Tree Climbing - Botany Edition

Last week, our Grade 4 scientists took their learning off the ground and into the boughs of the CDS Giving Tree!  Our day started on the ground revisiting a tool we first used in the fall to identify stream macronivertbrates… the dichotomous key.  There are all sorts of dichotomous keys, but today we introduced the key used for identifying trees.  We started by listening to “The Dichotomous Key” song from the album Trees by Molly Ledford and Bill Kelly (https://mollyledfordbillykelly.bandcamp.com/releases).  Super fun song about how to use keys to identify unknown organisms.  Side note, the album was nominated for a 2016 GRAMMY in the 'Best Children's Music' category.

We also used some materials provided by the Missouri Department of Conservation to see the many leaf shapes found on Missouri trees.  Students used their skills of observation to decide if leaves were lobed, or if the edges were serrated, or if their branches were opposite or alternate, etc.  Next we used these skills to find evidence for each step of the dichotomous key until we had successfully keyed our tree... a sugar maple! 

We talked about how sugar maples can be tapped in the winter to produce syrup and how cool that was that we had one of these trees on our campus.  This lead into a conversation about how humans use trees, and then we began to think about what other things could possibly use this sugar maple either temporarily or permanently.  Sure there are the obvious ones like birds and squirrels, but could we find other evidence that the tree was the home to other living creatures? The students geared up and began to ascend into the tree.  Their first task was to take photographic evidence for each step on the dichotomous key and the second was to find evidence of life.  The third task was the hidden curriculum.  It had been months since most of these kids climbed and our initial morning climb was mainly to have the students regain confidence and trust in themselves and the climbing system.  It’s much easier to do high-level data collection when you have experienced climbers, so that was a huge part of this morning climb.  So there’s all kinds of things going on here.  The students are working with a ground crew to record data; they are working on skills of communication, collaboration, observations, and inferrences; they are building trust with their classmates; they are growing their skills and confidence; and all in a setting that naturally heightens your senses and demands every faculty of your body to be engaged.  Being off the ground, even a few feet, is enough to invigorate your body and senses.  It’s all of that stuff happening at the same time.  It’s a beautiful thing.  It’s school on steroids.

After our initial study we got the boys together and debriefed the climb before heading to lunch.  Once we refueled, we again started the next session with some time on the ground.  We had been looking for evidence of life on the tree and now we transitioned into thinking about what is going on inside the tree.   Once again we had some great visual resources from the MDC to help us show the students the layers and functions within the trees.  We spent time talking about the functions of the xylem, phloem, and cambium layers.  We studied how nutrient transport changes throughout the year creating spring and summer growth spurts that create tree rings.  We looked at “tree cookies”, slices of tree branches and trunks, and learned how analyzing the growth patterns can give us a glimpse back in time to understand what was happening in this area during this tree’s life.  You can see evidence of tremendous growth, years of drought, or even fire.

Next we looked around the ground below the tree and noticed that the entire area was littered with “helicopters”.  We talked about how these are the seeds produced by our sugar maple and began to unpack why does this tree choose to spread its seeds in this manner. For our afternoon study, we decided to do some investigations around seed dispersal.  We had the students climb to various heights, measure that distance, drop a helicopter, measure the time of descent, mark where it landed with a flag, and measure from the flag to the rope of the climber.  This activity required the boys working in teams of three, with two people on the ground for every one climber.  It required communication and collaboration as the students had to be in sync with each other to accurately collect this data.  We climbed and collected data all the way up until the end of the day.  We ended with an afternoon debrief and then headed in for Spirit Day. 

By the end of the day we had all of our data and the following week, back in the classroom, the students were able to take that data and then use some math to sort out the distance the helicopters traveled, the speed with which they fell, and analyze how the length of the helicopters influences these two variables.  The study will continue while we attempt to use the dichotomous keys to identify all of the trees on the CDS campus during a campus-wide survey. 

Special thanks to our favorite tree climbing guru, Guy Mott, from Adventure Tree.  Without Guy our tree climbing program would be non-existent.  He brings the ropes, harness, helmets, gloves, and assorted gear.  He helps me setup the the tree with all of the ropes and his knowledge and experience is invaluable during our climbs.  If you are interested in having a tree climbing event at your own home, school, or organization, please visit Adventure Tree’s website at:  http://adventuretree.org/

I also want to give a shout out to Kristen Propeck for stopping by during the morning session and helping out.  I love when parents come and help at our events.  Having an extra pair of eyes, ears, and hands is always welcomed and I would encourage everyone to come to at least one event just to see your child in a different environment and learning in a non-traditional setting.