COSMO’S WORLD: MEET THE TREES
Lesson Summary
Overview:
The purpose of this program is to educate children Pre-K through First Grade about trees,
including species awareness. Students will be able to identify the various parts of a tree and
their function. Students will be introduced to some of Pennsylvania’s native trees.
Vocabulary:
Trunk is the main stem of a tree which carries the water and nutrients to the leaves and other
parts of the tree
Branches are offshoots that grow out from the trunk
Roots are the part of the tree that grows into the ground and works to absorb water and
nutrients from the soil for the tree to use.
Bark is the outermost covering of the trunk and braches of a tree
Leaves (broad-leaf and needle-like) use sunlight and water to make the sugar the tree needs
for energy.
Evergreen trees keep their green leaves all year long.
Deciduous trees lose their leaves each year usually during the Fall months
Background Information:
Early Learners often think that cars are alive and trees are not! Review with younger students
the concept of living and nonliving. Repeat the idea that living things have basic needs in order
for them to live and grow. Discuss what students need to grow and live. Ask if they know what
plants and trees need to live and grow. Take this opportunity to remind older students that
sticks and leaves on the ground are considered living because they had been at one time.
Nonliving things never were alive.
COSMO’S WORLD: MEET THE TREES
Questions for Review:
1. What do you need to live and grow?
2. What do trees need to live and grow?
3. What are the parts of a tree?
4. Can you name some Pennsylvania trees?
5. What can we do to be sure trees have what they need to grow and live?
Academic Standards:
4.5.PK.A: Identify what people need to survive
4.1. K.D: Identify the similarities and differences of living and non-living things.
4.1.K.F: Distinguish between scientific fact and opinion.
4.1.1.A: Identify and describe the basic needs of living things in a terrestrial habitat.
4.1.1.E: Describe the seasons and how the change of season affects living things.
Objective:
Students will be able to know that trees are living things. They will be able to recognize and
identity the basic parts of a tree and know their function. Students will be able to develop
criteria for classifying trees by their characteristics (i.e. leaves, seeds, size...). Students will be
able to be aware of some of the many trees that are native to Pennsylvania.
Multimedia Resource:
Cosmo lll: Cosmo III | Introduction and
COSMO’S WORLD: MEET THE TREES
Learning Activity #1
Goal:
To have students observe, measure and sort leaves from various trees. Students will choose
various attributes as a way of classifying the leaves.
Materials for each group:
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Hand lens
Cubes, links, string, rulers (measurement tools
Leaves collected by the class, brought from home (or pictures if not available)
Sorting mats or colored paper
Procedure:
1. Have students work in pairs using their hand lens to examine each of their leaves and
observe attributes. Explain that leaves are one of the ways to recognize different kinds of
trees.
2. Describe leaves using words like broad, smooth, flat, needles, narrow, jagged, and pointed.
Ask students how their leaves are different. How are they the same?
3. Ask teams to sort their leaves and then tell the class what attribute they used (color, shape,
size, edges)
4. Student teams should then select their biggest leaf and guess how many cubes long or wide
it is. Make various measuring tools available and allow students to practice measuring as
another way of describing their leaves. Make a class graph of each team’s results.
5. Would the leaves look different at another time of year? What else is different in the
environment at that time?
6. Discuss seasons and how this is a repeating pattern in our environment.
7. Do all trees lose their leaves when the seasons change? Discuss deciduous and evergreen
trees.
8. Students may select their favorite leaf and make a leaf rub using crayons and paper. Ask
students to write a description of their leaf and why they like it.
COSMO’S WORLD: MEET THE TREES
Learning Activity #2
Goal:
Students will be able to recognize that trees are living things. They will be able to know that
trees have parts and they will be able to identify the leaves, branches, trunk and roots.
Background:
Discuss trees in and around your neighborhood. Ask students to describe different trees and
where they have seen them. What trees can the students name? Ask students to compare and
contrast what we need to live and grow with what trees need. Record answers. Review with
students that both trees and animals are living.
Ask students to recall the parts of a tree.
Procedure:
1. Have students stand in a circle and tell them they are going to be trees.
2. Demonstrate with arms stretched above your head and fingers spread wide.
3. Have students pose as trees and explain that their fingers are the leaves, their arms are the
branches, their body is the trunk and their feet are the roots.
4. Name a part of the tree and ask students to “SHAKE IT”
5. Go around the circle, giving each student a chance to call out a part of the tree, while the
other students respond by shaking it!
6. Explain the importance and function of the basic parts of a tree and how each part helps
the tree to live and grow.
LABEL THE PARTS OF THE TREE
Leaves
Trunk
Branches
Root
COSMO & TERRA’S WORD SEARCH
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