LESSON 5 Grade K/1: INTO THE OAK TREE COMMUNITY

GROWING AN OAK TREE

Goal

For the students to learn that acorns need soil, water, and sunlight to grow.

Overview

Students will gain experience in selecting and planting an acorn, and will discover how an oak tree grows while observing the process over time.

Service Learning Component

Growing and planting trees is doing a service for the school campus. The first graders may be paired up with kindergarten students. Community members and older students from the junior high may also help with this process as desired.

Materials

acorns

containers to plant in (washed quart or half-gallon milk cartons, or nursery pots)

Soil (two cubic feet for thirty children)

Trays to set container on

Sources of water and light

Background Information

Acorns drop during the late summer and early fall, August to November. Choose acorns that are greenish-brown, firm, and plump. Acorns with pinholes may indicate insect activity. Acorns should be planted as early in the fall as possible so they will be ready for transplant in the spring. If possible, collect acorns from trees growing close to where you intend to plant new trees. Be sure to have permission to transplant the seedlings to a most optimal location. (See Seed to Seedling curriculum packet and the book, Oaks of California, both available at Dye Creek, for instructions on preparation, planting, transplanting of acorn seedlings.)

Vocabulary

Seedlings: a young plant grown from a seed. Sapling: a young tree

Acorn: the seed or nut of an oak tree Frass: bug poop; sawdust in acorn.

Acorn cap: the woody cap on the top of the acorn where the stem is attached.

Advance Preparation/Thoughts for Teachers

1. Before class time, gather acorns to plant.

2. Assemble planting materials (containers with drainage holes in the bottom, potting soil, large spoons, or hand trowels to scoop soil )

3. Also need acorns, water, and trays to set containers on. Think of the best places to put containers after they are planted.

Setting the Stage for Reflections

1. The day before planting, have children carefully observe acorns, looking for holes or any acorns which appear to have insect damage. Set damaged acorns aside.

2. Have students remove caps from acorns and place them in a container of water. Remove any acorns that float.

3. You may wish to save the floating and insect damaged acorns for later student experiments.

4. Soak the acorns for at least 12 hours.

5. Remove any acorns which float to the top.

What will this acorn need to grow? What will we need to provide for it? How can we provide this for our acorn?

Procedures/Reflections*

You may wish to do this activity outside.

1. Discuss what an acorn or any seed needs to grow (soil, water, light) and talk about each and how we will provide these things for our acorns.

2. Demonstrate how to plant an acorn. Push the acorn point down until it is under the soil. If a root tip is already evident, be careful not to break it.

3. After planting the acorn, water the container so that the soil is evenly moist, but not soggy. Allow soil to almost dry out between waterings.

4. Allow each child to plant and water an acorn. (You may wish to plant extra acorns for those students whose acorns do not sprout)

5. Encourage children to think of a place in the classroom where their containers will receive light but not get too hot (60-75 F)

6. Make sure containers are out of an area where there are drafts from a furnace or air conditioning.

7. Allow children to aid in clean-up and in placement of the containers in the class.

Wrap up: Reflection/Evaluation

Draw a picture of what the tree looks like now so that student has a before picture for their journal. Discuss with them how this tree is going to provide food and shelter to other animals, plants, and insects.

Extensions/Suggestions/Connections

SCIENCE: Discuss how a tree grows; its leaves provide food and how water and nutrients from the soil travels up through a tree.

ART: Draw pictures of the acorns and seedlings in various stages of growth, and... Use acorn caps as stampers for stamp pad designs.

MATH: Keep a record of how long it takes for the acorns to sprout. Measure and graph weekly growth in seedlings once they sprout.

VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS: Have students act out to music how an acorn sprouts and grows into a tree. Start out curled up on the floor like an acorn. Have a few students, or the teacher, sprinkle them with imaginary rain. Students should slowly grow into tall oak trees with their branches gently swaying in the breeze. Music can be added for effect.

SOCIAL STUDIES/HISTORY: Read and talk about another famous tree planter, Johnny Appleseed. Discuss how American Indians made use of acorns and oak trees. Share with them how the land looked when it was covered with oaks, like a canopy, a century ago.