Name: Amber Gilardi

Date of Lesson:  First session on wednesday. Second session on Friday.

Length of Lesson: 80 minutes with two sessions. The first being 60 minutes. The second being 20 minutes.  

Description of Class: Science

Source of Lesson: GEMS Guide for Tree Homes

TEKS Addressed: §112.2. Science, Kindergarten. (b) Knowledge and skills (2) Scientific processes. The student develops abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry in the field and the classroom. The student is expected to:

(A)  ask questions about organisms, objects, and events;

(B)  plan and conduct simple descriptive investigations;

(C)  gather information using simple equipment and tools to extend the senses;

(D)  construct reasonable explanations using information; and

(E)  communicate findings about simple investigations.

The Lesson:

I.       Overview: Students will explore a living tree through sight, feel, sound and smell. They will discover that leaves make food for the tree, bark protects it and roots bring water to the tree. Also they will be able to compare the tree texture and color of the bark to the skin on their hands. Additionally, they will observe the holes in the tree and role-play the animals they see in the holes or on other parts of the tree. Afterwards, students will help make a large cardboard tree, painting the tree and attaching paper leaves based on observations of the living tree. They will compare the size of the holes in the cardboard tree, determining what animals could live in a small, medium and large hole(s) of a living tree.

 

II.    Performance or Learner outcomes-

Students will be able to:

·         Observe the living tree through sight, feel, sound and smells.

·         Identify the parts of the tree to there function(s).

·         Make comparison and contrast statements between the tree and themselves.

·         Role-play the animals they see in the tree holes or other parts of the tree.

·         Relate the size of the holes in the cardboard tree to what animals would live in that hole in the living tree.

 

III. Resources:

Supplies for observations:

·         access to a living tree

Supplies for the cardboard tree:

·         3 boxes with flaps  1-large, 1-medium, 1-small

·         24  paper towel rolls-  one for each student to paint and use as a tree branch

·         Brown paint- used to paint boxes and paper towel roles

·         Utility knife

·         (1) 8-oz jar of white glue or 8 large brads or 5’ of Velcro

·         1 roll of masking tape

·         3 to 4 roll of double-stick tape-used to tape leaves to tree branches

·         24 Paintbrushes- one for each child

·          24 Scissors-one for each child

·         Brown, green, yellow, red and orange construction paper for making leaves.

 

Engage:

A)    Teacher- Today we’re going to explore a living tree. We will be walking down the street to observe a living tree in our neighborhood. ( Teacher leads students to tree.) I would like for everyone to hold hands, look up at the tree and we will slowly rotate to our right around the tree. (This way each student has multiple views of the tree.) “What do you see on the tree?”

 

       Hoped for student response: Leaves, branches, bark, ants, and birds.

 

B)    Teacher-Let’s look at the bottom of the tree. “Where are the roots?” (Have the children observe how they come out of the tree and go into the ground.)

 

Hoped for student response: Some of the roots are above the ground and some are under the ground.

 

C)    Teacher- “Why does a tree need roots?” (Listen to the children’s answers.)

 

Hoped for student response: for food, to drink water, to keep it in the ground, so it won’t blow away in the wind.

 

Teacher-The roots that you see reach into the ground and bring food and water to the tree from the soil. The roots also keep the tree from falling over.

 

Explore/ Explain:

1)      Teacher- Help student’s identify the parts of the tree- roots, trunk branches, leaves and bark.

2)      Teacher- students please close your eyes- we’re going to feel the bark and describe how it feels. 

Hoped for student response: scratchy, rough, bumpy, and hard.

Teacher- Now we are going to smell the bark and describe how it smells.

Hoped for student response: It doesn’t smell like anything I have smelt before. No smell.

3)      Teacher- Ok let’s open our eyes and describe the colors of the bark.

Hoped for student response: dark brown on top with bumps, not smooth, spots and cracks. The bottom is smooth.

 

4)      Teacher- “Why does a tree need bark?”

Hoped for student response: for protection

Teacher- The bark helps to protect the tree, just as a heavy coat protects them from cold weather and from scratches.

 

5)      Teacher- “Let’s compare the bark to the skin on our hands.” “What do we notice?” 

Hoped for student response: bark is rougher than skin, bark is cooler than skin, bark is wetter than skin, bark is darker or lighter than skin.

 

6)      Teacher- “How do you think leaves help trees?”

Hoped for student response: helps make the trees food.

Teacher- Trees make their own food in the leaves when the sun shines on the leaves.

 

7)      Teacher- “Oh, did you all see the holes in the tree? “What do you think could be in these holes?”

Hoped for student response: yes, there are lots of holes. Maybe there are plants, animals, insects and birds living here. 

Extent/ Elaborate:

(Lead students back to the classroom and have them sit on the carpet together.) Teacher- There were many insects and animals crawling on and living in the tree we observed.  I want you to think of one of these insects or animals that you saw. Now the person sitting to the left of you is going to be your partner.  You will take turns being your insect or animals that you saw and have your partner guess what animal/ insect. (Teacher will walk around the room and observe students role-playing. This will be the end of the lesson for day one.)

Session 2:  Day Two- Making the Cardboard Tree. Teacher- “Yesterday what did we take a field trip to see?” Hoped for student responce: A living tree. Teacher-Yes, we did. Today we are going to make a cardboard tree based on what we saw and what we learned about living trees. (You will need the small, medium and large cardboard boxes with pre-cut holes, small, medium and large in the front of each box as well as the pre-cut holes for the branches.) Teacher- We have our tables grouped together and we will be working with our group members to paint boxes closely resembling the tree they observed. ( Hand each group a box, brown paint, each student a paper towel roll and a paint brush.)Teacher- First, we are going to paint our boxes to look like a living tree. (Students work together to paint boxes in their groups. Teacher walks around assisting when needed and making sure group members are working together. When boxes are completed place boxes out of the way to dry.)  Teacher-I am giving you each a paper towel roll. These will be used as branches for our cardboard tree. Think about what the tree branches look like and try to paint your paper towel roll like a real tree branches.( After the paper towel roles are painted place next to the boxes to dry. (Have an assortment of green, yellow, red, and orange construction paper at each table with a bucket that has tape and scissors for students to use.) Teacher-Also, I have colored construction paper for you to make leaves. You may cut or tear paper to make leaves. Once our “ branches” are dry we will tape on the leaves we have made. To finish we will put our tree braches on the tree and stack the boxes from large, medium to small to see our completed tree! ( Teacher will stack boxes and have the students take turns placing their branch into the pre-cut hole. Lastly, have the children come to the carpet to discuss the cardboard tree.)

Evaluate: Teacher-Wow this tree looks amazing! What a great job. Let’s talk about our tree. (Show the students the cardboard pieces that were cut out of the front of the box to make the small, medium and large holes.) Teacher-What are the differences between these pieces? Hoped for student response: small, medium and large size holes. Teacher-(Place each cut out piece into the hole it corresponds with for each box so students will see the relationship of size between one another.) Teacher- I see, you’re telling me each hole is different in size. Why do you think there are different sized holes in trees? Hoped for student response: different size animals live in different size holes. Teacher- When we observed the tree the other day we noticed holes in it. Our tree has holes too. What did we see in these holes? Hoped for student response: plants, animals, birds and insects. What do you think would live in the small hole? The medium hole? The large hole? Hoped for student response: small: plants, ladybugs, crickets, owls. Medium: birds, raccoons. Large: bears. (While students are responding evaluate if they are making connections to which animal and insect corresponds with the appropriate size hole.) Teacher- Thank you for sharing your knowledge of trees, the many animals and insects that create different size holes to live in, making trees their homes. We will have our cardboard tree in the classroom to play with, explore and reminds us of the importance of living trees.