Grade Level: 5th Grade

Time: Two Days: 45 to 60 minutes per day

Essential Question:  How can we be stewards of Wyoming’s public and private lands to benefit current and future generations?

Objective:  Students will:

• • Identify how Wyoming’s State Trust Lands are used in multiple ways to generate revenue for current and future students.
  • Study primary source documents to obtain information about state lands.

Purpose: Students learn the difference between Wyoming’s State Trust Lands and state parks, how both are used, and how to be stewards of them.

Required Materials/Resources:

• • Wyoming State Trust Lands Story – Jillian Balow Interview text (one per student and a copy for the teacher) (Source 1)
  • Highlighters
  • Sticky notes
  • Masking tape
  • Tokens of some kind (five per student)
  • Collection bin for tokens
  • Pencil sharpener

    Teacher Note:

    The pencil sharpener is one suggestion of a tool that students will have to “pay” to use.  A teacher could also select other things like getting a drink, already sharpened pencils, etc.
  • State Trust Land sign
  • Portraits of Jillian Balow and Darin Westby for the Portrait Gallery
  • Some type of school supply or item: eraser, pencil, ten minutes of free time, etc. (one per student) – This is the item that is “bought” in Part 1: step 3 with the “state trust land” tokens.
  • Land Ownership map PDF or http://uwmaps.wygisc.org/studentAtlas/index.html?page=37 from Lesson 2 (Source 8)
  • Music
  • Official State Highway Map of Wyoming (one per student)
  • State Park Location Clues (one per student) (Source 5)
  • Glendo State Park Story text (one per student and a copy for the teacher) (Source 9)
  • White paper (two pieces per student)

Suggested Teacher Preparation:  

• Read the Required Materials/Resources list and gather any items that are not readily available in your classroom.
• Collect the State Highway Maps. They are free from any Chamber of Commerce or state rest stop, or you can contact the Wyoming Office of Tourism for some. 1-800-225-5996 or https://www.travelwyoming.com/map. (Source 10)
• Choose and gather the school supply or item for each student in class (eraser, pencil, ten minutes of free time, etc.)
• Review the following website for more information on State Trust Lands. https://lands.wyo.gov/resources (Source 6)
• Review the Outdoor Recreation & Tourism 101 document (It is located in the Educator Essentials – Sources 2 – 4) and the Wyoming State Parks website https://wyoparks.wyo.gov/index.php/places-to-go/view-full-list-of-wyoming-state-parks (Source 5) There is a small video of each state park on their website that may be a great resource for the teacher.
• Partition a small part of the public lands part of the floor for State Trust Lands.  In the space, place the State Trust Lands sign, the collection bin, and the pencil sharpener or whatever item students are “paying” to use. It only needs to be big enough to fit these three items.
• Post the sentence starters for students to use in Part 1: step 5.

Standards:  

Social Studies: SS5.3.1 (Explicit) SS5.5.2m (Practiced/Encountered)

ELA: 5.RI.1, 5.RI.2 (Practiced/Encountered)

Vocabulary:

• • State Parks – State lands reserved to be enjoyed by the public for recreation and tourism and do not generate income through development
  • State Trust Lands – lands that were granted to Wyoming and designated to generate revenue for public schools and other state institutions

Instructional Procedure/Steps:

Day 1:

1.  Pass out the Wyoming State Trust Lands Story – Jillian Balow Interview texts and highlighters. Show students the picture of Superintendent Balow and add her picture to the Portrait Gallery. Say: “Two 5th grade students, Jane and William, are having a discussion about how State Trust Lands are important for education. Jane says they are not important, and William claims that State Trust Lands help their school. You and an elbow partner are going to read an interview with Jillian Balow. While you are reading, highlight or underline information that would support Jane or William’s position on State Trust Land. We will share this information as a whole group when we are done reading. Before we start, please highlight the following words: State Trust Lands, schools, benefits, grazing, energy, mineral, and timber leases.”
2. When all students have finished, have students share out with the whole group some of the evidence they found. At the end of the discussion, ask: “Who was correct, Jane or William?” Below are some ideas that should be brought out:

• • • Students should be able to say that these lands are held in trust to produce income to support public schools.
    • These lands benefit youth in our state by generating income from livestock grazing, outfitting, energy and mineral production, and timber leases.
    • These lands are managed by the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners, which is made up of a board of five state elected officials.
    • The State Trust Lands board uses stewardship principles to manage the land and make sure it brings the best investment possible.
    • Students correctly identify William as being correct about State Trust Lands.

3. When students are finished discussing, say, “Please put your materials away as we start our next activity. It will help you understand what a challenge it is to manage State Trust Lands.” The masking tape line should still be on the floor. Remind students which side represents public land.  Show students the new section that is labeled State Trust Land, which contains the container to hold the tokens. Pass out five tokens to each student. Say: “Just like ranchers, industry people, and other individual citizens must pay to use State Trust Land, you will have to ‘pay’ to use the pencil sharpener (or other item) in our State Trust Land.  You will each have five tokens to use.  When you need to sharpen your pencil (or use other item), you will have to put a token in the token container located in our State Trust Land.  When there are 40 tokens in our fund, we will purchase an item for our classroom that will benefit your needs as students. This is similar to the way that funds from State Trust Lands are given to support public education.  We will make a group decision to earn something that will benefit everyone: a/an ________. (Say the item that you have selected.) We will take time to look at our fund in the token container at the end of the day today to see how we are doing.  Make sure to put your tokens in a safe place, so you can use them each time you need to sharpen your pencil (or whatever the teacher decides)!”
4. Display the Land Ownership map from Lesson 2. Say: “Let’s look back at the Land Ownership map from the previous lesson and find the State Trust Lands.  Find the light blue area on the map.  You should notice 5.75% is State Trust Land.  Our public schools are not built on this land. It is land managed by the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners for uses that financially benefit our schools and you as students. State Trust Lands generate income from leasing for livestock grazing, outfitting, energy, timber, and mineral production. Think about our pencil sharpener and how we are going to charge a fee to use it.  Eventually, we are going to benefit from the use because we get something for our classroom from the tokens we have collected. Citizens may enter State Trust Land for very specific reasons, but some activities are restricted. According to the Wyoming Game and Fish: ‘The Board of Land Commissioners extends to the public the privilege of hunting and fishing on legally accessible State Trust Lands, unless otherwise closed by direction of the Board.  Anyone crossing private land to reach state land must have the permission of the private landowner.  Off-road vehicle use, overnight camping, and open fires are prohibited on State Trust Lands.  This privilege is for the public to fish in any streams, lakes, or ponds, and to hunt, pursue, and harvest game animals and game birds in accordance with applicable state and federal hunting and fishing laws and regulations.  Activities that would damage state lands, roads, improvements, or lease property interests are also prohibited’ (Source 7) State Trust Lands can be tricky to understand, but it should make you feel good as students that land has been set aside to raise money for your schools.”
5. As a check for understanding, use the 3-minute Walk and Stop and Talk strategy.  Students will reflect on the concepts that have just been introduced about the State Trust Land. Play some energizing music while the students are moving. When the music stops, they talk to the closest student using these sentence starters:

• • • “State Trust Lands are important because…”
    • “If someone had never heard of State Trust Lands one thing I would teach them is…”
    • “State Trust Lands can be used for… “
    • “_________ was correct because State Trust Lands…”

At the end of the day, count how many tokens have been collected so far.

Day 2:

6. Say: “Today, we are going to talk about another kind of state land: state parks.  Some of our state lands are state parks. Does anyone know of a state park in Wyoming?” Let students respond. Pass out the State Highway Maps of Wyoming, State Park Location Clues, and sticky notes. “Let’s find where our state parks are located on a Wyoming highway map.  Look carefully in all parts of the map for State Parks.  When you find one, place a sticky note on the map near the location of the park. I have also given you a paper with some clues to help find the parks. Have fun learning some State Park facts. You will have ten minutes. Begin.”
7. Once students have found the parks on the map, check for understanding by asking the questions below. Have students respond in pairs. Allow students to respond to the first set before moving on to the next one. Change up pairs for each question set by first asking students to find a partner with similar shoes. For the second set, students discuss the questions with a classmate that has a birthday close to his/her own. The teacher should listen to students’ responses while they are discussing. The first set of questions is intended to reinforce map skills, and the second set is to highlight aspects of the parks.

• • Question Set 1:
    • • “How did you find the parks?”
      • “What information on the map was helpful in locating the parks?”

References to the map key, geographic features, and narratives.  This is a nice opportunity to encourage students to use directional language: name counties and geographic features, etc.

• • Question Set 2:
    • • “What do you notice about where the parks are located?
      • What geographic features are in those areas?
      • What types of recreation do you think visitors would be participating in when they visit these parks?”

Students should respond with a general sense of the state parks, their locations, and the uses of the park.

8. Pass out the Glendo State Park Story text. Post the portrait of Darin Westby in the Portrait Gallery. Students will read and discuss the text using the protocol from lesson one. First, read the text aloud.

Next, say: “Now, read the article on your own making sure to highlight information about State Parks and challenges that occurred at Glendo State Park. Remember, you will be sharing your findings with the whole class.” When students are finished reading, have students share out with the whole group some of their new learning. Below are some ideas that should be brought out:

• • • • People could camp where they wanted.
      • Littering occurred along the beach.
      • High congestion affected the natural resources.
      • No specific campsites were marked.

9. When students have finished sharing, discuss the multiple uses of this state park by asking, “What are ways people use Glendo State Park?” Let students respond. Pass out one sheet of white paper to each student. Say: “On your paper, write one way that Glendo State Park practiced good stewardship principles.” As an optional activity, have students ball up their paper and have a “snowball fight” for five to ten seconds.  When the “fight” is over, students choose a “snowball,” and add another aspect of stewardship for our state parks to the paper. Have two or three students summarize what were good stewardship practices at Glendo State Park.

Assessment:  Pass out a second white piece of paper to each student. Have students create a mini-poster of 15 words or less that encourages the children of Wyoming to be good stewards of state lands. Say: “Using 15 words or fewer, create a mini-poster that answers this question: How can we be good stewards of our state lands?” When students are finished, collect the posters and hang them around the room. Check that posters encourage others to be good stewards of state lands. At the end of this lesson (or day), count collected tokens to see if the class has earned what it was working towards that benefits ALL students.

Credits/Sources:

1. 1. Wyoming Department of Education, Jillian Balow, Wyoming State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
   2. State of Wyoming. Economic Analysis Division. (2010). Equality State Almanac. Retrieved August 18, 2017, from http://eadiv.state.wy.us/almanac/ESA2010.pdf
   3. Jolly, Dave. The Constitution. (2015, February 8). Wyoming State Constitution, 1890, as Amended. Retrieved August 18, 2017, from http://constitution.com/wyoming-state-constitution-1890-as-amended/
   4. State of Wyoming. (2013). State Trust Land Restrictions Under Consideration. Retrieved October 10, 2018, from http://lands.wyo.gov/resources/restrictions-under-consideration
   5. Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites, & Trails. (2017). Wyoming State Parks. Retrieved August 19, 2017, from https://wyoparks.wyo.gov/index.php/places-to-go/view-full-list-of-wyoming-state-parks
   6. Wyoming Office of State Lands & Investments. (n.d.) State Trust Lands. Retrieved June 11, 2020 from https://lands.wyo.gov/resources
   7. Wyoming Office of State Lands & Investments. (2013). Public Access Rules. Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://lands.wyo.gov/resources/recreation
   8. University of Wyoming. (n.d.). Land Ownership map. Retrieved August 18, 2017, from http://uwmaps.wygisc.org/studentAtlas/index.html?page=37
   9. Wyoming State Parks, Glendo State Park Stewardship Project, Darin Westby, Director of Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.
   10. Wyoming Office of Tourism. (2018). Boldly Venture Forth. Retrieved October 10, 2018, from https://www.travelwyoming.com/map