Giant Tree Cookie

OK, it isn't a giant cookie or a cookie for a giant, but it is a huge slab of wood from the trunk of a Blue Gum or Eucalyptus tree and it is located just outside the classroom benches in the ISK Community Forest.  The giant tree cookie shows the annual growth rings (if you look really carefully!) from the center of the tree (bottom most nail) to the outer layer just under the bark (top most nail).  The series of nails indicates each decade of growth.  Could you make a story for this tree and the experiences it has witnessed in the world (or at ISK) during it's 60 year life?  Consider the width of each growth ring (dating back from 2020, when this tree died and was cut down) and consider how harsh or easy (dry or wet?) life was for the tree each year as it grew.  When were there any threats or damage to it?  

Questions to ponder: Who planted it and why?  What were there hopes and dreams of or for this newly planted seedling?

Math/Science Link: Can you calculate the diameter of the trunk at each decade of its life using the information below?  Measure the radius by using the distances from the center of the tree (bottom nail) to each of the nails (placed at 10 year intervals) to  help you then calculate the diameter (radius x 2).  From the diameter of each type of tree we can calculate the amount of biomass (dry weight) in the entire tree at each decade of life.  From the biomass calculated we can calculate the amount of carbon stored (sequestered) after each decade of life in the form of cellulose in the cell walls of the cells that make up the xylem tissue you see in the stem of a tree tree.  From this, we can estimate the amount of carbon that was captured and stored (sequestered) during each year of its life.   Check this space for a formulas needed to convert the diameters into biomass and then into carbon sequestered in total by the plant after each decade from which you can figure out and plot in a graph the amount of carbon sequestered in the tree as it lived or at any individual year of its life.

Language Arts Link: Write a creative/fiction or non-fiction story about the history and experiences witnessed by this tree during its long and wonderful life.  When was the tree born?  What was happening in our world, in Kenya or here on our campus then?  

First Nail (top most)- 2020:  My root system was badly damaged by the construction of the new T block building by the upper field and tennis courts.  The damage weakened my health, my ability to get water and nutrients from the soil, and my resistance to disease.  Within a year, I was dead and eventually cut down to avoid my falling on the building or the ISK tennis courts.

Second Nail (from top) - 2010:

Third Nail (from top) - 2000:

Fourth Nail (from top) - 1990:

Fifth Nail (from top) - 1980:

Sixth Nail (from top) - 1970:

Last Nail (bottom most) - 1960: