| Curriculum Notebook - Grades 2-Up | ||||||||||||||||
Interpretive Stops
1. Along Aptos Creek
Additional Information |
Meet a Tree
Grades 2-Up From Grade 5 Life Sciences Standards: Plants and animals have structures for respiration, digestion, waste disposal, and transport of materials. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know many multicellular organisms have specialized structures to support the transport of materials. 1. Enjoy exploring nature. Most of us learn to appreciate and respect the things that we take time to explore: to listen to, touch, and hear. This fun game gives children time to become familiar with the tree as a living organism. 1. Use the surrounding area of the Pourroy's Picnic Area, Stop 16 or the area surrounding Stop 12. 2. For a slightly different variation of this activity, see "Heartbeat of a Tree"
This game is for groups of at least two. Pair off. Blindfold your partner and lead him through the forest to any tree that attracts you. (How far will depend on your partner's age and ability to orient himself. For all but very young children, a distance of 20-30 yards usually isn't too far.) Help the "blind" child to explore his tree and to feel its uniqueness. I find that specified suggestions are best. For example, if you tell children to "Feel the tree," they won't respond with as much interest as if you say, "rub your cheek on the bark." Instead of "Explore your tree," be specific: "Is this tree still alive?... Can you put your arms around it?... Is the tree older than you are? Can you find plants growing on it?... Animal signs?... Lichens?... Insects?... " When your partner is finished exploring, lead him back to where you began, but take an indirect route. (This part of the game has its fun side, with the guides leading their partners over imaginary logs and through thickets that might easily have been avoided.) Now remove the blindfold and let the child try to find the tree with his eyes open. Suddenly, as the child searches for his tree, what was a forest becomes a collection of very individual trees. A tree can be an unforgettable experience in the child's life. Many times children have come back to me a year after we played "Meet a Tree" and have literally dragged me out to the forest to say, "See! Here's my tree!"
Used by Permission and Modified from Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Bharat Cornell, published by Dawn Publications |
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Objectives
| © 2002 "A Walk Along Old-Growth Loop." All Rights Reserved. |