Day 1: Plant a Tree

Earth Day Thematic Unit: Day 1

Course Data

Grade Level: 3

Lesson Topic: Plant a Tree

Materials

https://pbskids.org/eekoworld/index.html?load=environment

Be a Friend to Trees by Patricia Lauber

Green construction paper

Markers

Scissors

Clear tape     

Lesson Objectives

TSWBAT brainstorm ideas on the benefits of trees.

TSWBAT create a five paragraph letter relating to trees’ benefits.

TSWBAT build an evergreen tree.

TN curriculum standards

GLE 0401.1.1 Demonstrate knowledge of Standard English usage, mechanics, and spelling.

GLE 0401.1.3 Demonstrate knowledge of Standard English sentence structure.

Anticipatory Set/Focus

Give students 1 minute to brainstorm everything that they know about trees (ABK). Take children on a five minute walk to observe the trees around the school (IAL, RRL). When you get back into the classroom make a list on the board of everything that knew or noticed about trees. Today, we are going to learn about trees just like the ones we saw and are going to plant (LL).

Essential Question: Should we help the trees?

Instruction

Show students the video about forests on

 https://pbskids.org/eekoworld/index.html?load=environment and read Be a Friend to Trees.

Writing Prompt: You just found out that a lumber company is planning to cut down all of the trees in a nearby forest. The town committee is supposed to vote on the matter next week. You are going to write a five paragraph letter to the committee explaining why they should vote to keep the trees. Be sure to include at least three reasons and explain each of them in detail.

Prewriting- Before you begin, take 3 minutes to brainstorm any ideas. Remember the reasons that you saw in the movie and read about in the book.

You are going to use the ideas that you put down in the brainstorming. Your job with this letter is to try and persuade the committee to save the trees by convincing them that trees are beneficial to humans. Your letter needs to include five paragraphs with at least five sentences each. After you have been writing for ten minutes, I am going to pair you up and let you share what you have with a partner. I will give each partner five minutes to read the papers and share ideas and thoughts. When you have finished the letter, make sure that you go back and check to see that all the words are capitalized that need to be, all sentences are punctuated correctly, and all words are spelled correctly.

Closure

Have students put away their writings and finish for home work if needed. Have students create an evergreen (directions below). On the evergreen, they will write one reason why we need trees. Place the trees in the back of the room as a class forest. Use rubric below to assess letters.

Evergreen directions

Fold a piece of green construction paper in half (hamburger way), then cut it in half.

Put the two pieces together, and fold them in half again.

Draw half an evergreen tree opposite the fold.

Cut along the line - you should get two identical trees.

Fold the trees in half, just barely creasing the center line (this is to mark the center of the tree).

Cut a slit along the bottom half of the center of one tree and along the top half of the center of the other tree.

Slip the two trees together along the slits.

Using clear tape, tape the bottoms and tops together (pieces of tape on the bottom and at the top make the tree stand up well and stop the slit ends from flopping over).

Draw some pine cones on your tree if you'd like.

For a bigger tree: Start with two pieces of green construction paper, and fold them so they make a long, thin rectangle. Draw a tree opposite the fold. The rest of the instructions are the same.

Accommodations/Differentiated Learning Experiences

Adjusted rubrics if necessary.
Rubric

Name:________________________________________________________