Student Pages

These Student Pages provide concrete opportunities for guided instruction. Student Pages can be printed out or shared electronically with learners for completion.

 

 

 

 

 

Teacher Pages

Use the following suggestions to assess student understanding and learning at the beginning, middle, and end of the Level B lessons.

Pre-Assessment

Use students’ comparisons in Step 2 of the Engage: Growing Up Green activity to determine their understanding of what plants need to grow. Reflect on their responses to the questions posed in Step 3 to assess their initial ideas about seasonal changes in trees.

Formative Assessment

• Periodically analyze students’ tree journals, noting:
  • Detail in students’ observations and how appropriately they identify observed patterns over time.
  • How accurately they record daylight data and observations.
• During 3: Every Tree for Itself, assess whether students’ conclusions about plant needs are supported by their observations.
• During 4: Bursting Buds, assess the appropriateness and detail of students’ observations.

Final Performance Assessment

Part 1: Assess students’ understanding of the changes in daylight hours over the course of the year using the Daylight Hours student page. If this was not completed as part of the 4: Bursting Buds activity, provide students with copies of the student page and show them how to use the data previously collected in their My Tree Journals to complete it. Then, challenge students to graph the data using the template provided.

Part 2: Give students copies of the Seasons Tree Chart student page (or paper plates folded in quarters and labeled with the four seasons). Using the labeled paper plate and the Daylight Hours student page, instruct students to:

• Draw a picture that represents how your tree looked in the Fall, Winter, and Spring, adding as much detail as you can.
• In each quadrant—Fall, Winter, and Spring – write a sentence that describes what is happening with the hours of daylight and the tree in each season. For example: In the fall, the leaves on my tree turned red and fell off and the days got shorter. In the winter, my tree was bare and the days started to get longer, but it was cold.
• In the Summer quadrant, predict what your tree will look like and what will happen with the hours of daylight.

Use the suggested Performance Assessment Sample Rubric teacher page to score student results.

 

This arrangement of lessons moves students through the stages of exploration, explanation, and elaboration. True to constructivist pedagogy, students move through these phases in a linear fashion as they begin by testing ideas to develop knowledge, and then modify and refine those ideas as appropriate to answer questions and extend conceptual understanding. PLT recommends moving through each of the following lessons sequentially, to scaffold student learning over time.

In Level B, students move through the lessons below to answer the following Essential Questions:

• How does the amount of sunlight in winter compare with the amount at other times of the year?
• How does the changing amount of sunlight impact trees?

1: Adopt a Tree
2: Signs of Fall
3: Every Tree for Itself
4: Bursting Buds

Students consider what trees and other plants need to grow and then reflect on questions about how plants grow.

Time

40 minutes

Materials

• Small tree or other plant in a pot
• Old magazines to cut up (optional)
• Paper or journals
• Crayons or colored pencils

Vocabulary

tree, daylight

Getting Ready

• Gather the materials.

Doing the Activity

1. Begin by having students label the top of a paper or journal page with “What My Body Needs to Grow.” Then have students draw, write, or cut out pictures from magazines to illustrate their ideas. Have students share their ideas about what people need to grow.
2. Show students the potted tree or plant and ask them what they would do to care for the plant. Have them label the back of the paper or another journal page with “What Plants Need to Grow.” Have students share their ideas about what plants need to grow.
3. Lead a discussion about what trees and other plants need to live. Consider using collaborative discussion strategies for leading the discussion. Explore such questions as:

• What do you think trees and other plants need to grow?
• How are your body’s needs the same as and different from plants’ needs?
• (For each thing that students name) How do you know that trees and other plants need this? What evidence do you have to support your idea?
• How do you think we could test our ideas to see if they’re correct?
• What other questions do you have about trees that you’d like to explore? (Students’ questions might include: Does a tree need sunlight to live? How much sunlight does a tree need? Why do tree leaves change colors? Why do some trees lose their leaves in winter?)

Remember to visit the Enrich tab for recommended children’s books that support the science concepts covered in this activity.