The Last Forest Curriculum Guide

In the AMR Store
G.D. McNeill's book, The Last Forest, as well as the audio edition produced by Larry Groce, of Public Radio's Mountain Stage, are available in the Allegheny Mountain Radio Store. CLICK HERE to learn more.

Lesson plans for 6th to 10th grades include art, Internet research, language arts, outdoor education, science, and social studies.

The Pocahontas Communications Cooperative has produced and is making available to teachers a free curriculum guide to The Last Forest: Tales of the Allegheny Woods by West Virginia writer G.D. McNeill. McNeill, father of West Virginia poet laureate Louise McNeill Pease, wrote stories that take the reader back to the Pocahontas County forests of his boyhood in the 1890s and move forward through the heavy logging and devastating forest fires that changed the Allegheny front forever. The book of historical fiction, originally published in 1940, had largely disappeared when a small group of individuals rediscovered it and recognized it as a treasure that should be shared with new generations of readers. PCC, in part with funding from the West Virginia Humanities Council, is making the stories and the curriculum guide available to educators in hopes of doing just that.

The curriculum guide comes in a three-ring binder that includes everything a classroom teacher needs to incorporate The Last Forest into a unit on Internet research or outdoor education or a middle school or high school class in art, language arts, science, social studies, or West Virginia history. The ready-to-use lesson plans were developed primarily for use in grades six through ten although the wealth of materials included in the curriculum can easily be adapted for use in both lower and higher grades.

Each binder includes:

Printed materials to accompany each story,
The Last Forest curriculum guide on CD-ROM, which contains the text of five stories from the book, activities with student pages that may be reproduced as worksheets or transparencies, photographs, documents, maps, and other primary sources chosen to make history come alive for both teachers and students. The CD-ROM also contains a glossary of definitions of all archaic and geographic terms students need to know to complement their understanding and enjoyment of the stories as well as important landmarks noted in each story.
Audio CDs of five of the stories from the The Last Forest, which were produced as radio plays by Larry Groce of West Virginia Public Radio’s Mountain Stage. Characters in the stories are voiced by notable West Virginia singers, actors, and personalities such as Bill Kimmons, Ricklin Brown, Carter Zerbe, Julian Martin, and Sallie Daugherty Sheridan. Gandydancer, Dwight Diller, Jim Costa and other well-known regional groups and musicians also are featured on the CDs.
A poster-sized topographical map of the area. Key points of interest in the stories are referenced on the map so students can follow the action, learn to read the contours and distances, and find important landmarks at the same time.

Quantities are limited. To request a copy for your school or classroom today, fill out the form below and click "Submit" or call 1-800-297-2346. Please allow 5-10 business days for delivery.

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