Lesson plan: Tremendous Trees!
Learning objective: To understand how trees have evolved & adapted to suit different environments
Resources required
• Teachers Powerpoint on
tree adaptations
• Internet access
Duration
Theme
Subject focus
Age group
1-2 hours
Nature
Science
Year 6
Learning outcomes (differentiated)




To reinforce knowledge of habitats
To recap plant anatomy and the role each component part has
To recognise that environments can change
To learn that trees have adapted to suit different environments
MUST All pupils must understand that, like other plant and animal species, trees
have adapted and evolved to cope with different environments.
Adult Support
 Teacher to support pupil
discussion on adaptations
(alongside ppt).
 Lead a walk in school
grounds, or nearby, to
identify some trees and
discuss why they were
planted there.
Follow up activities
 Do some research using
books or the internet to
find some trees that can
survive in very harsh
environments. Find out
how they have evolved
to cope with this
SHOULD Most pupils should be able to identify some trees by their leaves, bark
and bark and state how they may be suited to the environment they live in.
COULD Some children could use research skills to offer their own examples of
trees in the world and how they have changed over time to suit an extreme
environment.
Keywords
Tree, environment,
adaptation, evolve,
coniferous,
deciduous, habitat,
survival, water,
nutrients, fire,
climate, weather,
roots, conditions,
soil, pollution,
temperature
Starter
Why do we sweat? Why do we put a coat on?

Discuss sweating on a hot day – water on skin surface evaporates and cools the person down

Putting a coat on gives us an extra insulating layer and protects us from wind and rain.

What else do we do to cope with more extreme conditions? Eg – find shade, drink more water, put
gloves, scarf and hat on, stand by the fire, eat more hot food…
Understand the different parts of a tree






Start with one volunteer to be the heartwood. They stand in the middle shouting “Tall and
Strong”. Explain that the heartwood in the centre of the tree provides support, but is no
longer living.
Add the roots – a number of students lie down with their feet towards the heartwood. If
they have long hair they can spread it out to be lateral roots. They need to make slurping
noises to represent the uptake of water from the soil.
Add a ring of students holding hands around the heartwood – they are the sapwood.
Explain that the sapwood pumps the water from the roots up the tree. Start crouching
down and stand up making a noise that gets higher to represent water moving up the
tree.
Add an outer ring of students – they are the phloem. Spread their fingers to represent
leaves. Start by standing up and then crouch down making a noise that gets lower to
represent sugars going down the tree from the leaves.
Any remaining students are the bark. They need to stand around the edge and bark like
dogs to represent the protection bark gives to tree.
Once everyone knows their role get the tree working for a short time by building up the
sounds and movements from the centre outwards.
Main activity
Plants have several basic needs for survival. These needs include light, water, air, minerals and nutrients. They
also need to be able to reproduce in order to ensure that their species survives. Some of the main threats to
the survival of plants include; a lack of sunlight, a lack of water, too much water and the activities of animals.
There can be bigger and more catastrophic events such as flooding or forest fires that also threaten a tree’s
survival.
See Teachers Powerpoint on tree adaptations with questions to get pupils to think about tree adaptations.
© www.sustainablelearning.com This resource has been written to support the work of One Tree Per Child.
Activity 2:
Go for a woodland walk:




Go for a walk as a class
Pick a leaf, (just one – you don’t want to hurt the tree!), and examine it. Is it hairy? Is it sticky? Is it
waxy? Is it big? Is it small? Is it pointy or rounded? Is it from a deciduous or coniferous tree?
With help from the teachers – find out which tree your leaf comes from.
Stick your leaf in your science book, sketch the leaf underneath and annotate it with its features and
describe how these features might help the tree live in the UK.
Activity 3:




Invent a place…
Invent a tree to suit your place!
Write a short paragraph describing your made up place. Give it a name. Describe the temperature.
Describe its climate – is it wet, dry or somewhere in between? Is it windy? Is it on the coast, in the
mountains or is it a city? Is it very polluted.
Now draw your tree to suit your place, give it a name and annotate it with the features that make it
suited to the place you describe.
Plenary
Go through worksheets and check our own answers and change them if needed.
Collect a list of trees identified from the leaf collection – discuss if they’re native to the UK or not, (remember
native trees have been in the UK since the last ice age about 12,500 years ago and, as such, they have evolved
to cope with our temperate climate and host more animal species than non-native trees)
Look at some examples of pupils’ made up places and the trees they have designed to cope with this.
Extension tasks

The Bristol whitebeam, (sorbus bristoliensis), only grows in Bristol and is native to the Avon Gorge in
the area underneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge. See what you can find out about the Bristol
whitebeam and how it has adapted to thrive on the poor soils and steep cliffs of the Avon Gorge.
(feel free to contact us at the One Tree Per Child team for help with this…
[email protected])


As a class, plant a tree (or several), and treat it as a group project to look after
Conduct a habitat survey, recording all of the living things that can be found within one
particular tree/wooded area in the school grounds
Pupils choose one particular type of tree and research more about it
Write a ‘diary of a tree’
Create an exploded diagram labelling and explaining tree structure



Reflective notes
Curriculum links
Science

reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and
explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other
presentations

identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that
adaptation may lead to evolution.

Describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable
characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including micro-organisms, plants and
animals
English


noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary
ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge
© www.sustainablelearning.com This resource has been written to support the work of One Tree Per Child.