Teaching Day-by-Day: All Kinds of Trees

1. Barking up the right tree. Look closely at the bark of trees on your way to school. Stop and make crayon rubbings of some of the trees. Notice which trees have deeply grooved bark and which have smooth bark. Compare your rubbings with those of others. Then categorize the rubbings.
2. Wood. And it be loverly. Take bark samples from cut wood in woodpiles or from fallen trees. Identify your bark rubbings and samples using books about trees.

3. Make like a tree and leave. Pick leaves from different trees. Press or wax the leaves. Use books to identify your leaves. Then label and categorize them.
4. Book 'em! Use the material you've gathered this week to make a tree identification book for trees in your area. Bind the book and place it in your school library.
5. Of course I know what that is. It's a...Take your family on a neighborhood walk. Start with the trees in your own yard and see how many everyone can identify.
6. That's genuine mahogany...Or is it plastic? Make a chart of the various kinds of wood around your house. See if you can identify those things that are made of the same kind of wood. Ask an adult to look over your chart and help you make changes, if necessary.

7. Getting past the veneer. Invite a lumberman, woodcarver or carpenter to come to your class to talk about the different kinds of woods that he or she uses.
8. Woodsman, spare that tree! There is considerable controversy about what should be done with the trees in national parks and forests. Should big, sturdy trees, such as the giant redwoods, be cut down while they are still healthy enough to be used, or should they be preserved as tourist attractions? Research the issue and have a class debate.

9. Life up a tree. What does a tree in a wooded area need and what needs it? Make a diagram of an ecosystem for the tree. What food and other nutrients does the tree require? What materials does it give back to the ecosystem? What plants, animals and other organisms live in, on or off the tree? Make smaller diagrams for each of the tree's
   subsystems.
10. Book of tree records. Use books, encyclopedias and
    almanacs to find out about the world's tallest tree, oldest tree, wildest tree, hardest tree, most unusual tree, etc.
11. Plant a tree. Make your school yard or local park more beautiful by planting a tree there. First, find out what kind of tree will grow best there, where you can get the tree, what it will need for care and how much money you will need to raise to buy it. Then, find out how to plant the tree. Get the necessary permissions before you plant it.

12. Tree impressions. With paper and charcoal, pencils or paint, draw or paint your favorite tree. Look at the tree from many angles before you start your picture. Try different ways of painting or drawing the same tree.
13. Then there was the one about...Brainstorm with your family for books, movies, songs, stories, poems and paintings in which trees play an important part. There's the tree that Winnie the Pooh lived in, and didn't Tarzan also live in a tree?
14. Trees in books. Combine the lists you made yesterday and add to them before going to the library to find more books, movies, songs, etc., in which trees play a part.
15. Trees on the spot. Play a game of "trees on the spot." The person who is "it" points to another person and says, "book" "song," "poem," "movie" or "painting." The person pointed to has 15 seconds to name a title (of a book, song, movie, etc.) in which trees are important.
16. If you go into the woods today. Make a mural with literary references to trees. Label the source of each saying.
17. To me, a tree is... Think about one special tree, and list all the words and thoughts you associate with it. Use your list to write a poem or other description about your tree.
18. No, no a tree is... Read through books of poetry for a poem about trees that appeals to you. Then, look through books of quotations for a quote that has a special meaning for you about trees. Share the quote with the rest of the class.
19. Tree rescue squad. Find a baby tree that will never make it without your help – one that is growing too close to other trees in the middle of a lawn where it will be mowed down, for example. Find a spot where that tree will have a better chance of survival and plant it there.
20. Searching for roots. Find examples of a family tree. See how it is constructed and then draw and fill in as many parts as you can of your own family tree. Fill in full names and dates of birth. Draw lines to show relationships and work back to previous generations. Bring to school any photographs of people in your family tree.
21. From these roots. Have each class member, including the teacher, make a large poster using the information from his or her family tree. Leave plenty of room for illustrations, which will come later.
22. Tree gathering. Each generation on a family tree covers about 20 years. Working back, figure out approximately when your earliest ancestors were born. Use books in the library to see what clothes they would have worn and what their hairstyles might have been like. If you don't know what their names were, use some that were common at the time.
23. Illustrated trees. Use the photographs and the information you gathered yesterday to illustrate your family tree. Make a key that shows which of the items are
    actual and which are imagined.

24. The most famous branch of my tree. Use stories about family members, or make one up about a person on your family tree. Tell it to the class, and ask the class to decide whether or not you're telling the truth.
25. George Washington's family cherry tree? Research the family background of a famous person. Make an illustrated family tree for him or her.
26. Climbing higher. Call or write to someone who knows more about your family tree.

27. Trees of another kind. We've dealt with outdoor trees and with family trees. How many other trees can you think of? There are shoe trees, of course: Are they made of shoes? Do pantries count? Make up silly definitions or pictures of other kinds of "trees."
28. Leafing it out. Pick some leaves and trace them. Look at the shapes: What do they make you think of? Make the shapes into something else.
29. Splattering leaves. Place leaves in an interesting pattern on a piece of drawing paper. Dip a toothbrush in tempera paint, and draw the brush across a screen over the paper, letting tiny dots of paint fall on the paper. Take away the leaves and look at the design you have created.
30. Putting it all together. Design a quiz game based on the information you've gathered this month.

Carol Otis Hurst is a children's book author whose latest book, Torchlight (Houghton Mifflin), will be on bookshelves October 2006. Be sure to check out her website at www.carolhurst.com