Trillions of Trees

Trillion of Trees for Grades 3-5

Trillion of Trees is a downloadable, password protected PDF for educators of students in grades 3-5 that invites young learners to investigate the unique characteristics of different tree species and how best to plan, plant, and care for trees in their community.

There are approximately three trillion trees on Earth. Trees are invaluable assets to people and the environment. Climate change is one of our most pressing global challenges and everyone has the power to help be a part of the solution by planting trees and making sure they mature with proper care.

Designed to be flexible, the activities can be used as stand-alone lessons, or all together as a cohesive unit of instruction using a storyline technique:

• Tree ID: Students learn about the identifying features of trees, including their leaves, bark, twigs, flowers, fruit, and seeds.
• Trees in Trouble: Students examine trees for signs of damage or poor health and investigate conditions for maintaining trees and other plants.
• Plant a Tree: Students plan and carry out their own tree-planting project.

Features

• Multidisciplinary activities integrate core discipline areas, including STEM subjects, reading, writing, and social studies.
• Hands-on activities connect children to nature in the city and the outdoors and are designed to develop students’ critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Background information, suggestions for enrichment, and student assessment tools for teachers.
• Copyright-free Student Pages, or worksheets, can be easily loaded to Google Classroom.
• Explicit connections to academic standards for science, English language arts, and social studies.
• New supporting features include “Differentiated Instruction” techniques, “Take It Outside!”, “Did You Know?” forest facts, plus a “Career Corner” within each Student Page introduces youth to forest-related careers.

Learning Progressions

Storylines provide connectedness and continuity to individual activities and can serve as the instructional glue that holds areas of knowledge and skills together. The activities in Trillions of Trees may be linked together into a unit of instruction using a storyline technique, such as the one that follows.

• Guiding Question: How do we identify what trees to plant and where to plant them?
• Storyline: Students investigate the identifying features of different trees and use their understanding of trees to plan, plant, and care for trees in their community.

Academic Standards

Classroom educators and nonformal educators alike need to ensure that instruction helps diverse learners meet rigorous academic benchmarks. Each PLT activity displays explicit connections to practices and concepts mandated by the following national academic standards. Here is an example from “Trees in Trouble.”

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