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Learning About the Seasonal Changes
from Our Campus Environment
CLASS: Pre-Kindergarten - Kindergarten
OBJECTIVE: To make seasonal observations of the giant oak tree on the Lower School playground at Holy Spirit Episcopal School. The activities should be repeated several times throughout the year during different seasons.
DISCUSSION: Brainstorm with students for background information
- What do you know about trees?
- What are some words that describe a tree?
- How do they grow?
- Can you name any trees?
PREDICTION:
- Does a tree look the same all through the year?
- What will the tree look like in the winter? Spring? Summer?
- Why do you think a tree changes?
Write down student responses in a journal. Refer back to their responses during the year when they return to the tree to make new observations.
ACTIVITIES:
- Science
- Observe the bark, leaves, roots and acorns with individual magnifiers. Repeat for fall, winter and spring.
- Explore the inside of an acorn.
- Plant an acorn in a selected spot and observe growth throughout the year.
- Water the oak tree on a regular basis.
- Discuss the animals and insects that might live in the tree.
- Take photographs of the tree during the seasons and compare them.
- Press samples of the leaves collected during each season.
- Art
- Draw or paint the tree. Repeat during fall, winter and spring. Save each drawing to be complied in a book "Our Tree through the Seasons".
- Make a bark and/or leaf rubbing.
- Make a bookmark with a leaf enclosed in clear contact paper and add a yarn tassel.
- Make a placemat for use at snack time that has a picture of the tree on it.
- Make a class mural of the playground with the oak tree. Show the tree during each of the observed seasons.
- Language Arts
- Have each child show and discuss his/her drawing of the tree.
- Have the class brainstorm the usefulness of trees. The teacher will write these on large chart paper. (Trees clean the air, give us beauty, provide shade, provide food and homes for animals, wood from trees can be made into paper, wooden toys, furniture, give us fruit, nuts, some trees provide rubber for balls, maple syrup, chocolate, etc.)
- Label the parts of the tree on the chalkboard: roots, trunk, branches, leaves, acorn. Memorize this vocabulary.
- Practice handwriting by copying this sentence: This tree looked ___________________in the fall. (The child will add an adjective in the space.) Repeat this every season.
RELATED RESOURCES:
- Books
- Read books about trees to the class:
Have You Seen the Trees? by Joanne Oppenheim
A Busy Year by Leo Lionni
A Tree Can Be... by Judy Nayer
- Math
- Gather and count acorns.
- Graph the size and color of the leaves.
- Measure the circumference of the tree. Measure other trees on the school grounds for comparison.
- Graph everyone's favorite tree.
- Estimate how many acorns one hand can pick up at a time.
ASSESSMENT:
The teacher will assess student progress and enthusiasm through observation. The products created by the students will be displayed in the school classrooms and halls.
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