Words in Time

Throughout history people have been influenced by the written word, the writings of different authors have helped shape entire generations and reflect the views of their time period. Use Project Learning Tree’s “In the Good Old Days” to explore excerpts from the writings of different authors who have influenced people’s thinking about the environment. Students will become familiar with different authors and explore how those authors’ personal experiences shaped their relationship with our environment. Along the way, they will examine their own views about the environment and how their own personal experiences have shaped their relationship with the environment.

Enrichment activity:

Students can research an important environmental or conservation leader, such as a scientist, political leader or writer, to learn about the influences in that person’s life. They can also explore what the general environmental attitudes were during that person’s time period and how the attitudes and events of the time may have helped shape their attitude about the environment.

Book List

Grades PreK-2
Aliki. 1971. The Story of Johnny Appleseed. Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.
Holling, C. 1980. Paddle-to-the-Sea. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Pfeffer, W. 1997. A Log’s Life. Simon Schuster Children’s Publishing.
Romanova, N. 1999. Once There Was a Tree. Rebound by Sagebrush.
Schnur, S., H.D. Thoreau and P.M. Fiore. 2002. Henry David’s House. Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.
Yolen, J. and J. Stemple. Color Me a Rhyme: Nature Poems for Young People. Boyds Mills Press.

Grades 3-5
Hamerstrom, F. 1985. Walk When the Moon Is Full. Crossing Press, Inc.
Holling, C. 1980. Paddle-to-the-Sea. Houghton Mifflin Company
Thorson, K., R. Thorson and G. Moore. 2003. Stone Wall Secrets. Tilbury House Publishers.
Wilder, L.I., R. Graef and G. Williams. 1995. Winter Days in the Big Woods. HarperCollins Publishers.
Yolen, J. and J. Stemple. Color Me a Rhyme: Nature Poems for Young People. Boyds Mills Press.

Grades 6-8
Atkins, J. and P. Conner. 2000. Girls Who Looked Under Rocks. Dawn Publications.
Fletcher, R.J. 1997. Ordinary Things: Poems from a Walk in Early Spring. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
Hass, R. and P. Michael. 2008. River of Words: Young Poets and Artists on the Nature of Things. Milkweed Editions.
Holling, C. 1980. Paddle-to-the-Sea. Houghton Mifflin Company
Leopold, A. 1989. A Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press.
Maurer, R. 1999. The Wild Colorado. Random House Children’s Books.
Pratt-Serafini, K.J. 2001. Salamander Rain. Dawn Publications.
Stewart Knight, A. and M. McCurdy. 1993. The Way West: Journal of a Pioneer Woman. Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.
Whitman, S. 1994. This Land Is Your Land: The American Conservation Movement. Lerner Publishing Group.
Yolen, J. and J. Stemple. Color Me a Rhyme: Nature Poems for Young People. Boyds Mills Press.

Grades 9-12
Anderson, P. 1996. Henry David Thoreau: American Naturalist. Scholastic Library Publishing.
Carson, R. 2002. Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Emerson, R.W. and L. Ziff. 2003. Nature and Selected Essays. Penguin Group(USA).
Finch, R. The Norton Book of Nature Writing College Edition with Field Guide. W. W. Norton & Co. Inc.
Lendt, D.L. 1989. Ding: The Life of Jay Norwood Darling. Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated.
Leopold, A. 1989. A Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press.
Muir, J. 1997. John Muir: Nature Writings. Penguin Group.
Thoreau, H. 2004. Walden. Houghton Mifflin Books.