Trees and Keys Classroom Connections

The Wolf Ridge Trees and Keys class provides many extension possiblilites for the classroom. Tie-ins can be made to a variety of topics including biodiversity, tree life cycles, dichotomous keys, tree parts and functions and more. Visit this page periodically as we will add new activities and links suggested by Wolf Ridge visiting school teachers, and eventually our own interactive on-line activities.

Pre-Visit Activities

1. Collect leaves from around school or from your home. Its good to have a wide variety of different types of leaves. Using a piece of scratch paper and the broad edge of a crayon rub over the leaf to leave its image on the piece of paper. This is done by lying the paper over the leaf (veins up) and then gently rubbing the crayon back and forth across the raised surface of the paper. After getting a variety of leaves compare and contrast the differences. Identify lobes, serrations, palm-shaped, rounded, simple, compound, alternate and opposite. Can you identify other parts of the leaves? This activity will be a good way to get to know the parts of a tree prior to working with keys. These are important words to understand and they will help you to become a key master.

Graduation Standards:

H.S. Read, View, Listen: Technical Reading

H.S. Sciences: Biological Concepts

• 6-8th Read, View, Listen: Non-fiction
• 6-8th Read, View, Listen: Technical Reading
• 6-8th Sciences: Living Systems
• 4-5th Read, View, Listen: Literal Comprehension

2. Play twenty questions with the students. Have one student pick a person, event or thing and have the other students ask you yes or no questions to narrow the scope. Remember that you only have twenty questions. Using a key is a matter of asking yes/no questions about something and the answer is right in front of you in the form of a leaf, twig or its bark. Instead of stabbing in the dark while you attempt to identify a paricular tree you simply look at a leaf, twig or bud and ask a yes or no question. Needle or leaf? Big buds or small buds? Red bark or brown? After answering each of the questions it is a matter of following directions to find the next question. What fun! It's an adventure.

Graduation Standards:

• 6-8th Read, View, Listen: Non-fiction

Post-Visit Activities

1. Make your own dichotomous key at home or school. Use at least ten different plants and make an identification key that you can use to differentiate one plant or tree from another. You could also use the trees that are in your yard or at school. Have other students use your key and see if they can successfully identify all the different species correctly. Challenge yourself to use vocabulary that is specific to plants and that will help you expand upon knowledge that you learned at Wolf Ridge. Remember that you will not always have a teacher or a cool naturalist to show you around the woods. It is important to learn identification skills that will be with you throughout your life.

Graduation Standards:

• H.S. Read, View, Listen: Technical Reading
• 6-8th Read, View, Listen: Technical Reading
• 4-5th Science: Living and Non-living Systems

2. Over your life you have seen countless numbers of trees. Choose a tree that intrigues you and do some research. A simple search on the Internet may bring out a few simple facts. Write a story about what your tree does all year from the perspective of that particular tree. You eat and change your behavior throughout the seasons and so do trees. In your short story describe how trees "eat" and what they do all year. How long does your tree live? What kind of leaves does it have? Do they change color, why? What are some things you would be concerned about as a tree. What are things that all those people could do to help you?

Graduation Standards:

• 4-5th Science: Living and Non-Living Systems 6-8th Read, View, Listen: Non-fiction

Links to On-line Resources and Activities

Wolf Ridge Class Information

Class Description:

Trees and Keys is an ecology class. Students will learn how to construct and use a simple dichotomus identification key. Given a map and a simplified tree and shrub key, students will travel between trees and attempt to identify them correctly. Temperate and tropical forests will be compared and students will learn about species diversity.Students will receive a tropical forest tree seed to plant to remind them of the value of maintaining biodiversity.

Total time: 3 hours (two hours outdoors)
Audience: 6-20 students, 4th grade through adult
Activity level: moderate
Travel: 1 1/4 mile
Total uphill travel: 200 feet

Outcomes

Upon completion of the Trees and Keys class students will be able to:

Construct, understand and use a simple dichotomous key to identify up to18 trees and shrubs around Wolf Ridge.

Evaluate their role in the stewardship of natural resources.

Appreciate the plant diversity found in the forests of Wolf Ridge.

Minnesota Graduation Standards

The Trees and Keys class will provide students with guided practice, in an authentic setting, to support the following Graduations Standards. We have chosen one to three “major focus” standards per grade level. Due to the holistic nature of environmental education, several other standards, not listed here, are addressed as well.

H.S. Read, View, Listen: Technical Reading, Demonstrate the ability to read and apply technical information to (A) operate a technical manual, (B2) interpret specialized vocabulary and (B4) apply step-by-step procedures.

4-5th Read, View, Listen: Literal Comprehension, Demonstrate comprehension of literal meaning by (2) reading and applying technical instructions to perform an action.

4-5th Science: Living and Non-living Systems, Demonstrate understanding of (A1) characteristics of plants. (B1) Measure and classify organisms on the basis of properties and relationships.

Wolf Ridge Curriculum Concepts

• Natural Resources -A growing human population is making increasing demands on natural resources.
• Ecosystems - Humans have a great ability to alter natural systems, and a responsibility to consider the effects of our actions.
• Biodiversity - A complex natural system is more stable than a simple one, and more able to absorb disturbances.