Activity 64: Looking At Leaves
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Are leaves ever hairy? Do they have teeth? In this activity, your students will take a closer look at leaves and find out more about leaf characteristics and how leaves can be used to identify plants.
This is Activity 64, one of 96 activities in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide (available in print or electronically).
To get the activity:
- Check out this online course with an E-Book (with an option to also purchase a printed guide for an additional fee)
- Contact your PLT State Coordinator. During COVID-19, PLT now offers remote professional development to model ways educators can work with students virtually, including adaptations to PLT activities.
The PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide is a supplementary curriculum that is multi-disciplinary, with an emphasis on science, reading, writing, mathematics, and social studies.
Each activity displays explicit connections to practices and concepts expected by the following national academic standards so teachers can easily see where the materials will fit into their lesson plans:
- Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
- Common Core Toolkit, includes
- English Language Arts (CCSS.ELA)
- Mathematics (CCSS.MATH)
- College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies (C3)
Our professional development further demonstrates these connections, as well as to state and local standards, contact your state coordinator.
STEM: Looking at Leaves
Engage students in STEM to examine the physical characteristics of leaves and investigate how they can be used to identify trees with Project Learning Tree's Looking At Leaves activity.
Welcome to New Zealand – A Nature Journal
Welcome to New Zealand: A Nature Journal Grades 3-5 ISBN-13: 978-0763674779 Candlewick, 2015 Recommended Reading Are you interested in studying cloud formations or moon phases? Urban ecosystems or wetland areas? The forest canopy or tidal pools? No matter your topic of study, Morris’ Welcome to New Zealand: A Nature Journal has inspiration for you. ... Read more »
Leaves
Leaves Grades K to 2 ISBN-10: 0399246363 Putnam Juvenile, 2007 Recommended Reading This book’s warm and vibrant colors invite early childhood listeners to enjoy the topic of the season. The author, David Stein, takes the viewpoint of a first-year bear cub as he encounters this seasonal change for the first time, such as leaves... Read more »
Autumnblings
Autumnblings Ages 4-8. ISBN: 0060092785 Published by Greenwillow Books, 2003 Authored by Douglas Florian Recommended Reading What do you like about Autumn? Flying kites? Apple picking? Trick or treat? Frisbee flicking? This children’s book explores the colors, events, and emotions that the fall season brings, and it serves as a special treat for those... Read more »
EE Resources
Indigenous Connections to PLT Activities
The Minnesota Department of Education includes Indigenous-based learning benchmarks in science, language arts, and social studies. Learn how the Minnesota DNR worked with tribes to adapt several PLT activities to include Ojibwe and Dakota culture and knowledge, and get some tips for teaching about Indigenous Peoples with knowledge and respect. Access the Ojibwe and Dakota... Read more »
Video Demo: Looking At Leaves
In PLT’s Looking at Leaves activity, students take a closer look at leaves and find out more about leaf characteristics and how leaves can be used to identify plants. Watch this PLT Activity in Action: Looking At Leaves video (13 minutes). Danielle Ardrey, Colorado PLT Coordinator, demonstrates this place-based activity for families and educators to... Read more »
Identify Trees from Leaves
Leafsnap is a free app that uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from leaf photographs you take in the field. Leafsnap currently focuses on tree species found in the Northeastern United States and Canada, but expansion is underway to include all U.S. regions.
The Science of Fall Leaves
The US National Arboretum has collected online resources on the science of fall foliage. Resources include “The Science of Color in Autumn Leaves,” which describes how and why leaves change color; an extensive photo gallery of trees in fall color; and a list of “Selected Plants Providing Colorful Autumn Foliage.”
Tree Product Images
Print out pages containing many examples of everyday products from trees!
Citizen Science Programs
Project BudBurst is a network of people across the United States who monitor plants as seasons change. Use Project Learning Tree activities to get your students outside, and use Project BudBurst to help them see how their seasonal observations about plants compare to those being made all across the country. In addition to collecting scientifically... Read more »
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