Studying Trees
In continuing our middle school botany study, we’ve been studying trees. A lot. Most of the activities we’ve done have come from the Delightful Deciduous Trees NaturExplorers study.
One super-interesting nature walk activity was finding the tap root (main root that grows straight down), lateral roots (large roots that grow outward or laterally) and fibrous roots (fine roots that grow downward from the lateral roots) of trees. We took a walk near a creek where we were likely to see root systems due to erosion. Our findings were way cool!
(The Everchanging Erosion NaturExplorers study would be great for this topic, too. I’m just sayin’. ;))
After plenty of experiences along with lots of living science literature, I gave Caleb a “test” of sorts. He had to complete the file folder report below to prove his knowledge of trees. (The file folder template came from Easy File Folder Reports, Grades 3-6
.) As a review before the “test”, I had him read a wonderful little book called A Tree is Growing
by Arthur Dorros.
And I can’t forget the ever-so-interested preschooler who loves to be part of our botany lessons. He gathered some leaves on our walk and created some simple, but pretty, leaf prints when we returned home.
Oh that would be a super-interesting nature walk – to find the tap root! Wow – that photo of the grass and wildflower roots too. Wonderful study.