The Tree Council of Ireland, supported by Tetra Pak, is delighted to launch Tree Day 2012 themed “If Trees Could Talk…”, which will take place on Thursday 11th October. Trees, especially old trees, have many intriguing tales to tell of times past. On Tree Day, schools and families are invited to explore the fascinating stories, the people and events of local, national and world significance that a tree in their locality may have witnessed in its lifetime.
The official Tree Day website and primary school resource www.treeday.ie, which launched with great success last year, has been updated with lots of new material and is even bigger and better, offering all the necessary resources to help teachers and parents bring Tree Day into the classroom and home. The website features interactive, curriculum-based lessons for the classroom in both Irish and English, new Tree Day school projects, poster downloads, word games, colouring pages and much more. Each year a different native tree is celebrated on Tree Day and this year the spotlight is on the crab apple tree, one of the seven ancient ‘Nobles of the Wood’. Wild crab apples can be found growing in woods and field hedgerows across the country. On Tree Day, many schools also take the opportunity to participate in guided tree and woodland walks at over 60 locations throughout the country, enabling children to connect directly with nature.
One of the main aims of Tree Day is to educate primary school children about the importance of trees and forests in their everyday lives. Tree Day’s mascot Sammy Squirrel is back this year and will feature on the website and on Avonmore school milk cartons. The cartons will portray Irish historical events that our trees have witnessed over the centuries of their existence with interesting facts ranging from the 4,300 year old pine tree excavated from the Céide Fields in North Mayo to the Peace Maze at Castlewellan in Co. Down. If trees could talk they could tell us some really fascinating stories and interesting facts about their surroundings.
Speaking at the launch, Mary Keenan, Executive Director of the Tree Council of Ireland said: “The Tree Council of Ireland is delighted to announce Tree Day 2012. We really hope to build on the success of last year’s campaign and have added more interactive activities for primary school classroom lessons on our website. This is a great opportunity for everyone to appreciate the magic and wonder of our trees and discover how their stories are interwoven with the story of our people and our country. www.treeday.ie offers all the tools and information to help teachers and parents create a positive learning experience that will encourage children to embrace and understand the importance of Ireland’s trees and forests in their communities.”
Commenting on Tetra Pak’s support of Tree Day, Deborah Ryan, Marketing Manager for Tetra Pak Ireland said: “Tetra Pak has been supporting Tree Day for 9 years running. We’re really proud of the fact that educational messages about trees will be appearing on Tetra Pak cartons of Avonmore school milk going into primary schools across the country again this year. As well as encouraging an appreciation for trees, this campaign is all about re-enforcing environmental messages that are close to our heart at Tetra Pak, such as the importance of recycling, sustainable forestry and using renewable resources’.
The Tree Council of Ireland is proud to be encouraging such important environmental messages in Ireland and they are urging the people to get involved and celebrate Tree Day on Thursday 11th October.
Resources
Pack 1 (The Ogham Alphabet) – Download [.jpg file 765KB]
Pack 2 The Céide Fields) – Download [.jpg file 877KB]
Pack 3 (The Brian Boru Oak) – Download [.jpg file 983KB]
Pack 4 (The Peace Maze) – Download [.jpg file 974KB]
Pack 5 (Hawthorn – The Fairy Tree) – Download [.jpg file 886KB]
Pack 6 (Hallowe’en) – Download [.jpg file 974KB]
Pack 7 (Trees and Forest Management) – Download [.jpg file 798KB]
Many thanks to the Tree Council for permission to make these classroom resources available on Seomra Ranga.
