winter tree study

With Christmas season right around the corner and winter on our doorstep, I decided to introduce the coniferous tree as part of our winter season curriculum. First we walked around the neighborhood and identified coniferous trees. The boys were actually excited to point them out and shout "found one!" Once we had identified all of our neighborhood conifers I trimmed a one foot branch off of a pine tree to bring into our classroom for further observation. A head of time I had scissors, bowls and a ruler set out for such observations.

Before we began we started with a few questions:

Do pine needles smell?

How do the bark/needles feel?

What color are the needles?

How long are the needles?

Do pine trees have flowers?

Once we had established a few questions for observation the boys started in naming off many observations as they cut, smelled, felt and looked at the pine branches. I assisted in writing these down on the observation sheet. This was a fun activity and used sensory and observatory factors.