Forest Homes

Background Information for Teachers

When studying forest habitats, the concept of layers is often used.

For the purposes of the Forests of Washington activity guides, four layers

are identified and discussed:

Skills

Discussion, artistic representation,

observation, creative writing

if More Ideas section is used:

Research, listening, computer

technology, compare/contrast

Subject Areas

The Canopy

Art, language arts, science

Materials

Butcher paper

3” x 5" cards (optional)

Colored chalk, crayons or collage

materials

•Washington Animals

The Understory

information cards*

*Provided

The Forest Floor

The Subfloor

2. The understory This layer is made up of smaller trees, shrubs,

bushes, snags — in short, everything between the canopy and

the floor

3.

The forestfloor: The floor includes leaf litter stones, fallen

logs, groundcover p/ants, stumps, etc.

4.

The subfloor: The subfloor comprises soil rocks, roots, fungi,

invertebrates and tunnels — everything under the ground.

Washington forest animals usually inhabit one of these layers,

although some animals use more than one. They may raise their young

and find shelter in the canopy and forage the understory, forest floor and

even the soil for food.

When studying forest animals, remember to include all forms of wildlife

(fish, insects, slugs and spiders, for example), not just mammals and birds.

1.

The canopy: This layer comprises tree tops and overlapping

branches of large trees.