Today, the last day of Earth Week, is also Arbor Day, a day when we celebrate trees! If we were at school we would have planted some trees on the campus, but since we’re at home we are going to celebrate some of the amazing trees we already have! Is there a tree in your yard that you love? Maybe a street tree in your neighborhood that people walk by every day, but never really notice? A tree in a local park that you like to climb? Think about all the trees you see while you are at home.
New Vocabulary:
Arbor Day: a day dedicated annually to public tree-planting in the US, Australia, and other countries.
Dichotomous key: a tool that allows the user to determine the identity of items in the natural world, such as trees, wildflowers, mammals, reptiles, rocks, and fish. Keys consist of a series of choices that lead the user to the correct name of a given item.
Step 1: Find a tree in your yard, neighborhood or local park to “adopt.” Spend some time observing your tree- what colors can you find? Does it have flowers? Fruit? Is the bark rough or smooth? Use aDichotomous Key to figure out what type of tree you have adopted. Make a sign to tell others what kind of tree it is. You can do this with paper or by writing next to the tree with sidewalk chalk!
Step 2: Next gather some recycled materials and make some decorations for your tree. Look at the examples below on how different cultures celebrate special trees and think about what might make people in your neighborhood happy to see. Think about doctors, nurses, postal workers, grocery store employees and others that still have to work during quarantine and think of some ways to decorate your #HappinessTree that might brighten someone’s day. Take pictures of your #HappinessTree and send them to people who don't live your neighborhood or post them on social media to spread even more happiness!
Happiness Trees
Step 3: After you decorate your tree spend a day observing people’s reactions and count how many smiles your tree causes! You might even want to display that information by your tree! Look at some ways to visually display data here.
An example of a data visualization counting different types of trees. (4 evergreen, 2 bare, 7 flowering and 5 with leaves.
An example of a data visualization counting passers by who smiled at a #HappinessTree
Some other resources to help you identify your tree:
Step 4: Make sure that when you are finished with your decorations (or if it will be especially windy) you take them down and recycle them, don’t let them blow away and become trash!