Acorn Helpers K-2nd |Lesson #1, Series 2

Acorn Helpers

Vocabulary: Trees, Air, Carbon, Oxygen, Atmosphere, Oaks, Acorns.

Grade Levels: K-2nd

Lesson Bridge

Prepare students for Lesson (2) Greenhouses by mentioning how too much carbon in the atmosphere can cause climate change. Connect this Lesson (1) to Waste Audit (3) by reminding students how some natural and organic materials break down and return to the earth thus sequestering (or holding) carbon from the atmosphere. Non-natural or non-organic waste items do not return nutrients to the earth and can even be toxic to our environment (landfills).

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students will learn about the important role that trees play in providing oxygen for us to breathe. Students will discover how by examining the number of rings a tree has, we can learn about its age and history. Additionally, students will learn how to select acorns that are good for planting and plant their own oak trees!

NGSS by Grade Level:

Kinder: K-LS1-1 Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
1st Grade:1-LS1-1 Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.

How can acorn shells help us design a solution to a human problem?

2nd Grade: 2-LS2-1 Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

Essential Question(s) that Connect CCCs and SEPs:

What effect do trees have on the air? (Cause & Effect; Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating information).
How can acorn shells help us design a solution to a human problem? (Obtaining, Evaluating & Communicating Information)
What do plants need to survive? (Stability & Change; Asking Questions & Defining Problems)

Vocabulary

Oaks- A type of tree with up to 450 species! Some oaks can live to be 900 years old

Acorns- The nut or seed from an oak tree from which a new oak tree can grow

Materials:

A living oak tree at your school
Acorns (or a source of acorns on campus).
A plastic bucket
Soil and pots for planting
Tree Cross Section images (optional)
Food Water Drought Garden Journals (optional)

Prep:

Find out if there are any oak trees on the school campus that you can meet at for this lesson.
Gather acorns if there are not enough at the school for each student to have one. Ideally you will get a nice bag full of acorns so that there are a lot to choose from.
Fill up a bucket with water

Activity Procedure:

Engage:

Breathe in. We need air to survive! Do plants also need air to survive? What else do plants need?

Sentence Frame: Plants need ____________ and __________ to survive.

Explore:

Gather around a tree at your school. Have students go up to the tree and explore it. Touch its bark, smell it, and listen to the sounds the tree makes. Does it move in the wind? If there are multiple types of trees at the school you can explore the different trees. Time permitting, you can also explain how tree rings tell us how old trees are. Refer either to the cross section images in the materials section or find a tree stump and have students count rings to determine how old the tree is.

Explain:

This lesson is about how trees help us live and how we can help them! Do you know what they do to the air we breathe out? They make it into oxygen we can breathe.

Think, Pair, Share: Why else are trees important?

Thumbs up/down: Have you heard of an oak tree before?

It is a tree that grows in the wild where we live. Oaks grow very big so they can make a lot of air for us to breathe. Do you know what the seed of an oak tree is? (It’s an acorn!) Every year there are more people and less trees on the earth, which is why planting trees is so important.

Action:

Testing Acorns

Fill a bucket of water up and explain that good acorns sink and bad acorns float. I am going to give each one of you an acorn to test in the water. What do you think, will your acorn sink or float? (Think,Pair,Share)
After they have shared their ideas, have students sit in a circle with the bucket in the middle. Have each student walk up to the bucket and add their acorn to the bucket. If it sinks, have kids make a hand motion and say It Sunk! It’s good to plant! If the acorn floats, have them make a hand motion and say It Floats! It’s not viable.
Bring the bucket around and allow students to pick one. Preface with ‘I will bring the bucket to students who are patiently waiting’
Optional: Have them plant their acorn in a container to take home or care for in the classroom! *You can also separate students into groups and have them plant one acorn per group

Pass out the containers
Allow students one by one to come to fill their container with soil
All together plant your acorns

Reflect:

Can you believe how such a tiny acorn can make such a big oak tree? What do you need to do to help your acorn grow into a big oak tree (Think, Pair, Share)? Where do you think is a good place to plant it? Remind students that planting trees doesn’t always work well, sometimes squirrels dig up acorns and eat them! Other times baby trees don’t get enough water or caterpillars eat all of their leaves. So don’t feel bad if your oak doesn’t make it, what matters is that you tried!

Extension Activities:

Do leaf and bark rubbings of the trees at the school.
Plant a tree or bush in the garden at the school.
Go on an oak tree scavenger hunt and see how many you can find.
Do some tree yoga poses.
Look at tree rings and see how old trees are!
Trees and carbon video
Tree ring video

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