Bourne Learners: Trees

When we started off the school year, one of the first things we studied was the life cycle of trees. We spent a lot of time outdoors, enjoying the wonderful weather whenever possible. Tater Tot learned how to identify deciduous versus evergreen trees, based on their characteristics. She identified and labeled the parts of a flower, learned about the tree's life cycle and learned about pollination and it's importance to the life cycle. This unit naturally rolled into that of apple trees, which included some information on Johnny Appleseed. We also discussed "-at" words at this time. This unit even rolled into the discussion of family trees and a short section on geneology. We went on a field trip to an apple orchard, where we got a very nice tour and learned some interesting facts, such as the variety of colors apples can be, as well as the way many get their names.

For the tangible things that she made, she kept those in a binder made up of a science journal, a writing journal, and an alphabetically tabbed area where she was able to decide on her own filing method. For example, she may have put a moon worksheet under "m" for moon, or under "s" for space. She was able to file it in whatever way made sense to her.

Demonstration of flower pollination and parts using chalk dust