Glossary
- A squirrel may come to an oak tree for acorns to eat
- Adaptation
- Adapted
- affects the flow of energy
- After a period of time, have students compare their plant measurements.
- After they research carbon dioxide data, have students make posters summarizing the data they found
- Albedo effect
- Although the age at which maximum carbon sequestration occurs varies with tree species, the general shape of this relationship is similar for all species.
- students should also calculate the number of daylight hours that day
- Animals are not able to make their own food energy and must rely on plants for food
- answer questions about the story
- Aquatic
- As a class, discuss the following questions
- As climate has changed through Earth's history, the landscape has changed with it.
- As spring unfolds, have students visit their buds several times and record their observations in their tree journals.
- Ask a few volunteers to describe the tree
- ask for volunteers to discuss one of the shapes.
- Ask groups to present their final exhibits to the class
- ask groups to share at least one thing they discovered through their group's journey
- Ask students how foresters might use their knowledge of competition in caring for a stand of trees
- Ask students how the food web model might illustrate what happens when one of the links in an ecosystem is harmed through natural or human causes
- Ask students how they could model this process in an ecosystem using their nametags and string
- Ask students to compare how much oxygen an “average” person needs with the amount an “average” tree produces.
- Ask students to compare their observed bud changes over time with the temperature and daylight data previously collected
- ask students to make observations of how these two habitats are alike and how they are different
- Ask students to take it home and try to complete it for their households, consulting with their family members for assistance
- Ask students what factors they think are necessary for plants to grow
- Ask students what they understand about how plants make food energy
- Ask students whether the plants look different
- and if they do, what caused the differences.
- Ask the students if they know where paper comes from
- Ask the students to name and describe the parts of a tree
- Ask the students what is important about the sense of touch
- Ask the students what they know about climate
- Ask them to describe what they might look for under each part of the student page
- Ask them to examine their leaves and sort them into groups so that all the leaves in a group are alike in some way.
- ask them to experiment with the calculator to see what factors have the greatest effect on the final result
- Meet with individual students and ask them to explain their pictures
- Ask students to turn to their neighbor and describe the tree, encouraging them to use all of their senses.
- Ask students to turn to their neighbor and describe the chosen tree,
- Ask: What are some things that are the same or different?
- Ask, “What might you see on a backyard safari?”
- Ask: Which do you think will open first
- asking students where they think a tree’s new leaves will come from
- understanding of the changes in the tree and in weather over time.
- assign each group part of the story to rewrite on sentence strips
- Atmosphere
- Back in the classroom, help students graph
- Bacteria
- based on the requirements they got
- be creative in presenting the information, including maps and visuals as appropriate
- Biosphere
- Boreal
- Build a “log station” at your school or site
- Using a digital clock or other method, help students calculate the number of daylight hours
- what patterns do you see
- Carbohydrates
- Carbon cycle
- Carbon dioxide
- Carbon flows through biological, physical, and geological systems with different processes and at different timescales.
- Carbon flux
- Carbon footprint
- Carbon pool
- Carbon sequestration
- Carbon sink
- Carbon source
- Carnivores
- Challenge students to conduct other observations of the tree,
- Challenge students to continue looking for animals and to record the animals or signs they find.
- Challenge students to examine the data they have collected and to construct an argument related to present day climate change
- Then, challenge students to graph the data
- Challenge students to make up a math question or puzzle
- Challenge them to find things living on the tree's trunk and branches, recording what they see on the student page.
- Chlorophyll
- Claim
- Climate
- Climate is the characteristic set of atmospheric conditions of a place over a long period of time
- Climatologist
- Compare the results of this round with those of the first.
- Compare the twigs on the Discovery Table with the trees and shrubs outside
- Assist them in comparing the data with their observations of how the tree changed over the course of the year.
- Conifer
- Conservation
- construct a scaled picture graph or bar graph from their observation data
- count the number of squares representing each need that they gathered
- create a map or mural showing your adopted tree
- create a poster, video, brochure, door hanger, skit, or other presentation
- drawing a forest habitat
- Create tree models using hands and fingers.
- Cyrosphere
- Decomposer
- Decomposers
- Decomposition
- Density
- describe how you’re like a tree and how you’re different
- describe the weather today,
- write answers to the questions in complete sentences
- description of their experiences, using descriptive words
- determine ways to gain the information, such as through stations or labs, computer research, or journal references
- investigate to learn more about what plants need to grow
- Did any of the other students with that shape observe additional objects?
- what the different organisms get from the tree and how the tree might benefit from the organisms
- digital cameras or electronic tablets to take pictures of the tree, the plants and animals living on and around it, and the surrounding area
- digital pictures of their plants at different stages of growth to display with their measurements
- digital pictures of what they see in and around trees
- Direct students to conduct other observations of the tree,
- Direct students to review data from their journals, looking for patterns over time.
- Looking at all of the objects together, in what ways are they all alike
- Direct them to use the information to complete Part 2
- Discuss how bark protects the tree from rain, cold
- Discuss how environmental factors, such as longer days and higher temperatures
- Discuss how roots absorb water and nutrients from soil.
- Discuss how the trunk supports the tree and holds the crown up where the sun can reach it.
- discuss how their drawings are alike and different
- Lead an open-ended discussion about the objects and the sorting activity
- Discuss the following questions about their tree observations
- Discuss the following questions to help students deepen their understanding
- Discuss the following questions to help students deepen their understanding
- Divide the students into small groups, and give them time to visit each of the stations
- draw a carbon cycle diagram on a large sheet of paper that represents the places each member in their group visited
- Draw a picture that represents how your tree looked in the Fall, Winter and Spring, adding as much detail as you can.
- Ecological zone
- Ecologist
- Ecosystem
- Ecozone
- ecozones
- El Niño
- Elevation
- Encourage the children to sort the twigs by the type of bud, color, or length.
- Encourage students to be creative in presenting the information, including maps and visuals as appropriate
- Encourage the children to compare the drawings in the field guides with the pressed leaves.
- Encourage the children to sort the items into the boxes.
- Environment
- Evidence
- Explain that most scientists today believe that extra carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere are speeding up a natural warming trend.
- students will be examining the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over time
- Explain to students that they will model a carbon atom moving through the carbon cycle
- construct an explanation of what they depicted
- Explore such questions as
- find as many signs as possible that indicate winter is approaching
- write down three to five key points from the reading
- Focus particularly on the What We Need to Know category
- Food chain
- food chain using an equation like this
- Food energy
- Food web
- Forest type
- Fuelwood
- function together to support each other
- Fungi
- Geosphere
- write an article about the life of a tree
- read about the projections for different regions of the United States.
- Give the students time to read the letters they received and to try to figure out which animal and habitat are described.
- Glacier
- Global climate change
- Global warming
- Greenhouse effect
- Greenhouse gases
- Growth ring
- Growth rings
- Habitat
- Have each group do one of the journeys suggested on the student page, using information from the maps and E-Zones student page
- Have each student select a forest organism to study
- Have groups work together to develop a plan for their exhibit
- Have groups write responses to the following questions in their lab journals or on scrap paper
- have students compare their leaves with leaves on the tree.
- Have students make a model of a forest habitat
- Have students devise a plan to reduce the carbon footprint of their classroom.
- have students draw a living tree and a decomposing log, and show plants and animals that may be interacting with them
- have students draw a picture of a tree. Encourage them to include as much detail as they can.
- have students draw a “ring” on their paper plate to represent how much their tree grew
- Have students first predict what will happen, and then play a round and observe the results.
- Have students first predict what will happen, and then play a round and observe the results.
- both text and any graphs or data they referenced
- have students measure and graph their heights
- Have students measure themselves and then make a circle (using chalk or string) with a diameter equal to their height
- Have students present their research using digital presentation software
- invite students to share their experiences
- Have students share their presentations
- have students share what they have learned in their expert roles with the others in their group
- Have students stand about three feet apart on their own pieces of paper or plates to represent trees.
- Have students take notes about what their twig and its buds look like
- Students should draw a picture of the twig and a close-up of one or more of its buds.
- Have students write a conclusion from the viewpoint of the tree
- have the small groups share the similarities and differences they found
- Have the students from different groups with the same roles meet together to discuss what they need to do and what to research
- have them describe the different trees they examined
- Have them describe the objects they feel.
- Have them draw hills, valleys, streams, and other features on sheets of cardboard or poster paper and then add photos or drawings of the organisms they studied in the activity.
- Have them make notes and draw pictures of what they see.
- have them use the balance and the graduated cylinder to find the density
- suggested websites to begin their research
- Help students describe the day’s weather, using the icons
- using the icons on the My Tree Journal! student pages, or other descriptors.
- Herbivores
- Historical geologist
- How does the invasive species affect the ecosystem (including the flow of energy in the ecosystem)
- how to present their equations, using pictures or words
- Ice age
- identify as many ways for each category as possible
- identify the main ideas of the text
- Identify your claim for why that happened, and then support it with evidence and reasoning from your investigation
- If you were an animal and the weather became cold and rainy, where would you go?
- If you were to randomly place your finger on a map of the world, with what certainty might you predict the climate of the place you land?
- In order to live there, these organisms depend on each other for food energy and nutrients
- Introduce the idea that plants also need things to grow by asking
- Introduce the Treemendous Science! unit by leading a discussion about trees
- Invasive species
- How does the invasive species affect the ecosystem
- Why are invasive species a problem?
- invite community members in related fields to hear the presentations.
- Invite groups to create posters, maps, or other visual representations summarizing their assigned forest ecozone
- Invite groups to create posters, maps, or other visual representations to summarize and share their findings
- Invite students to share the main ideas and record them on chart paper
- compare their findings.
- invite students to use presentation software to
- invite the children to turn the outlines of themselves into trees
- Invite the volunteers to share the pictures they created during the walk.
- Is anyone’s second picture very different from their first?
- It is a complex living system, or ecosystem
- journey across the globe to explore different types of forests
- Köppen-Trewartha
- Name the parts of the tree. How does each part help the tree?
- Latitude
- lead a discussion on what students observed about fall
- Lead a discussion about what trees and other plants need to live
- Leaf Litter
- learn how it affects the energy flow and other aspects of the local
- List the descriptors (adjectives) on chart paper to make a “word bank”
- living things interact with each other and with the environment in which they live
- Longitude
- look on the ground around the tree for fallen leaves, twigs, bark, fruits, seeds, or nuts that might also show signs of animal or plant life.
- make a bar graph
- make a small “flip-it” book that shows photosynthesis in animation
- Mammal
- map the school site and note the number, location, and type of greenspaces
- match the leaves to the trees
- Mean
- measure the seedlings using rulers and pieces of string
- describe the patterns
- Millipedes eat decaying leaves and other dead plant matter.
- model water absorption
- Most increases in carbon dioxide emissions come from burning fossil fuels to run automobiles, power plants, and industries. The second largest source is land-use change, mainly the clearing of forests for agriculture or development.
- Native species
- Nutrient
- Nutrients
- What other observations can you make about the objects
- or use them as writing prompts.
- or use them as writing prompts:
- participate in an invasive species control project
- Photosynthesis
- Plants need air and water to live
- Polar
- practice their measuring skills by helping them measure the lengths of stems and buds
- Precipitation
- Give students a math problem related to invasive species
- Radiant energy
- read about their species to determine
- Reasoning
- record descriptive words, including adjectives and adverbs, in their tree journals
- Reproduce
- research an invasive species
- research species that are native to the United States but are considered invasive in other countries
- Respiration
- Scientific argumentation
- Scientists, industry, citizens, and government officials do not always agree on what should be done regarding levels of greenhouse gases and global climate change.
- select one of the plants or animals from the activity, and write a story about the food web on which it depends
- share their ideas about what people need to grow
- create their presentations, and to share them with the class
- show them how to use the data previously collected in their My Tree Journals to complete it
- showing the flow of energy
- similarities and differences they observe between the two habitats
- sketching or writing words for each of the features
- Snag
- Snags
- Solar output
- sort and match the leaves or to play a memory game
- sort the objects into two or more piles so that all the objects in a pile are alike in some way
- Species
- Where the species came from (including maps).
- Stomata
- stop and examine it more closely:
- Stop at different trees so the students can draw objects with the shape that matches theirs.
- making sure they understand what they need to find out about their organism.
- student page to record how many of each requirement they gathered
- Students can record descriptive words (adjectives) in their tree journals.
- Students can use word processing or presentation software to create their presentations
- have students describe the leaf’s characteristics
- Students design a variation to the game that represents what a forester could do to help the entire population of trees
- students draw their tree in each of the three seasons.
- Students may discuss the answers as a group and write them in their science journals
- students share some of the ways they sorted the leaves
- record the weather and any changes in the tree they notice
- Students should observe the weather, the number of daylight hours, and any changes in the tree they notice.
- students to come up, one at a time, and choose an appropriate animal picture to tape under one of the habitat pictures.
- Have the students try to identify where each habitat might be found
- students understand the elements required in their argument, including claim, evidence, and reasoning
- all the components they think would be necessary for a healthy forest
- students will notice that each tree gathered fewer requirements
- students will use just two of these measurements to approximate the amount of carbon.
- Subtropical
- Take them outside and allow a few minutes for them to find two animals or signs of animals.
- Talk about the patterns that appear. Ask: How are the patterns different? How are the patterns the same?
- Tell the students that they should address each of these questions in their letters,
- Temperate
- that different species of trees have different requirements
- The blindfolded student should examine the tree’s bark and, if possible, its leaves and other features.
- the data they collected on the safari
- The Earth’s climate system is very complex. It is affected not only by what happens in the atmosphere (gaseous area surrounding Earth), but also in the oceans, the cryosphere (glaciers and ice caps), the geosphere (land areas), and the biosphere (area with living organisms).
- The game models how trees get what they need from the ecosystem
- The interaction of climate and geology helped sculpt and form our present-day landscapes.
- the most interesting creature Jackie met
- The shape and width of the tree’s growth rings often differ from year to year because of varying annual growth conditions
- the transfer of energy from one organism to another
- Then have students search for “tree parts” that match those in the mystery box.
- these examples show ways that animals and other plants depend on trees, and that trees provide a habitat for these plants and animals.
- they should conduct the activity described on the station card
- They should look for changes in the buds and any signs of animals eating the buds.
- they will make a model tree costume
- they will visit several different websites, looking for the relationship between increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and average air temperatures
- The station can be monitored over time to see how the decomposition process progresses
- This is an example of the body text color for any Glossary item.
- to draw a picture of their tree from memory.
- to identify how they would modify the model so that all the trees in the forest get their needs met
- To introduce the topic of the carbon cycle, ask students to brainstorm what they already know about carbon.
- to talk to the class about invasive species in your area and what people are doing to control them
- “Today, my tree is_________.”
- Tropical
- Underneath each picture, have students note the weather that they observed during that season
- Use a variety of collected twigs for counting, matching, and sorting.
- Use the following questions to discuss the results of the first round:
- use the information for those dates to complete the chart and answer the questions
- use their checklist as well as any photographs they took to help with their presentation
- use them as prompts for writing about trees
- Help students use all the data they collected in their tree journals to understand observable patterns in temperature, sunlight, and tree growth.
- using first their sense of sight and then their other senses.
- using information from the maps
- Using the information
- Using the labeled paper plate, completed Data Summary Student Page, and accurate Graph of Daylight Hours, instruct students to perform the following:
- Using the tree part labels, children can decide how many of each part is needed to make a tree
- using their knowledge and subject comprehension to fill in the blanks.
- Using six plants or seedlings of the same size and species, allow three plants to have full access to sunlight, either by a window or outside. The other three should be placed in a dark cupboard or closet with no light. Ensure that all six plants have equal amounts of the other elements; water, soil, and space.
- Weather
- the web shows all the ways that energy is transferred between organisms in an ecosystem
- What can past climate changes tell us about the possible effects of current global temperature trends?
- What changes do you notice?
- What factors most affected our carbon footprints?
- What happens when we remove a plant or animal from the forest ecosystem?
- What kind of evidence could we use to support our ideas?
- What might happen to a real tree that lacked one of its requirements?
- What time of year do these changes take place?
- what it might be like there
- Which kind of sandpaper do you think will make the wood the smoothest?
- What assumptions did you make to arrive at this prediction? What impact might this have on climatic conditions?
- with maps, as appropriate
- Wrap up with a discussion that introduces the concept of habitat
- write a sentence that describes what is happening with the hours of daylight and the tree in each season
- write down three questions they have about forests
- write on the second half some things they will do to reduce their carbon footprints
- writing a letter to a pen pal from the point of view of an animal
