Minnesota Department of Natural Resoures
Getting to Know Trees
Celebrate the beauty of trees with a packet full of activities designed to help kindergarteners get to know about their leafy nature friends. Covering a variety of subjects, scholars go on a nature hike, read Shel Silverstein's The...
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The Giving Tree
Students explore wants and needs. In this ecology and economics lesson, students listen to the story The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and compile a class list of what the boy got from the tree. Students categorize these items as...
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Giving Tree Lesson
Students read and respond the book, The Giving Tree. For this literary unit, students listen to the story and discuss the story using Bloom's Taxonomy. Students write a letter of empathy to the tree and observe the changes the tree went...
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The Giving Tree
Fourth graders participate in a shared reading of The Giving Tree. They discuss the relationship between trees and people in the story. Students contribute to a class KWL chart. They create their own KWL chart with at least four things...
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Taking From the Giving Tree
Students explore the ways in which various American cities negotiate the protection of their "green infrastructure," gaining a broader understanding of proposed and enacted legislation as it relates to preserving and planting trees in...
Royal Society of Chemistry
Aspirin—The Wonder of Medicine
What do aspirin and the willow tree have in common? Scholars of chemical synthesis engage in a fascinating reaction to make their own aspirin samples. The lab uses thin layer chromatography analysis, includes stoichiometric calculations,...
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Introduction to Trees and Wood
Students examine samples from various types of trees. In this trees and wood lesson, students review The Giving Tree and complete a KWL chart on trees. Students brainstorm what we get from trees and view wood samples with hand...
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The Giving Tree-Apple Activities
Students complete a variety of activities about apples. They read The Giving Tree and discuss the moral of the story. They create paintings with apples and have apples as a snack. They make an apple cookbook and estimate the number of...
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Ornaments for Nursing Home Tree
Students participate in an activity that will allow them to create a gift for a nursing home patient and give their gift to someone who needs a caring hand. In this community service lesson, students learn compassion, and also understand...
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Ways We Use Trees
Students use the Internet to find the ways we use trees. For this tree lesson, students make a list of the uses of trees and find magazine pictures that show these uses to make a collage. They read The Giving Tree by Shel...
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Tree Seedling Planting- My Relationship and Responsibility to our Forests
In this trees lesson, 4th graders read the book, A Tree is Growing and complete a KWL chart on how trees grow and how they are used. Students research the symbiotic relationship of humans and trees, create tree collages, plant a...
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Recycling
Students read or listen to a story, and discuss how it relates to them. In this personal event writing activity, students write about recycling. Students read "The Giving Tree" a Shel Silverstein poem and discuss the poem's meaning....
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Speaking for the Trees
Students present a play based on The Lorax.In this environmental issues lesson, students read and discuss literature and complete activities pertaining to environmental stewardship.
Rainforest Alliance
Growing a Rainforest in Our Classroom
Give your classroom decor a boost with a rainforest themed mural highlighting what class members learned through their five senses—taste, touch, see, smell, and hear. Scholars create a rainforest filled with trees and animals using their...
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My Giving Tree
Young scholars identify native and invasive trees. In this ecology lesson, students survey trees in their schoolyard and identify the species. Young scholars adopt a native tree sprout and record the growth in a journal.
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Using Imagery To Introduce the Endocrine System
Young scholars listen with closed eyes to a story that starts in a relaxed tone and ends in a scream. They list the body reactions they experience: fast heart rate, shaking, etc. and hypothesize the reason for the reactions. They explore...
Kids Yoga Stories
Valentine's Day - LOVE
Open your heart with a refreshing yoga session designed for Valentine's Day. With visual cues of hearts and other festive decorations, participants begin a series of yoga poses designed to open their heart chakras and to reflect on...
Curated OER
Volcanoes!: Forecasting the Path of Mudflows
Students construct a mockup of a volcano by crumbling up newspapers and piling them into the shape of a volcano. They place a tarp over the newspapers making sure the tarp is large enough to simulate a flat area at the volcano's base....
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Talking Trees: Earth Day
Students complete a tree poster activity to learn about Earth Day, stewardship, and the environment. In this environmental stewardship instructional activity, students read The Story of the Tree and discuss stewardship with trees....
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Build A Tree
Young scholars study the different parts of a tree and the significance of each part. In this build a tree lesson, students use role-playing theater to reinforce what they are learning. Young scholars use their imagination to...
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Giving Human Rights a Human Face
Students produce a creative expression of an article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They may also create posters to serve as reminders for creating a human rights environment or community.
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Stewardship and the Rainforest
Students explore the concept of philanthropy. In this service learning lesson plan, students explore literature in order to understand the flora and fauna of the rain forest. Students investigate how stewardship is necessary to retain...
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Using Imaginary to Introduce the Endocrine System
Students examine the functions of the endocrine system. In this body protective systems lesson students identify body reactions, define terms and complete an activity.
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Where'd You Get Those Genes?
Really a unit, this resource exposes middle schoolers to genetics at their level. They read interviews and biographies, trace a family tree, play games that simulate inheritance concepts, and more! Teacher's procedures, student...