacteria. Dig into city records, as Ease of use and Safety well as federal, state and local agency listings to There are a few key things to keep in mind when determining overall site layout. If determine the uses of surrounding property, possible plan to put the garden in a visible historic maps, and documentation on historic location where it will not be forgotten, it is easy occupants to determine what types of business to access and can be admired and noticed. occupied buildings near your site in the last 50 Consider what the flow of people and materials years. Local neighborhood associations, historic in and out of the site. Who will be using the societies and libraries are great resources. EPA and environmental databases can also be garden space or the food products from the reviewed to determine sites that pose space? How will they come in and out of the environmental concern. Public documents on space? How many students’ at one time will use soils, geology or other environmental reports the space? How will numbers affect the design? can also be helpful. If there is a strong concern Can materials be easily delivered to the site? Is regarding the environmental condition of the there an area for material storage? Does that site, private companies can perform area need to be blocked from view or secured environmental assessments for a fee. from vandals? Consider the types of tools needed and how much space their usage will For more information about soil testing please require. Having work benches, potting benches refer to: and outdoor sinks can be extremely helpful for http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/soil-testing potting up plants and building things for the garden. Make utilities are located on site before digging! Call Dig Safe Oregon, to have them For more information on water testing and marked free of charge. water re-use please go to: http://www.oregon.gov/DEQ/WQ/ Site History Pests (Vertebrate) It is important to dig into the history of a site School administrators and facilities staff often before getting started. The history of the ask; will a school food garden attract wildlife buildings and land can tell a lot about potential and other pests? Generally food is the main hazards, and potential assets. Interviewing attraction for nuisance wildlife and other pests. people knowledgeable about the area and the If you are concerned about wildlife be sure to property’s history can be helpful. Soil tests can design your compost bin so that it is closed and help determine if heavy metals, lead or if other secured. For more information about compost potential pollutants exist in the soil. This test bins see previous chapter. can be costly but should be considered if the OSU Extension has several publications on how site is in an urban-industrial area, near buildings to deal with unwanted wildlife. For more or other structures that might have used toxic information go to: materials in production facilities. If non- http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/detai municipal water sources are used to water the ls.php?sortnum=0612&name=Pests-- garden be sure to test the water for pot ability Insects+and+Animals&cat=Gardening

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that lets air and water into the soil but blocks the sunlight to prevent the germination of most Choosing a site for your food garden beds plants. It is made from non-renewable woven To increase the success of your food gardening polypropylene material. Cardboard and activities choose the site of food beds carefully. newspaper on the other hand are generally free If there is space available plan for enough beds and biodegradable, but break down faster and so as the grow desired crops in a three year require more maintenance. When using rotation. This means planning for plants in the cardboard or newspaper be sure to avoid using same plant families are rotated to different glossy material and take any plastic tape off of locations each year for three years. Be sure to the cardboard as it breaks down very slowly. know shade patterns in the area and consider Cardboard will generally break down over the these patterns in the crop rotation plan. course of a year which generally corresponds Summer greens prefer shady spots while with the break down time of the mulch. tomatoes and peppers love the heat. A three Newspaper will break down over the course of year rotation for heat lovers (peppers, one or two seasons depending on the weather. tomatoes, eggplants) requires three separate Another option is to leave existing grass as the full sun bed locations to do this. If planning to pathway. This eliminates the need to remove or create raised beds, 4ft’ is a good width. This break down existing sod. It can be mowed allows for full reach across the beds. Creating periodically in the spring and early summer. It’s beds in increments of 100 square feet can be possible to see what bed designs will look like handy for calculating amendments and by using only mowing where you want your fertilizers to add to the garden. For more beds or pathways to go. This etches the design information about choosing a garden site into the grass but can easily be changed by including: location, sunlight and raised beds letting the grass grow out and starting over. check out, EM 9032: An Educator’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening Gathering places (http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstr Consider creating a space in or near your food eam/handle/1957/22858/em9032.pdf) garden for gathering. This can be a space for groups to meet and re-group, as well as a space Pathways to sit together to discuss the day’s work, take a Pathways should generally be about 4 ’. wide. break, eat lunch, or to go over a lesson while a This helps to accommodate ADA requirements group is outside. When deciding where to put and leaves enough space for garden carts and gathering spaces consider placing them so that wheelbarrows. Semi-permanent pathways can students can see the food beds from where be covered with bark mulch, woodchips, or they are seated. This is helpful when describing gravel. It is handy to laydown cardboard, where work needs to happen or what is newspaper or landscape fabric first to help growing in the beds. Two more important block weeds from coming up through the considerations are shade and shelter. Gathering mulch. This also helps to break down the sod spaces might include protection from sun, and left underneath. Landscape fabric is the most rain by incorporating space for an open air roof, expensive option, as it takes longest to break gazebo, tent or awning of an existing structure. down. Landscape fabric is a breathable material Gathering spaces might use logs as seats,

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wooden benches, or use natural hillsides and nutrients are transferred from the soil to plants mounds for amphitheater type seating. to humans and back to the soil. At school it is possible to compost dead or dying plant matter from the landscape however, composting food scraps from the garden, lunchroom or cafeteria can be a bit more complicated and require more infrastructure and maintenance. A landscape compost bin should be located in close proximity to the food garden for ease of

accessibility and maintenance. Avoid putting the bin too close to a building where the smell could waft into the building’s air vents. If the bin chosen consists of a more open design consider putting it out of site so as not to disrupt the visual aesthetic of a landscape.

Fences Fences can provide both security and definition to a school food garden. The high cost of materials and labor to build a fence is one important consideration. While it may provide the idea of security, fences can also attract attention. It is often difficult to build one that is big enough or strong enough to completely keep people or animals out. Many schools have opted to build partial fences to provide definition without having to completely cover a large area.

Signs Signs provide visitors and students with important information about the garden. Many

gardens include a protected kiosk that can

display garden hours, information on how to

get involved, post events as well as provide a

place to recognize sponsors, volunteers and Compost Area students. Educational signs can include Composting is a great way to complete the information about plants, such as its name, garden cycle loop by recycling nutrients that will origin, history and potential uses. Signs can also be added back into the garden. Composting in a be used explain garden features, theories, school setting can be a great way to teach concepts or techniques related to how to students about the nutrient cycle and how garden.

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discussion to each of the following sections Physical Elements Brainstorm below and change elements around as more Think of this process as an inventory of what is about site mapping is covered and more already on site, and an opportunity to dream research completed. big about what could be included. This should be a format for deciding as a group what should Site analysis be included in a school garden space. Realistically it’s good to layout an entire school Climate year to plan before a garden is started. This Getting to know the food garden site and the provides the time to observe the site in all three site’s microclimate is essential to creating the seasons before constructing the garden. Begin garden you want. Climate observations can be by having students spend time in the space. extremely helpful in growing a great garden Have them take photos, note observations or from year to year. A few important things to write in journals. Ask them some basic keep in mind are the average first and last frost questions about the site to start. dates. These dates vary according to location throughout the state. For more information on • What do they see? weather visit the Oregon Climate Service • What do they notice? website (http://ocs.oregonstate.edu/). • Where do students spend the most time? The growing season in the lower portions of the Willamette valley typically averages 150-180 • What areas do they gravitate towards? th Why? days. The last frost is typically around April 26 • What areas do students avoid? Why? while the first frost generally occurs around October 18th. Frost dates vary widely by Next use Google maps to print out and display a location and elevation. It is important to know large aerial map on a wall where it will be seen the USDA hardiness zone for your site. This is and noticed. Begin brainstorming site design by determined by the average lowest temperature. creating images of the site including all aspects The Willamette valley is 8a (10-15 degrees F) or of what student’s hope will be included in the 8b (15-20 degrees F). Winters in this part of the space. Have them add these images to the map. state are mild and rainy, while summer days are It doesn’t matter at first if the images are to dry yet rarely hot. Midsummer nights often scale. This exercise helps students to see the remain in the high 50’s(F), typically too cool for bigger picture and how smaller elements fit into short sleeves. In general western Oregon has a that equation. Images could include: drawings, perverse pattern of rainfall. This part of the words, descriptions, magazine pictures, or state receives lots of moisture in winter when printed pictures from the internet. These gardens do not need it and little moisture in images should represent objects in the summer when garden do need it. Some springs landscape. Have students experiment moving are rainier and cooler than others-so plants the images and words around the landscape to cannot go in as early. In the past few years get an idea of where they think things should be summer unofficially has not begun until mid- placed. Discuss why students think elements July. August and September often boast the should be located in certain areas. Relate the hottest days of the year. Historically it is rare

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that temperatures exceed 90 degrees and on these instruments can be constructed from average this occurs just 5-15 times per year. recycled materials for a low cost. Summer mean temperatures are in the low 80’s while winter temperatures average in the low Soil Survey 40’s. Winters days are cloudy 80% of the time Soil is extremely important in determining and the average yearly rainfall in Portland is where to locate your food garden. It is vitally 37.4” inches, both of which present growing important to plant growth and we are challenges .The diurnal flow of air is such that dependent on it to produce the food that we cold air runs down at night and moves upward eat. To begin understanding the soil texture during the day. Keep updated with temperature (clay, sand, silt), the PH (degree of acidity in the variation as these have fluctuated over the past soil) and the nutrients present at a site, collect a several years. soil sample from several locations and take it to a lab for nutrient and PH analysis. For directions Microclimate (Existing Vegetation, please refer to EC 628 Topography, Aspect, Slope, Sunlight, Built (http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstrea Environment) m/handle/1957/18696/ec628.pdf). There are many great ways to involve students in learning In general a food garden’s climate will vary about the soil and investigating the soil on a site hugely by its local, site specific microclimate. before putting in a garden. Microclimate can change over the range of just a few feet and is affect by: elevation, amount of Site Survey Tools sun or shade, slope of the area (flat or side of a Conducting a site analysis provides a great hill), ground cover or existing vegetation, the opportunity to teach students how to use a aspect of the area (N facing, S facing), the local compass to determine direction, how to use a wind patterns which are affected by buildings solar selector to determine sun angles, and how and trees, and the topography the surrounding to use a site level to measure slope. A solar area, (hills, valleys, rivers, lakes, oceans, selector is tool used to determine how much desserts etc. A site’s proximity to buildings, sun is available during different times of the pavement and parking lots can affect the year. It is very important to know the sun and thermal mass of which produces heat and heat shade patterns of a site before you select it for pocketing. a food garden. Using simple and cheap materials it is really easy to make a solar Observation is key to growing a great garden! selector tool with students. To make one you Get student’s involved in keeping records of the will need; a protractor, a piece of string, and a weather. A rain gauge and a weather station metal washer. You will also need a compass to with a thermometer that records highs and help you find solar south. You can teach lows can be mounted in the garden. More students about measuring slope by creating complicated weather instruments can include: a your own measurement tool using two wooden weather vane to measure wind direction, a dowels or stakes, string, a felt marker or tape, a phsychrometer to measure relative humidity, line level, and a ruler. The University of barometer to measure air pressure, and Minnesota Extension has a great publication hygrometer to measure humidity. Many of with step by step instructions. Please refer to:

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http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/na • Does this sight have 6-8 hours of sunlight turalresources/DD6982.html. For the Portland during the growing season?(April-October) area it is important to know sun angels for each (yes=+1) season. The Winter Solstice, December 21st is • Are there any buried utility or irrigation 21.5⁰ degrees, (90⁰minus 23.5⁰- 45⁰=21.5⁰). The lines in this site? (yes=-5) st summer solstice, June 21 is 68.5⁰ degrees, (90⁰ • Are there any invasive plant species that st plus 23.5⁰- 45⁰). The Equinoxes are March 21 , need to be removed from this site? (yes=-5) st and September 21 . (90⁰- 45⁰) To find solar • Is there an area near by this site for tool south using a compass in Portland you will need and materials storage? (yes=+5) to start with a declination of 17 degrees E. True • Is the area easy to get to and accessible to south is the compass reading minus the all types of people? (yes=+5) declination for E declinations. The University of • Is the view nice (mountains, trees, flowers) North Carolina Extension has a fact sheet on or does it need to be blocked? (busy street, using a compass. Please refer to: trash bins, old buildings, neighbors, parking http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/forestry/pdf/WON/w lot?) (yes=+1) on39.pdf • Is this site near a building? Was lead paint used here? (yes =-5) Site Evaluation • Is this site windy most of the time? (check In this step have students take a more formal this out more than once) (yes=-5) site evaluation to determine the best place to • Is this site flat? (yes=+5) put the food garden. Give them a survey that rates possible locations based on their features. Have more than one Base Map group or student evaluate each possible location and then compare responses to Background determine which site has the best overall score. Why bother making a map or design on paper? Questions to include might be: While it may sound daunting to create your own design, making mistakes on paper first is • Survey the soil. Does this site have good better than making them after time and money soil? (yes=+10) have been spent. It is likely many that maps of • Does water stay in this spot and puddle up? your school property already exist. These maps (yes=-5) can help you and your students understand the • Is the within 50-100 feet of a water source? bigger picture environmental considerations, (yes=+10) connections and relationships pertinent to your • Where does the sun rise and set in relation site’s location. Maps might show any of the to the site? (south, north, east, west?) Can following information: you orient your beds in a north south direction? (yes=+5) -Existing underground or hidden • Using your solar site selector will there be utilities, wells, septic systems. any shade in this area in the winter, -The topography of the landscape summer, spring or fall? (for each yes =-5) surrounding your site

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-Your site’s position in the local watershed or relative to neighboring The food garden is an ongoing cycle of properties continuous events and a gardener should -Your site in relation to future always be asking himself or herself, what’s development, or land uses that may next? To better understand what can be affect your site planted at what time of year it is helpful to refer -Your site in relation to past to a planting table. These are tables that list development, or land uses that may timing guidelines, soil temperature, seed depth affect your site and spacing, as well as other useful information about each individual plant. Be sure to refer to Planning and Designing what to regional research based planting tables plant in your school food garden published by universities. These provide information based on research trials conducted in the area where the garden is to be located. Once garden beds are established it’s time to For the Willamette Valley planting tables please decide what to grow and where to grow it. refer to An Educators Guide to Vegetable There are many ways to plan a garden. First Gardening (following this handbook). It may be consider how much effort will be put into the more appealing to have a visual planting chart garden including the initial planting and the on- that shows crop rotation on a map of each going work. Next consider preferences and individual bed. There are many ways to financial benefits. It may make more sense to approach planning with students and these can consider growing vegetables that are more be divided up by age group and topic area. expensive to buy such as tomatoes rather than Topics might include; what should we plant? potatoes. Or it may be interesting to introduce What are the varying needs of these plants? children to new varieties not available in stores. How will I create a visual map of what we will Steve Solomon has a great scale he developed plan? How do I track what we plant as the on the relative value of garden vegetables in his garden moves along? book, Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades. Timing is probably the biggest consideration when planning a garden. Calculating the sum of a particular plant’s days Planting Tips and Techniques to germination plus the plant’s days to maturity When planting seeds directly in the ground and length of harvest gives a good estimation of always keep in mind the conditions necessary when a crop will be finished growing. Once this for proper germination; temperature, moisture, information is estimated it is possible to plan air, light, and soil. Each seed has a preferred how the space will be rotated, or planted with temperature for germination, usually between the next crop. It is important to rotate your 55⁰ and 85⁰. Moisture is important because it crops as much as possible, considering space penetrates the seed coat and breaks the seed’s limitations. This helps reduce pest and disease dormancy. Some seeds in particular do better buildup, improve soil nutrients quality, soil when soaked prior to planting, or when structure and porosity, as well as weed germinated on a warm counter between moist competition. paper towels. Once in the ground seeds need

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regular moisture to germinate. Soil that is too wet or too dry will prevent seeds from germinating. For this reason it is important seed beds are kept evenly moist before germination. Keep in mind that some seeds require light to germinate and others are less sensitive to light. When attempting to germinate seeds make sure your soil holds water well, allows air movement and is loose enough for growth. The rule of thumb for planting depth is to plant your seed twice as deep as it is wide. For more information please refer to, An Educator’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening; EM 9032 (following this handbook).

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from the past and help us to anticipate or WILDLIFE STEWARDS manage for future conditions.

It is thus becoming more evident that Researching Site History environmental history emerges as an integral part of ecological science and conservation In this chapter you will learn: planning. By considering diverse ecological phenomena, ranging from biodiversity and • Why researching and understanding biogeochemical cycles to ecosystem resilience the site history is an important step in to anthropogenic stress, and by examining developing a wildlife habitat project terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in • How to work with your students to use temperate to tropical biomes, this chapter different tools for researching the demonstrates the ubiquity and importance of school site land-use legacies to environmental science • How to incorporate what you learned and management. Knowing the cultural story about the site history into the design of of the land – who lived on the land, who your habitat garden owned it, how was it used over time, what types of plants and animals lived here before it Researching the site history of your wildlife was developed, can provide a rich learning habitat garden can be both an enriching and experience and help guide students to select invaluable experience for both you and your plants and a garden design that that mimics students. This is an opportunity for your pre settlement times. students to learn about history through multiple lenses- literature, surveyor notes, and Researching the site history is also valuable for local long-time residents. Recognition of the moving your project closer to long-term importance of land-use history and its legacies sustainability. While it is recognized that in most ecological systems has been has been ecological restoration often aims to recreate a major factor driving the recent focus on so-called pre-settlement conditions this can be human activity as a legitimate and important impossible in most urban areas where human subject of environmental science. Ecologists, activities have erased most traces of pre- conservationists, and natural resource settlement conditions. policymakers now recognize that the legacies of land-use activities continue to influence There are a number of ways to introduce your ecosystem structure and function for decades students to researching their site. The method or centuries—or even longer— after those you choose will be dependent on your time activities have ceased. Consequently, available and the age of your students. recognition of these historical legacies adds to our understanding of modern conditions. It can also help us see and reduce the missteps

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Historical Documents different points of view on these same topics. Local libraries, local Historical societies, Native American accounts or accounts from universities are good sources for finding different immigrant groups may shed different historical documents such as diaries, journals, information and give different stories. biographies, census records, community newspapers, letters, artifacts, photos and Once students have collected information scrapbooks. Many of these documents are from diaries, journals or other historical online as well. documents, have them write a story or create a skit that reflects a moment in time and takes In Oregon, we are fortunate because they are place at the same site that will now be their a number of emigrant journals and diaries wildlife garden. from settlers who arrived in Oregon via the Literature Oregon trail that have been preserved. The Historical society and local libraries are helpful Literature is another good source for helping in identifying good sources for this your students have a deeper understanding of information. The Oregon Historical Society, how the land was used over time from the like many other historical societies also keeps Native Americans, explorers, emigrants and files of school photos by community as well as pioneers. aerial views over from over 60 years ago. Check their online database for what you need Find a books or stories from historical fiction or email them and one of their researchers will or non-fiction that explores a character’s help locate the documents for you relationship with the land. There are many (librarycatalog.ohs.org/eosweb/opac/). stories of the early emigrants who first arrived in Oregon and the stories on the land. Explore Another good source is your local library. with your students how the people cared for Libraries often have extensive collections of the land, what was the land like, what plants newspapers stored on microfiche. You can do and animals were discussed, were there an online search for many of these documents conflicts over land and how were they and even download a copy of the document by resolved? Which of the plants and animals using your library card. discussed are still present today and which can be found in your school garden? How similar Once students start collecting information, are the experiences and attitudes of the have them look for clues on how the land was characters in the historical fiction books to the used, what were the modes of transportation, historical documents that currently exist. what was the local food and diets of the people during different points in time, what were the important natural resources, etc. Try and find sources of information that may give

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