Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Doug Foley of 906 Tree Service LLC teaches fourth graders at Luther L. Wright K-12 School a song he wrote about photosynthesis on Friday. Foley was invited to give a presentation on trees to the students for Arbor Day.
By ZACHARY MARANO
Ironwood - For National Arbor Day, Doug Foley - a former teacher at Ironwood Area Schools and co-owner of 906 Tree Service LLC - returned to Luther L. Wright on Friday morning to teach fourth grade students about the importance of trees.
The fourth-grade classes of teachers Daniel Negro, Judy Balchik and Rebecca Sim gathered in the school's makerspace room on the second floor to hear Foley's presentation. Foley introduced himself to the classes as an arborist, a job he described as like being a "tree doctor" who helps make trees stronger and treat them if they're sick.
To help make the presentation more engaging to the students, Foley brought in some examples of the many things that come from trees, including maple syrup, a dollar bill and toilet paper.
Foley shared a song about photosynthesis that he wrote with the students, hoping that getting a song stuck in their heads would help them remember the steps of this important process on future tests. He provided background music for his lyrics on a wood-carved guitar bearing the 906 Tree Service LLC logo.
Foley led the fourth-grade classes in song: "Sunlight, water and CO2 / mix together so we don't turn blue / In the leaves with chlorophyll / out comes sugar and O2 / We all need plants for food / We all need photosynthesis."
Foley also helped the teachers hand out trees in bags to the students to take home and plant with adult supervision. He said they will eventually grow into 40-to-50-foot-tall evergreen trees.
This was just the first stop on Foley's tour of area schools. He also visited the nearby Hurley School District in the afternoon on Friday and he plans to give another tree presentation at Bessemer School District at 10:20 a.m. on Monday.
