School Of Forest Resources Co-Sponsors “Growing Champion Classrooms”

MONTICELLO, Ark. — The School of Forest Resources at the University of Arkansas at Monticello has joined Entergy Corporation as a co-sponsor of “Growing Champion Classrooms,” which provides lesson plans and visual aids for Arkansas educators based on the touring art exhibit “Arkansas Champion Trees: An Artist’s Journey.”

Lesson plans may be viewed and downloaded from the championtreesexhibit.org/resources or from www.arkforests.org/growingchampionclassrooms.html. Classroom materials include large poster reproductions of original drawings from the exhibit and art lesson plans with activities for grades K-2, 3-5, and 6-8. Arkansas artists and art educatorsVirmarie DePoyster and Lisa Krannichfeld Walden authored the lesson plans to meet State Frameworks and accommodate Common Core guidelines. The Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts produced the classroom materials with the support of Entergy Arkansas grants in 2013 and 2014, and a 2013 grant from the UAM School of Forest Resources. The program is also supported in part by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

“We are pleased to be a part of this project,” said Dr. Phil Tappe, dean of the UAM School of Forest Resources. “It’s important to educate the young people of the state about our natural resources and encourage an appreciation of the natural wonders of our state.”

The exhibit “Arkansas Champion Trees: An Artist’s Journey,” was created by Arkansas artist Linda Williams Palmer and features 18 pencil drawings of Arkansas champion trees, the largest of a particular variety in the state as certified by the Arkansas Forestry Commission.

For more information, contact the School of Forest Resources at (870) 460-1274.