Help young scientists connect with nature and learn about trees with a fun life science lesson. Heading out into the school yard, children choose a tree to adopt, taking measurements, writing descriptions, and drawing sketches of it in their science journals. Perform a series of observations over the course of a month, a semester, or the entire school year to allow the class to experience the seasonal changes trees undergo. This cross-curricular lesson brings together topics in math, language arts, and science and would make an excellent addition to an elementary science unit on plant life.

Concepts

tree growth, trees, making observations, measurement, proportions, ratios

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Additional Tags

tree, tree age, measurement, proportion, ratio, descriptive writing, scientific observation, tree growth, science

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Pros

• Tips are included for adapting this lesson for a range of age levels
• Suggests an idea for a related service learning project
• Provides an additional activity that extends learning about trees and their growth

Cons

• Calculating the height of trees requires children to solve equivalent ratios, which may be too difficult for many young learners

Common Core

2.MD.A.1 2.MD.D.9 3.MD.B.4 4.MD.B.4 5.MD.B.2 MP4 MP5