Have You Ever Met a Tree?
Recommended Age Level: Pre-Kindergarten and Early Elementary
Guiding Questions
Have you ever met a tree?
What are some of the characteristics or features of different
trees?
Objectives
Principles
Perennial plants, like trees, stay alive for many years and you can see
them all year long. They don’t die after one year or one season.
Some trees have leaves, some have needles.
- Many trees have some kind of fruit that they bear every year during a
particular season.
Trees are not just pretty, they are important to us for many reasons. Some
provide fruit and nuts for food, some provide wood to use to build things,
and all trees are important because they produce oxygen for us to breathe.
Many animals and birds depend on trees for food and shade. Some even make
their homes in trees!
Facts
All trees have roots, trunks, branches and stems, and some kind of leaf
or needle.
Trees need sunlight, water, and soil to live and grow.
Some trees lose their leaves or some of their needles every year. Some
trees with needles stay green all year.
Skills
- Making Observations
- Making Comparisons
- Making Inferences
- Drawing Conclusions
- Communicating Observations and Findings
Materials
A tree for every child or pair
Drawing paper and something to put paper on so you can draw and write
outside
Pencils, crayons, or colored markers
Clear contact paper
Optional: may want to have seat cushions or something to put on the ground
to sit on if children go out on wet or muddy days to examine and draw/write
about their trees./
Bag or box to keep their materials in
Room Preparation
No room required! Need to find many trees so every child or pair can
“meet a tree.”
When children complete drawings or posters and make presentations, have
them sit in a circle so all can see, hear, and share in discussions.
Safety and Precautions
- Just be ready to deal with varying weather conditions.
Procedures and Activities
Introduction
Ask children the guiding questions:
Have you ever met a tree?
Listen as children share the kinds of trees they have “met ”
— trees they
have at home, have climbed, have picked fruit from, have seen bird nests
in, have watched squirrels climb and scamper on, have sat under on a hot
and sunny day, have swung beneath on a swing, have raked and played in the
fall leaves of, may even have planted....
Lead discussion to basic understandings that we know many different kinds
of trees and that they offer us many different things, from shade, to play,
to food.
What are some of the unique characteristics or features of
trees?
No two trees are exactly alike, just as no two people are just alike. Think
about and share characteristics of some favorite trees. Some ideas:
- What are the tree ’s physical traits? (size; leaves or needles;
shape, size, and color of leaves; fruit and/or nuts, flowers, bark
texture and color...)
- How do people use the tree? (make maple syrup, eat nuts, enjoy
flowers, sit under for shade, decorate for holidays, use for
firewood or to build things, use for play and fun....
- How do critters or animals and birds enjoy the tree? Have their
homes in the tree, eat the fruit, nuts or seeds, play in the tree
go to for shelter or shade.
Today, you are going to “meet a tree ” and be a scientist
who observes and studies a tree to learn what special characteristics
it has. Then you are going to draw and write about your tree so you
can introduce it to others.
Activity
Getting Ready to Go Outside & Meet a Tree
Briefly go over what we are going to do with our trees, including
Make observations like a scientist —check it out!
Carefully use your eyes to study the whole tree, from the very top
to the very bottom of it! Your eyes are like a camera taking snapshots
of how tall or short your tree is, what kind of branches it has, whether
it has needles or leaves, if there are any critters in it or any
evidence that critters do come and use or live in it...
Look to see what its physical features are.
Does your tree have a smooth or rough trunk? Long willowy branches
or short stumpy branches? Does your tree “weep ” or
have a rounded top or a pointed, narrow top? Are there leaves or
needles? What exactly do the leaves or needles look like? Do you see
any flowers, nuts, pine cones or other things growing? Do any
critters use the tree or even live in it?
Document your observations like a scientist.
Scientists have to figure out ways to remember what they did and
saw and to share their findings with other people. Here are some of
the ways you can document your observations:
Make a bark rubbing. Make a rubbing of a leaf or needle. Draw a
picture of a leaf, taking special note of the pattern of its
“veins. ” Draw the entire tree, paying attention to how
it branches and whether its leaves grow in groups or on single stems.
Draw the flowers, nuts or other interesting parts. Draw a picture of
any critters you see visiting or living in the tree. (If you watch
carefully, you may see ants carrying aphids up and down the trunk.)
Draw a picture of any critter homes you see —birds ’ nests,
squirrels’ nest, hornets’ or bees’ nest. Seal leaves,
needles, and twig samples in between pieces of clear contact paper.
Note: You may need to show children an example and demonstrate how to
do some of the strategies, such as how to seal leaf and twigs in contact
paper or how to do rubbings.
Give children a sack or box that contains the materials they need and go
“meet a tree.” Have them share what they are going to look for
and do before they go outside to their trees.
If children are working in pairs, let them get together before they go outside.
They can talk about whether they are going to split up tasks or if they will
each do every activity.
Go outdoors and let children “meet their trees.”
You might give them some guidance such as every 10 minutes or so share that
they should move on to drawing their tree, doing bark rubbing, doing leaf or
needle rubbing, sketching critters and nests, etc.
Children may need some extra time to document their observations and to
complete their activities inside the classroom. Also give them time to practice
making a presentation and sharing their drawings, rubbings, sealed samples. and
writing.
Evaluation
Back in the classroom, ask again:
- Have you ever met a tree?
- What are some of the characteristics or features of different trees?
Let children make their presentations and share their drawings. Listen for
evidence that they understand characteristics of all trees, physical features
of different kinds of trees, how people and critters enjoy and use trees....
Extension Ideas
Children may enjoy working on their oral presentations to the point of
taping or videotaping their talks. They can listen to or watch their tapes
to learn about effective speaking skills and send copies to family members
or friends to share what they have done.
Children might showcase their work with an exhibit of their drawings.
Invite a landscaper or nursery owner to come and share information about
trees and about their careers.
Children might learn about how important trees are for human and
environmental purposes—to prevent soil erosion, to provide shade and
winter wind breaks, to produce oxygen. Some may enjoy looking into topics
such as logging and rain forest issues. They could research Michigan’s
history as a lumber producer.
Contact a county conservationist or another group in the community that
plants seedlings every year. Children may get involved in planting. Arbor
Day and Earth Day are particularly nice occasions for such a planting.
Local maples tend to be prodigious seed producers; you might ask a parent
to nurture some “volunteer” trees for a year just for such
plantings.
Have children use a field guide or reference book to learn more about
their particular kind of tree. (The US Government Printing Office is an
inexpensive source of such guides; the MSU Cooperative Extension Service
produces one specific to Michigan.) Children may compile their work into
a big scrapbook about all their trees. Some children may enjoy studying
their trees for a year to see and draw how they change from season to
season.
See if a group taps maple trees for syrup in your area. (In southeastern
Michigan, try Cranbrook
Institute of Science. Let children get involved in the process of making
maple syrup, then celebrate with pancakes and syrup!
Visit a nursery and let children “meet” many different kinds
of trees and learn about why people buy and plant certain kinds of trees.
Children might design a yard, park, or school playground and include
different kinds of trees for different purposes, such as shade, homes
for birds and squirrels, wind protection in the winter, flowering
trees for spring, pine trees for greenery all year....
Research the emerald ash borer
that began killing the ash trees in our neighnorhoods in southeastern Michigan
in summer 2002! Here are some more links for your
research.
Visit the National Audubon Society’s Birder Homepage to learn about bird
watching, habitats, bird feeders, migration patterns, rare and common
birds, and current bird research. You can also link to bird museums,
magazines and organizations!
Children could visit an apple orchard in the fall, pick some apples, and
study different varieties of apple and fruit trees. They could check out
recipes and have an “experimental kitchen” to test recipes
like apple pies, crisps, and cakes. They could make applesauce,
apple butter, and apple leather.
Some children might like to try our Solar Apple
Baker lesson to learn about drying fruits by using solar energy.
These storybooks also are fun to read as a follow-up to this activity:
- The Man Who Talked to a Tree, by Byrd Baylor
- Oak and Company, by Richard Mabey
- The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein
- Tree Flowers, by Millicent E. Selsam
Plan an environmental field trip:
Careers Related to Lesson Topic
Prerequisite Vocabulary
- Perennial
- Living for several years, often growing larger every year
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