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History
This curious special day
originated in Nebraska. J. Sterling Morton arrived in the
Nebraska Territory in 1854 from Detroit. Morton became Nebraska's
first newspaper editor which gave him a forum to express his love
for trees and to encourage pioneers to plant trees. As Morton's
influence increased, he became secretary for the Nebraska Territory
giving him more opportunities to spread his love for trees. On
4 January 1872, Morton recommended a tree planting day and dubbed
it Arbor Day while in a State Board of Agriculture meeting with
the date set for 10 April 1872 even though some wanted to call
the day "Sylvan".
| RESOLVED, "Wednesday, the 10th day of April, 1872, be, and the same is hereby especially set apart and consecrated for the tree planting in the State of Nebraska, and the State Board of Agriculture hereby name it Arbor Day, and urge upon the people of the State the vital importance of tree planting, and hereby offer a special premium of one hundred dollars t the agricultural society of that county in Nebraska which shall upon that day plant properly the largest number of trees; and a farm library of twenty-five dollars' worth of books to that person, who, on that day, shall plant properly in Nebraska the greatest number of trees." |
Nebraska's Governor Robert W. Furnas officially proclaimed Arbor Day on 12 March 1874 to be celebrated on 10 April 1874. Arbor Day became a legal holiday in Nebraska in 1885 with the date to celebrate set for April 22nd (Morton's birthday). The result of the above resolution was that over a million trees were planted in Nebraska on that first Arbor Day. A few years later, April 22, the birthday of Mr. Morton was set apart by the governor as Arbor Day in that State. In the 1870s, other states began to observe Arbor Day. Today, Arbor Day is acknowledged in many countries.
Music
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Amazing Grace Listen & Lyrics PDF File Worksheet |
For the Beauty of the Earth Listen & Lyrics PDF File Worksheet |
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Heaven and Earth, and Sea and
Air Listen & Lyrics PDF File Worksheet |
Holy, Holy, Holy Listen & Lyrics PDF File Worksheet |
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Fairest Lord Jesus Listen & Lyrics PDF File Worksheet |
This is My Father's World Listen & Lyrics PDF File Worksheet |
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All Things Bright & Beautiful Listen & Lyrics PDF File Worksheet |
Observance
Date(s)
National Arbor Day is
the last Friday in April, but many states observe Arbor Day on
different dates according to their best tree-planting times. Check
the list below to find out when your state or territory observes
Arbor Day. Also listed is each state's official state tree.
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Alabama Last full week in February State Tree: Southern Pine |
Kansas Last Friday in March State Tree: Cottonwood |
North Carolina 1st Friday following March 15 State Tree: Pine |
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Alaska Third Monday in May State Tree: Sitka Spruce |
Kentucky 1st Friday in April State Tree: Yellow Poplar |
North Dakota 1st Friday in May State Tree: American Elm |
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Arizona Last Friday in April State Tree: Paloverde |
Louisiana 3rd Friday in January State Tree: Baldcypress |
Ohio Last Friday in April State Tree: Ohio Buckeye |
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Arkansas 3rd Monday in March State Tree: Pine |
Maine 3rd full week in May State Tree: Eastern White Pine |
Oklahoma Last full week in March State Tree: Eastern Redbud |
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California March 7-14 State Tree: California Redwood |
Maryland 1st Wednesday in April State Tree: White Oak |
Oregon 1st full week in April State Tree: Douglasfir |
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Colorado 3rd Friday in April State Tree: Blue Spruce |
Massachusetts April 28-May 5 State Tree: American Elm |
Pennsylvania Last Friday in April State Tree: Eastern Hemlock |
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Connecticut April 30 State Tree: White Oak |
Michigan Last Friday in April State Tree: Eastern White Pine |
Rhode Island Last Friday in April State Tree: Red Maple |
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Delaware Last Friday in April State Tree: American Holly |
Minnesota Last Friday in April State Tree: Red Pine |
South Carolina 1st Friday in December State Tree: Cabbage Palmetto |
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District of Columbia Last Friday in April District Tree: Scarlet Oak |
Mississippi 2nd Friday in February State Tree: Southern Magnolia |
South Dakota Last Friday in April State Tree: White Spruce |
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Florida 3rd Friday in January State Tree: Cabbage Palmetto |
Missouri 1st Friday in April State Tree: Flowering Dogwood |
Tennessee 1st Friday in March State Tree: Yellow Poplar |
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Georgia 3rd Friday in February State Tree: Live Oak |
Montana Last Friday in April State Tree: Ponderosa Pine |
Texas Last Friday in April State Tree: Pecan |
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Guam 1st Friday in November |
Nebraska Last Friday in April State Tree: Cottonwood |
Utah Last Friday in April State Tree: Blue Spruce |
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Hawaii 1st Friday in November State Tree: Kukui |
Nevada Last Friday in April State Tree: Singleleaf Pinyon |
Vermont 1st Friday in May State Tree: Sugar Maple |
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Idaho Last Friday in April State Tree: Western White Pine |
New Hampshire Last Friday in April State Tree: Paper Birch |
Virginia 2nd Friday in April State Tree: Flowering Dogwood |
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Illinois Last Friday in April State Tree: White Oak |
New Jersey Last Friday in April State Tree: Northern Red Oak |
Virgin Islands Last Friday in September |
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Indiana Last Friday in April State Tree: Yellow Poplar |
New Mexico 2nd Friday in March State Tree: Pinyon |
Washington 2nd Wednesday in April State Tree: Western Hemlock |
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Iowa Last Friday in April State Tree: Oak |
New York Last Friday in April State Tree: Sugar Maple |
West Virginia 2nd Friday in April State Tree: Sugar Maple |
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Wisconsin Last Friday in April State Tree: Sugar Maple |
Wyoming Last Monday in April State Tree: Cottonwood |
Literature
Arbor Day Poems Be sure to check out the poems for this day !
Science
1) Plant a tree and learn how to properly water and care for the tree. Study the tree's seeds and record germination rates of your seedlings.
2) Learn about the importance of trees — windbreaks, keeping soil in its place, fuel, building materials, and shade.
3) Identify ten different types of trees by their leaves, bark, shape, wood, etc.
4) Tree Products: Sample various tree products (e.g., maple syrup, apples, pears, plums, nuts, etc.). Which part of the tree are you eating?
5) Science Log: Describe how wildlife (including insects) use your neighborhood trees. Describe how they use flowers, leaves, limbs, seeds, bark, etc.
6) Science Fair: Organize an Arbor Day Science Fair at church. Have various exhibits of how God has blessed your life with trees. Be sure to have an Arbor Day Proclamation to hand out to visitors! Be sure to include the other science projects recommended here along with Arbor Day Language Arts, Arbor Day Activities, Arbor Day Poems, Arbor Day Music, Arbor Day Bible, Arbor Day Arts, etc.
International Society of Arboriculture
Their "Consumer Tree Care Guide" is wonderful! The site
also explains what an arborist is, the benefits of trees, insect
and disease problems, mature tree care, new tree planting, and
more
Sustainable Trees & Shrub
This site will help you select just the right tree for your climate
and zone
Trees of the Pacific NW
Offers a dichotomous key and many other interesting tree facts
from Oregon State University
A World Community of Old Tree
Offers a tree gallery, a tree museum, tree talk and more
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To exist as a nation,
to prosper as a state, and to live as a people, we must have
trees. — Theodore Roosevelt |
Language Arts
1) Write for a free copy of Celebrate Arbor Day!
2) Interview your parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles and/or pastor to learn how trees have touched their lives. What is their favorite tree and why? You may want to tape record or video tape your interviews to share with various family members at your next get together!
3) Create your own Arbor Day Proclamation for your homeschool or Christian school !
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WHEREAS, to celebrate and honor our Creator God and His great mercies upon His people; and WHEREAS, in 1872 J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees; and WHEREAS, this holiday, called Arbor Day, was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska; and WHEREAS, Arbor Day is celebrated throughout the nation and the world as a special event to promote the planting of trees; and WHEREAS, wherever trees are planted, are a source of joy, renewal and provide improved water quality and recreation; and WHEREAS, trees can reduce the erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water, cut heating and cooling costs, moderate the temperature, clean the air, produce life-giving oxygen, and provide habitat for wildlife, watershed protection; and WHEREAS, trees are a renewable resource giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires, and beautify our community; and WHEREAS, our homeschool community appreciates and values trees as they increase property value, attract businesses and customers, reduce cooling costs, and moderate temperature making our community more attractive, functional and livable; and WHEREAS, our homeschool community strongly encourages individuals and organizations to value trees and plant appropriate species in appropriate places, and keep them properly maintained so that we may have large beautiful shade trees in all parts of our country; and WHEREAS, our homeschool community wishes to recognize the efforts of volunteers who participate in the planting of trees that beautify and lend value to our homes and public spaces; and WHEREAS, our homeschool community will celebrate Arbor Week by planting trees. |
To the School Children of the United States:
Arbor Day (which means simply "Tree Day") is now observed
in every State in our Union and mainly in the schools. At
various times from January to December, but chiefly in this month
of April, you give a day or part of a day to special exercises
and perhaps to actual tree planting, in recognition of the importance
of trees to us as a Nation, and of what they yield in adornment,
comfort, and useful products to the communities in which you live.
It is well that you should celebrate your Arbor Day thoughtfully, for within your lifetime the Nation's need of trees will become serious. We of an older generation can get along without what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied, and man so thoughtlessly destroyed; and because of that want you will reproach us, not for what we have used, but for what we have wasted.
For the nation as for the man or woman, and the boy or girl, the road to success is the right use of what we have and the improvement of present opportunity. If you neglect to prepare yourselves not for the duties and responsibilities which will fall upon you later, if you do not learn the things which you will need to know when your school days are over, you will, suffer the consequences. So any nation which in its youth lives only for the day, reaps without sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the penalty of the prodigal, whose labor could with difficulty find him the bare means of life.
A people without children would face a
hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as hopeless;
forests which are so used that they can not renew themselves will
soon vanish, and with them all their benefits. A true forest
is not merely a storehouse full of wood, but, as it were, a factory
of wood, and at the same time a reservoir of water. When
you help to preserve our forests or, to plant new ones you are
acting the part of good citizens. The value of forestry
deserves, therefore, to be taught in the schools, which aim to
make good citizens of you. If your Arbor Day exercises help
you to realize what benefits each one of you receives from the
forests, and how by your assistance these benefits may continue,
they will serve a good end.
Arts
1) From wood, make a wood bird house and/or feeder.
2) Make wooden jewelry.
3) Hand make you own paper cards and give to your parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, pastor, and/or missionary.
4) Design animals from cones, twigs, leaves, and other tree parts.
5) Make a T-shirt with a tree theme along with a title like the Lord God made them all!
History
Johnny Appleseed: Learn about this interesting Christian man (Would strongly recommend the book from the Childhood of Famous American Series. However, it may take a bit of perseverance looking through and scouting out used bookstores, flea markets, library sales, yard sales, etc. However, it is well worth the hunt!)
Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center &
Outdoor Historical Drama
Learn all about John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) from a group dedicated
to preserving the history behind the man
The Great Plant Escape
Escape Help Detective Le Plant & his partners, Bud and Sprout,
unlock the amazing mysteries of plant life
Most people know PrestonSpeed Publications brought the classic writings of G.A. Henty back into print. Entire families are once again enjoying Mr. Henty's work in books, audiobooks, and in The Captain. Demand the best by demanding PrestonSpeed Publications. Accept no substitutes!!
