At a glance
Trees is a 60 or 75 minute workshop for grades 3 to 7, offered in class or outdoors. Students learn how a tree grows, reproduces, protects itself and gets sick by handling real samples, and finish with an Indigenous legend.
If trees have rings, it isn’t because they’re tired!
Let’s take a virtual walk in the forest together.
We work out the age of several trees and plants (trembling aspen, balsam fir, sequoia and bamboo) by counting their growth rings. We study how they reproduce by handling balsam fir cones and talking about bamboo rhizomes. We test what happens to rising sap when bark is injured and look at examples of tree diseases. And we finish with a beautiful Indigenous legend.
A great workshop to help new knowledge take root!
With the 75-minute workshop, students also become seedling experts with our seed collection!
Learning goals (elementary)
- Describe the difference between conifers and deciduous trees and present the features of some trees.
- Describe some of the defences that help trees grow.
- Explain why water, light, mineral salts and carbon dioxide matter to plants.
- Describe how urban development and land use affect trees and plants.
- Study tree growth from cross-sections of a trunk.
- Understand how trees reproduce.
Learning goals (secondary)
- Describe physical adaptations that improve a plant’s chances of survival.
- Describe behavioural adaptations that improve a plant’s chances of survival.
- Describe how urban development and land use affect trees and plants.
