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Worksheet
Curated OER

Tree-Ring Activity

For Students 7th - 9th
In this tree ring worksheet, students analyze tree ring samples to determine the age of the tree. They compare them to archived samples and answer questions about the age of the tree and its growth years and abnormal growth years.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tree Cookies

For Teachers 4th - 8th
You will find a viewer-friendly PowerPoint on the growth rings and other features found in a cross-section of a tree trunk, affectionately known as a "tree cookie." A few worksheets are provided for practice counting tree rings and a...
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Lesson Plan
Polar Trec

Rings of Life

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Individuals analyze tree rings to determine the health of an ecosystem. They then look at otoliths of fish, hard calcium carbonate structures located behind the brain, in the same manner. 
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PPT
Curated OER

Tree Cookies!

For Teachers 5th - 8th
"Tree Cookies!" is a delicious little presentation designed to introduce upper elementary or middle school botanists to the anatomy of a tree trunk. The cambium, phloem, xylem, and other vital structures are identified and defined. Two...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lord of the Rings - A Study of Tree Rings

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students examine trees and discuss how the environment effected the tree. They also predict what the area look like in fifty years.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Aging of Trees

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students examine tree rings to determine its age.  In this tree ring lesson plan, students examine core tree samples, identify the tree rings, and then determine its age. Students complete a worksheet, deciding which of the two core...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tree Cookies

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students identify heartwood, sapwood, and a tree's annual rings, infer from a tree's rings what damage or stress might have occurred in its life, and make a time-line of human history that coincides with a tree's rings.
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Activity
It's About Time

Paleoclimates

For Teachers 7th - 12th
How do scientists know what the Earth was like in the past? This second installment of a six-part series focuses on paleoclimates and provides an overview of how geologists determine information about past climates using fossil pollen,...
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Lesson Plan
Minnesota Department of Natural Resoures

Tree Life

For Teachers 2nd Standards
The life of a tree is the focus of a packet consisting of several activities all covering a different subject. Second graders measure shadows, make pinecone critters, write poems, count rings, complete a word search, play tree tag, and...
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

How Old Is That Tree?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Fifth graders study environmental changes by examining the annual rings of a cross-section of a tree trunk. They access websites to complete a worksheet on the parts of a tree. They count the annual rings on a tree slice while observing...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Practice Estimating!

For Students Pre-K - 2nd
Bring math home with this interative estimating worksheet! Scholars make educated guesses about the number of six household items: crayons in a crayon box, keys on a key ring, coins in a piggy bank, trees in the yard, pictures on the...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Measuring Absolute Time

For Students 8th - 10th
In this absolute time worksheet, students answer eleven questions about ways to measure the age of fossils. They define half-life, answer questions about radioactive dating, tree rings and varves.
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Activity
NASA

The Effects of Sunspots on Climate

For Students 8th - 10th
In this sunspots and climate change learning exercise, learners use a diagram of a tree stump and its rings to determine the age of the tree. They use sunspot data from the internet and they construct an Excel spreadsheet to compare the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Methuselah Tree

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Learners examine how scientists determine the age of living and non-living trees. They simulate the role of a tree-ring scientist, crossdating tree-ring samples and determining which sample is the oldest and the age of the samples.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Logs of Straw: Dendocronology

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Students investigate the age of trees by analyzing tree rings.  For this dendocronology lesson, students examine sample images of tree rings and identify their age by the amount of rings.  Students complete a chart identifying the age,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tree Birthdays

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students investigate the growth of trees. In this tree growth lesson, students discover that trees make a ring each year they live. Students use new voabulary such as bark, phloem, and cambuim to talk about tree parts. Students create a...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

How Old is That Tree?

For Students 4th - 6th
In this age of a tree worksheet, students use "Tree Cookies" and count the number of rings in each, they determine the age of the tree and they identify any special features and what they may indicate.
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Lesson Plan
Forest Foundation

The Nature of Trees

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Young botanists examine the different parts of tress and then draw parallels between the functions of these parts and the function of parts of the human body. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

It's All in the Rings

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Students examine how the environment influences tree growth. In this tree lesson, students analyze the growth of rings to see how plants adjust to adverse conditions in order to survive.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tree Rings As Records of the Past

For Teachers 1st - 8th
Students discover how trees preserve a record of times in the past.
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Interactive
Curated OER

Explorit's Tree Quiz

For Students 4th - 6th
In this online interactive tree quiz worksheet, students respond to 6 questions. Students may check their answers for accuracy.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tree Identification

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students list four ways to identify trees. In this tree identification instructional activity, students use tree identification techniques such as leafs, bark, wood grain, soil type, and climate to create tables and graphs.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Trees for Tomorrow

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students examine how to plan for prudent use of trees so that we never run out of this natural resource. They determine what the oldest wooden object in their home is and draw picture of it. They observe a cross section of a tree and...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Student Exploration: Measuring Trees

For Students 4th - 6th
In this measuring trees worksheet, students explore the internet program Gizmo about measuring trees and answer short answer questions about it. Students answer 22 questions.