Project Learning Tree

This weekend MSMC offered a FREE hands on Pre K-Grade 8 Science/Interdisciplinary Workshop! I attended the workshop and gained so much knowledge I cannot wait to use in my classroom one day. We started the morning off playing an "ice breaker" bingo activity. We had to go around the room trying to find someone who matched a space on our bingo board. The catch to this game was each space was related to nature in some way. On each game board I was able to sign off for having a tree house! I thought this was cool because I seemed to be the only one with one. This was a great way to get to know the people we would be spending the day with and their personal takes on nature.

Immediately after the ice breaker we jumped into a new activity involving tree cookies. A tree cookie is a piece of the tree that has been cut off from either the trunk or branch of the tree.We learned how to tell how old the tree is from counting the rings on the cookie and also learned different parts of the cookie. The instructors then linked it to literacy as we drew our own tree cookie based on our lives so far. If you had a really great year in your life you made the space between each ring larger because that meant you flourished and had great growth at that point in your life. I thought this was a great way students can plan  what they are writing based on their drawing of their tree cookie. It is a great way to brainstorm and organize thoughts and ideas before writing. This activity can also be linked to social studies in which you can create a tree cookie for a country to show the years they flourished as to they years they did not. A tree cookie is like natures own timeline!


Another activity we did was creating tree "fashion." Each group used a brown paper bag to represent the trunk of the tree filled with different parts of the tree inside. This was a great way for us to really get to know the different parts of a tree and expand our knowledge. We then wore our vests and hats for the rest of the group to see.

My favorite activity from the workshop was the "Peppermint Beetle." The Peppermint Beetle encourages students to use their sense of smell and other techniques to find the beetle. This activity can be done with any strong scent you wish. All you have to do is place the scent on different objects around the yard leading up to the hidden beetle.

All in all today was a very successful workshop. I enjoyed all of the activities we participated in and will be sure to use them in my classroom one day. I think it's amazing how science can be connected to all different subjects in all kinds of ways. The free book we received will be an excellent resource as well.