Trees for all Seasons - Part 1: Deciduous Trees (Kindergarten)

Real Life Connection: DAY 1 - * Lead the class in an imaginary story. (Utilize any picture books you have which show deciduous trees of each season, as you discuss.)
"Let's pretend that you are a baby bird.   You have a mama bird who is teaching you ALL ABOUT TREES, because you and your bird family live in a tree, so she wants you to understand EVERYTHING about them! ( If student discussion is desired, you could initiate "pair-share", letting students sitting next to each other quickly share what kind of tree they'd like to live in, as a baby bird.) "Okay, Mama wants to tell the baby birds about different weather, and how it affects their 'tree home.'
First of all, Mama Bird says, " Some trees stay GREEN all year long!    They are called EVERGREEN trees, because they stay green "FOREVER".   The trees we see sold for Christmas trees are an example of an evergreen tree.   
THEN..., there is a different group of trees that start out with green leaves, but change their colors  in the FALL, & then the leaves drop to the ground!     That's the kind of tree OUR bird family lives in, so I'm going to tell you about those trees FIRST!  
1. In spring, that's when most baby birds hatch out of their eggs, and that's ALSO the time that trees get brand new green leaves, and SOME even get flowers first!   Do you remember seeing trees with flowers in the spring?What color flowers have you seen on trees in spring? (short discussion with students) 
2. "Next comes summer, the warmest season, and all trees are covered with leaves.  Usually in summer, all the leaves are.....what color? " (green) Then,lots of these trees also begin to grow seeds, nuts, berries, acorns, and even fruit!  This is delicious food for birds and forest animals, and humans like to eat some of it, too!"
3.  "After summer, it's time for  FALL! The weather starts getting cooler, becAause the sun doesn't stay out shining as many hours each day, like it did in the summer.  As the air gets cooler, the leaves begin to change colors!  What leaf colors have you seen in the fall? [share]  Would you be EXCITED as a young bird, to see everything in your tree home start changing colors?  After the leaves have changed colors, they start to get dry, and they just  LET GO of the tree branches, and gently FALL ,FLOAT, & TWIRL to the ground.(Lead them in twirling their fingers, high to low, like the leaves falling)  That's why we call this season.....FALL. And another name for it is...? " (answers from students) AUTUMN. Sometimes human families rake these leaves into piles, and have fun jumping in them!  
4.  (Teacher pretends to start shivering, rubbing arms and blowing on hands, trying to 'get warm') "Winter comes after fall.  This season is usually the coldest weather of all, and there is NOT as much sunlight to make the air WARM outside, like in the summer or fall." (Discuss how kids might remember playing in the summertime, stopping to eat supper, and then going back outside AGAIN to play until bedtime?   But, NOT IN THE WINTER! It gets dark even before suppertime, and much colder than summer.) Many of the trees outside have lost ALL THEIR LEAVES, and you can see their bare branches.  "

"SO, Mama bird has told Baby Bird about how many of the bird 'tree homes' change colors, and finally lose their leaves in the winter.  * Do you think Baby Bird liked his/her Mama telling  it things about the bird home? (Yes, it feels good for grown-ups to tell you important things.) When trees have leaves that change colors and drop off in winter, they have a special name...we say they're DECIDUOUS.   Do you know how I remember that word?   It's kind of like the trees "make a DECISION" to have their leaves change colors & then drop to the ground.  (decision - deciduous....repeat the 2 several times)    
NOW!!    Let's hear a SONG about DECIDUOUS TREES!!" ( Check weblinks for 3 " deciduous" PBS Learning Media videos)
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ART PROJECT - Deciduous Trees          ( to be done individually by each student ) 

"Pretend we're drawing 1 tree in your yard, but we're drawing it in each season, to see how it looks different in different kinds of weather. Or, it's like taking a picture of the same tree with a camera, one photograph in each season.
(Teacher, you will need to demonstrate on a Smartboard, if possible, or with drawing paper taped on an "easel" so that all students can see & understand each step of the lesson.)
1.  Give each studentr 1 sheet large drawing paper; place it VERTICALLY in front of them. TEACHER LEADS folding it in half, from the top down, CREASING IT....then fold it in half again, CREASE IT.   Open it up, and there are 4 "picture frames" for drawing trees.   distribute crayons/markers.
2.  Using only brown and/or black, draw a tree trunk with branches in each frame. Think about the way the tree branches stick out of the trunk...do they point upward out of the trunk?  Do they stick out of the trunk in different directions, making sort of a  round shape, like a ball?    Pretend like it's the same tree, drawn 4 times. Try to make the 4 trees as "similar" as you can.  Color in the trunks and branches of all the trees.
3.  Using ANY COLOR: *top left frame:write SPRING...top right frame: write SUMMER...bottom right frame: write FALL...bottom left frame: write WINTER.
4.  Draw "the yard" where the tree is situated, by drawing a horizontal [side to side]  line in the background [whatever is behind  the main subject in a drawing] of the tree. It could be flat, or hilly. 
5.  Beginning with the SPRING frame, students can cover the tree branches (but not the trunk) with flowers ,tiny  bright green leaves, or both.   Maybe some spring flowers on the ground, or baby rabbits  & other small animals under the tree.
6. Moving to SUMMER frame, students should cover the tree with GREEN LEAVES, no flowers. Choose acorns, berries, nuts, apples, pears, or another fruit to add to your tree.   Color the grass in the background green, maybe adding some flowers? White puffy clouds and sun?  Someone playing outside near the tree?  Birds and a nest in the tree?   Any ideas for summer will work.
7. Going down the page to FALL, encourage them to cover the tree with leaves colored red, orange, yellow, and maybe some leaves that have fallen to the ground.If leaves stay on the ground for several days and dry up like crunchy paper, what color are they? (brown)  You could draw a few of those, too.
8.  Finishing with the WINTER frame, the tree will stand with bare branches, & maybe instead of green grass, leave the paper white  on the bottom, like the "ground" is white, as if it has snowed,  & perhaps a SNOWMAN is beside the tree, or a sled!    Maybe, color a gray sky, like a cold winter day ( You can do this with a pencil lead turned sideways,or use a black crayon VERY lightly!) 
Guess what? 
NOW you have 1 year in the life of a DECIDUOUS TREE!

• Have several picture books nearby that feature photos of both DECIDUOUS and EVERGREEN trees....& use these pictures during and/or after the IMAGINARY STORY about Mama bird teaching her babies.
  • TREE, A Peek-Through Picture Book, by Britta Teckentrup [Doubleday Books for Young Readers] This book has amazing illustrations and peek-thru's
  • AWESOME AUTUMN,All Kinds of Fall Facts and Fun, by Bruce Goldstone [Henry Holt and Company]  This book has excellent photos of different leaf shapes from different deciduous trees, and  has a great extension with seasonal SENSORY opportunities for making sounds, relates to animals' lifestyles in fall, etc.
  • HELLO, TREE! by Joanne Ryder [Lodestar Books] 
  • A TREE IS NICE, BY Janice May Udry [Harper Collins Publishers] 

Verbal Assessments 

• Classroom -  Hold up pictures of a deciduous  tree in different stages....ask " Deciduous or Evergreen?"
• Take a nature walk near the front or sides of the school...point out different trees, & say either:"This tree will lose it's leaves this fall...what do we call it?" or "This tree/bush will stay green all year...what do we call it?"

Written Assessment

• Take the same nature walk in late fall or winter. Each student will  carry a clipboard with a piece of paper and a pencil, which they've already numbered 1 - 5.  As you stop in front of a  particular tree, point out that it's bare, or is still green.  They should write a capital D for deciduous, or E for evergreen.  After all 5 "question trees" are shown , & answers written, start with #5 & have students call out the answer; go backwards 4-1 to check all tree answers while LOOKING at each particular tree.