Trees and Keys – 6th grade- Lesson Plan

Objectives: Students will:

1) Understand basic physiology of plants and trees (how they work)
2) List needs of plants and how they meet them (water, food, air)
3) Classify objects based on common characteristics
4) Use dichotomous keys in classification and create a working dichotomous key
5) Learn how plants reproduce
6) Discuss the importance of plants and trees (basis of food chain, air cycle, habitat)
7) Plant structures and their functions
8) Use skills of scientific inquiry processes

Pre-visit Activity: Creature Feature key, Worm key worksheets (Objective 3)

Fall Visit:

Topic: Students walk to park near their school for a field trip focused on classification and tree identification.(Objective 2, 3, 4, 7)

1. INTRODUCTION (5 min): How many of you live close to here? How many of you have been to this park before? Today we are going to be doing lots of fun things to learn about habitat in your park. Because we have lots to do, we need to establish some ground rules. First, I expect you to listen when I’m talking. Stay with the group. Raise your hand if you want to speak. Follow directions. Set other expectations of behavior as needed.
2. ENGAGE (20 min): Did your class work on the alien and worm key sheets? What is the scientific term for sorting objects. How do we sort similar objects? Introduction to classification by Class Sort Activity. Sort students into 2 groups by observed characteristics (e.g., type of clothing worn, hair style). Have students guess what characteristic you used. Sort those 2 groups into 2 more groups. Continue to sort students (or have students do it) until a few students stand alone. Debrief: What characteristics did we use for classifying? Can any of these characteristics change? What kind of characteristics could you use that would not change? On poster board, write down flow chart to show which characteristics students used. See example. (Objective 3)
3. ENGAGE (10 min): Students participate in the Acorn Mix-up Game adapted from Naturescope "Trees are Terrific" to learn the needs of trees and negative impacts on germination. (Objective 2)
4. ENGAGE (15 min): Leaf observation. Each student will find a leaf from a park tree (or pre-gather an assortment). Students will be introduced to tree terminology. Using posters that define terms, students will describe their leaf by terms (alternate/opposite, simple/compound, palmate, toothed, lobed, parallel veined, cut/wavy edged, needles/leaves). (Objective 3).
5. EXPAND (10 min): Students will be tested on their tree terminology by competing against each other to find the correct leaf in the Tricky Terms Leaf Grab Activity. (Objective 3)
6. EXPLORE (20 min): Adopt–A–Tree Worksheet. Students in pairs will gather seasonal and structural data on their chosen tree. This data will be compared to data collected in the Spring with the same tree. (Objective 3, 7)
7. ENGAGE (10 min): Students will be given simple dichotomous leaf keys developed by park naturalists and taught how to use them. After the naturalist keys a leaf with the entire class, students will key out a leaf from their adopted tree. (Objective 4).
8. Conclusion: discuss post visit projects and hand out teacher evaluation.

 

Winter Visit of Trees and Keys:

Topic: Classification, plant reproduction, seeds, create key (Objective 2, 3, 4, 5, 8)

1. REVIEW (10 min): What does it mean to classify? What is a dichotomous key? What were the results of your post-visit project? Perform a quick version of a class sort.
2. ENGAGE (25 min): Cereal Sort Activity. Discuss the use of descriptive words for classifying; solicit characteristics of cereal from students. Divide students into teams of 4-5. Each team will get a selection of different cereals with which to practice classification; cereal will be sorted into categories based on dichotomy. Each team will make their own dichotomous key. Have several teams share their cereal keys. (Objective 3)
3. EXPLAIN (10 min): Seed germination. Naturalist-led discussion with posters and props (Objective 5).
4. ENGAGE (20 min): Seed Sort Activity. Discuss the use of descriptive words for classifying;
solicit characteristics of seeds from students. Use same teams from cereal sort. Each team
receives a bag of 12 different seeds for making their own dichotomous key. Several teams share
results. (Objective 3)
5. EXPAND (10 min): “My Favorite Seed is a…” Activity. Each student will be given a
Naturalist-created Tree Seed Key and will choose one seed from the seed sort activity to classify.
See attached seed key. (Objective 4)
6. Conclusion: discuss post visit project and hand out teacher evaluation.

 

Spring Visit of Trees and Keys:

Topic: Tree parts, needs, life cycle, physiology, photosynthesis and investigations. (Objective 1, 3, 6, 7)

1. REVIEW (10 min): Solicit from students the results of post visit projects. What is a
definition for classification? What are dichotomous keys?
2. ENGAGE (15 min): Life Cycle Line Up from Project Seasons. What life stages do humans go through? Do trees have the same life stages? At what stage has a tree died and is no longer useful? Students will learn the cycle of a tree from seed to a decomposing log. Students will have a different picture in a tree’s life cycle on their backs and in silence, arrange themselves in the correct sequence. (Objective 1)
3. EXPLORE (30 min): How will you recognize your adopted tree from Spring? What changes do you think have occurred to your tree? Students in pairs will investigate seasonal and structural changes of their adopted tree. They will record their findings on the Tree Detective Worksheet. Comparisons will be made from data collected in Fall. Clinometers will be used for tree measurement. Students will share their findings. (Objective 7)
4. EXPAND (15 min): Build A Tree from Naturescope Treeific Trees. Who can name the parts of a tree? Compare our body parts to a tree (e.g. feet – roots, legs – trunk, arms – branches). Do trees have internal structures like humans? How do we know that a tree is alive if we can’t see the internal mechanics of trees? Through an active simulation, students will learn the parts of trees (xylem, phloem, bark, cambium, branches, roots, leaves), the internal structure and its functions through a physical simulation. See attached instructions. (Objective 1, 7)
5. ENGAGE (20 min): Photosynthesis Factory Activity. What makes a tree a producer? What is purpose of leaves? Compare a leaf to a factory. Students role play chloroplasts, chlorophyll and various other leaf components to simulate the process of photosynthesis. (Objective 6, 7)
6. Conclusion: discuss post visit projects and hand out teacher evaluation.

 

 

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4th Grade State Science Learning Outcomes Met by the Habitats Module

 

1. Use a simple key to classify objects, organisms, and/or phenomena.

3. Make inferences from observations of phenomena and/or events.

5. Evaluate conclusions based on scientific data.

6. Recognize the advantages and/or disadvantages to the user in the operation of simple technological devices.

10. Identify simple patterns in physical phenomena.

13. Demonstrate an understanding of the cycling of resources on earth, such as carbon, nitrogen, and/or water.

14. Trace the transmission of energy in a small, simple ecosystem and/or identify the roles of organisms in the energy movement in an ecosystem.

15. Compare and/or contrast the diversity of ways in which living things meet their needs.