Trees give us oxygen, shade, and endless opportunities for… math?! 

At the beginning of the school year, our children chose a tree from the schoolyard to be our adopted tree. Together we named our tree Stevie, and spent time getting to know it. We encouraged children to look at and touch different parts of the tree, to smell the leaves and listen to them rustle in the wind and in their hands, and to share anything they wished to know about the new addition to our class. We incorporated our adopted tree into many parts of our class routine. We read stories while sitting beneath our tree, and we played games—ring-around-the-rosie; duck, duck, goose, and others—with Stevie at the center. Stevie became a beloved part of our classroom. Children would regularly ask questions and initiate conversations about our tree.

Two children measuring a tree with measuring tape.

Children used measuring tapes to measure around our tree’s trunk. [©Lauren M. Shea]

“Do you think Stevie is cold?”

“It is hot today. We should give Stevie some more water.”

Adopting a class tree provided a wealth of opportunities for exploring science—our children learned about the structure of trees, the seasonal changes of trees, and more—but we also found that our tree gave us wonderful, and somewhat unexpected opportunities, for math explorations. We share these amazing math connections here.

ADVERTISEMENT

Measuring Trees

Trees are great sources of math explorations, providing opportunities for children to count, to identify shapes, and, especially, to measure. Different parts of trees (branches, leaves, trunk, etc.) can be measured, using both standard and non-standard units. Our children used measuring tapes to measure around our tree’s trunk. We also worked together to measure the length of our tree’s shadow, and compared it to other shadows as an indication of trees’ relative height. Stevie was taller than some trees at our school, but shorter than others. We decided that this made Stevie just right.

Throughout this measuring, we made many important discoveries such as, “The trunk is bigger [around] down at the bottom [of the tree]” and, “Some leaves are smaller [than other leaves on the tree].” (With younger children, we may have measured the circumference of the trunk or the length of the tree’s shadow using yarn or string—cutting the string to size and laying the different strings side-by-side to see which was longest, and comparing the length of the string to the children’s own bodies and other objects of interest.)

Child comparing two leaves.

With each new leaf, we asked children to observe the leaf’s characteristics and decide which group it might belong to—giving children continued opportunities to practice observing and sorting. [©Kristin Straits]

Exploring Size and Shapes of Leaves

Our children used several different math practices as they explored leaves from Stevie and from other plants at our school. We used rulers to measure the length of leaves and then we sorted the leaves by size. This gave children opportunities to experience concepts and use math vocabulary related to size, as they arranged leaves from largest to smallest, longest to shortest, widest to narrowest, and so on. We also sorted the leaves according to other attributes, such as color, texture, and size. With each new leaf, we asked children to observe the leaf’s characteristics and decide which group it might belong to—giving children continued opportunities to practice observing and sorting. We also used our leaf searches to learn about shapes. Children were delighted to find leaves that were in the shapes of diamonds, triangles, and ovals. We took this opportunity to help children explore, describe, and learn the characteristics of each shape. We then reinforced this learning by going on a “shape hike,” looking for shapes in nature as we walked through a neighborhood park.

Children studying tree bark with magnifying glasses.

We encouraged children to look at and touch different parts of the tree. [©Lauren M. Shea]

Tallying and Graphing Parts of Trees

To continue our “tree math” investigations, we had a tree parts scavenger hunt; each child collected any three plant parts that had fallen to the ground. To increase the variety of plant parts collected, we limited each child to no more than one part from Stevie. Limiting the number of items children collected encouraged them to make purposeful decisions about the parts that they thought were most important. Children collected flowers and parts of flowers; seeds and fruits; bark; twigs; and, of course, leaves. In addition to observing, comparing, and sorting these different plant parts, we counted and tallied the number of each type of item collected; with items collected in larger quantities, we practiced counting by fives. On another day, we arranged the items to create a bar graph showing the number of each type of plant part collected, and helped children to use the graph to find answers to questions such as, “Which type of plant part did we collect the most of?”; “Which type of plant part did we collect the least of?”; and, “How many leaves did we collect?” 

Sequencing Changes Over Time

Stevie is a deciduous tree, dropping leaves in the fall and growing them anew each spring. The seasonal nature of our adopted tree made it ideal for learning about patterns, changes over time, and sequence. We gave our children pictures of Stevie taken at different times of the year. Children would work together observing the pictures carefully, in order to arrange them in a logical sequence. While doing so, children learned about seasons, but also developed their ability to identify patterns. After their initial sequencing of tree pictures, we would emphasize children’s mathematical thinking by providing incomplete sets of pictures. Then, the children would use the pattern they identified to discover the missing season. Alternately, we provided photo sets that included pictures of Stevie in intermediate states. Then, the children would have to think carefully about sequence to place pictures showing Stevie in late fall or early spring.

Family Connections

Child collecting natural found objects outdoors.

Children collected flowers and parts of flowers; seeds and fruits; bark; twigs; and, of course, leaves. [©Lauren M. Shea]

We were thrilled to discover that children were sharing their experiences with Stevie with their families at home. With their families, they described the size and shape of Stevie’s leaves, how Stevie compared in height to other trees, the different ways leaves could be sorted, and how they could count and even graph the different plant parts they collected. Based on our children’s interest, we encouraged families to adopt a tree in their own neighborhoods, and then observe the tree over time, together with their child. We shared with families the activities that we did with Stevie, so that their child could lead them in similar activities with their adopted tree at home. Throughout the year, children brought pictures or parts (e.g., leaves, flowers, fruits) of their family’s adopted trees to school and shared with us how their trees and their parts compared with Stevie.

We adopted a tree to help our children build empathy for living things and to inspire greater interest in and learning of science. But, we found that Stevie became part of nearly all aspects of our classroom. Children incorporated Stevie into their dramatic play, Stevie inspired countless art projects, and, most surprisingly of all, Stevie helped our children to think about a wide variety of math concepts including size and shape, and skills including sorting, measuring, graphing, and more! We hope our story inspires you to adopt a tree with your children, and to look to nature for opportunities to explore all subjects … even math!

Author, William Straits

William Straits is a professor of science education and director of the National Center for Science in Early Childhood at California State University Long Beach (csulb.edu/ncsec).

Author, Lauren M. Shea

Lauren M. Shea works with teacher candidates at The American University in Washington, D.C. Her current research and practice centers on integrating language and literacy strategies in STEM.

Share this Story

Print Friendly Version

image_print

ADVERTISEMENT

Music Together