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Tree Mural
Create a class Tree of Life mural.
Each student can paint a part of the tree, or add a leaf.
On that leaf, try writing something about trees you’re
thankful for. Or write a tree haiku, or a wish you’d
like to make for trees.
Tree Stories
Do you have a favorite book about a
tree? Maybe even a chapter where trees play a role in a larger
story, like the Ents in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Ask your librarian for some good books to read. Or write a
story of your own involving a favorite tree you like to sit
under or climb.
Tree Detective
Like people, trees have traveled from
many different places. Scientists have found evidence proving
even northern oak trees started out in the tropics! Pick one
tree in your neighborhood and find out everything you can
about it. How old is it? What family is it in, and who are
some of its relatives? Where did it come from originally?
Interview your grandparents or any neighbors who can tell
you about its history. Are there any old photographs? Take
photos. Include close ups of its leaves and bark “fingerprints.”
Submit these and any other “evidence” when giving
your report.
Tree Adaptations
Why do trees come in so many shapes
and sizes? Why do certain kinds of trees grow in some places,
but not others? Just like us, trees need certain things to
live. But different habitats offer different kinds of soil,
water, light and air. Over time, trees change how they grow.
They develop different kinds of leaves, roots and bark. They
even come up with different ways to produce their seeds and
fruit. These changes are called “adaptations.”
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Listen
to the sound file
What’s
different about a “tree of the mountain” like a
bristle cone pine, than a tree that lives by a river, or one
growing in a rain forest? What are some adaptations that help
different trees survive where they do?