Ring-a-ling

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...

Examining tree rings shows more than just age. The third installment of a five-part Family Nature Program unit has learners examine all parts of trees including tree rings to tell stories about the life of the tree. They then use their...

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. 

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...

A read-aloud anthology offers stories all about nature's life cycles. Over three weeks, second graders listen to and discuss tales about the cycles of daytime, nighttime, seasons, plants, trees, frogs, butterflies, and water. Following...

Discover the reason why trees have rings. Then use your skills of inquiry to decide which tree samples are the oldest, based on their rings.

Second graders listen to various, grade appropriate stories about trees. They create their own construction paper trees and discuss the importance of trees to the ecosystem and the importance of taking care of them. Finally, 2nd graders...

Learners identify and experiment with dendrochronology (the study of tree rings to answer ecological questions about the recent past) and come up with conclusions as to what possible climatic conditions might affect tree growth in their...

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...

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.