Welcome to REAL TREES 4 Kids! - FREE Ecology Resources

REAL TREES 4 Kids!:

The REAL TREES 4 Kids! project began early in 1999 in preparation for the 30th anniversary of Earth Day. Sponsored by the National Christmas Tree Association, the project's goal is to teach school-aged students the ins and outs of Christmas Tree production.

On April 2, 1999, Internet viewers got their first peek at curriculum materials prepared specifically for students, teachers, and leaders in grades 2 through 5. Since that time, the set of materials has grown to include materials for middle and high school students.

In 2008, curriculum materials were made available for teachers of students in grades K through 2. These new materials were designed by elementary educator Michelle Drake as part of a grant through the USDA.

REAL TREES 4 Kids! has had over 169,000 visitors since April, 1999. However, this project is not limited to the Internet. Our REAL TREES team has shared information and activities with participants at the convention of the National Science Teachers Association as well as with visitors to the AgEarth celebration of Earth Day on the Mall in Washington DC.

As we keep growing, keep in mind that new additions to the curriculum happen, in great part, through suggestions and requests made by you. If you would like to "get active" in the update process, please let us know. Send your input, suggestion, or comments to our design team.

Science Thursday - urgh Friday - Volcanoes

Well the humidity this week caused our volcano to take a bit longer to dry than expected, but she thought it was worth the wait...












Then she added bubbles to see how the texture and flow would be different...

gotta love the simple things....

Science Thursday - A Little of this and a Little of That

These pics are from last week -

Our triops

were lots of fun to watch while they lasted...

and very interesting to examine under the microscope
we also managed to harvest some eggs and

will be trying to hatch these once they have dried out.



This week we had some fun with SC

First they added a little

Then they added A LOT...




I LOVE her expression in that last one!



Our unit this week was on Weather so here are some of our favorite pics from those projects...

Enchanted Gardening

Earlier this week we went back to a magical little place, to have a magical little class, and they made magical little creations -






They had a wonderful day and I got some great pics of their beautiful gardens that you can check out on our nature photo blog!

Various Shades of Green -

We have all been truly amazed to watch how the vegetables actually grow from the plants, some of the things truly surprise me and others just look so pretty....

They HATCHED!!!

The Triops actually hatched - I was get a bit concerned that they were not going to, but they did!

Now they might just look like specs, but they are there and they are swimming -

Tidal Pools at Night -

Just about a month ago KM went with some of her friends to a morning Tidal Pool class at a local nature center and loved it. So last night some of them returned to see what they could find at night!

They saw quite a few creatures including lots of crabs, periwinkles, dog welches, moon snails, sea urchins, and over 450 sea stars!

It was a beautiful evening to sit on the beach!

and we even got to see some tugboats pushing barges out of the canal.


For more scenic views be sure to check out our nature blog!

More little critters!

As part of our nature study unit we have been participating in the South Shore Quests and have a great time doing so. It actually has been one of the highlights of this wretched raining as it has been perfect weather for hiking!

On our hike today we came to spot in a meadow that had snails EVERYWHERE. SC, KM and her "bestest" friend ~who wishes she was homeschooled and states this EVERYTIME we are out somewhere~ wanted to bring some home. I am always hesitant about taking things from their natural habitats, but there were SOOOOO many of them so I agreed, they grabbed 2 each and some grass and shoots and put them in an empty sandwich keeper...

and off we went to finish the quest.

Upon getting home they realized that they had not 4, but 7 little cuties ~ three had been hidden amongst the gathered weeds and reeds.

Then they remembered that we had an old fish tank in the garage, that would make the perfect little habitat for them! So we put in some dirt, collected some weeds from the yard, labeled and named them all!
Now we need CJ make a frame for some screen we just happened to have hanging around the recycle craft closet and we should be all set to see how our little biome comes along.
As of right now the little critters seem to be enjoying themselves!

Earth Day

Here are some great links to get you thinking a little more green today:

• Kaboose's list of various links for today
• Planet Pals has a ton of resources
• Lesson plans page - earth day pages
• Teacher Planet: Earth Day Theme
• Federal Resource for Education Excellence - Climate Change Resources

Will have an update this evening with how we spent our earth day!

We actually got very little "Earth Day" related things done today - you see our Public Schools are on vacation this week and we here at GCK are not, but KM had been VERY social on Monday and Tuesday so she needed to buckle down today before her aunt - SR - came over for a sleepover and won't be leaving until late tomorrow (Thur) afternoon. Which left really only today and Friday (at which time we will also have SC) to get her work for the whole week done before her VERY BESTEST BEST Friends from Maine come for their visit this weekend!!! So though we did talk about the fact that it was Earth day, we really didn't do anything extra special, it was also really really rainy outside, but I was thinking that maybe tomorrow I will get the girls out there to do something -

oh but wait to tomorrow is an extra extra special day...
you will have to wait to see!

We are back from our WONDERFUL trip!!!

We arrived home last night and thank the heavens had a wonderful flight both ways and very little bad weather while we were there! We had some great adventures and learned some pretty cool stuff along the way!

Saturday we went to Pine Island and had a wonderful afternoon on the beach. As you can see it was a bit cloudy, but the most amazing thing happened. Gustaf was passing over the Gulf at this point and as we were sitting on the beach we looked out and saw these things that kept popping out of the water - then we realized they were dolphin fins! A pod of dolphins was swimming less than 50 ft off the shore! It was the most amazing thing! Of course we couldn't get close to them, but still - KM technically got to swim with dolphins!!! How cool is that!
You can't see them in the picture above, but they were swimming just past the landing near the signs.

KM has ALWAYS loved to make sandcastles and dig at the beach, but she decided to turn herself into a mermaid instead!

Sunday we went to the MOSI - in Tampa!

KM, my dad and his wife played a very large game of operation!

We played a few rounds of a great game show!

KM got to experience what it feels like to be in the center of a twister!
The wind speeds went up to 85mph!

We ended our day in their HUGE hands-on activity section called Kids-In-Charge!
This was the greatest kids section of a musuem I have EVER seen. It covered everything from magnets to air pressure, optical illusions to logic puzzles and everything in between!

Monday we hung around the pool area and didn't do much of anything - you just need those days sometimes!
Tuesday we were off to the Lowry Zoo for some close encounters with some amazing animals!

and lots of babies!

The meerkats were so cute!!! It seemed like their was always one watching you!

The lemurs have always been my favorites - I think because we watched soooo much Zoboomafoo when KM was little!
We fell in love with Manatees on our last visit and still think they are amazing creatures! We had the whole Sting Ray pool to ourselves! KM wouldn't touch one, but grampa did!

There were sooo many baby animals. It seemed like every turn we made there was another sign saying "New Arrivals"

All and all it was a great day at the zoo!!!

On Wed we went to do one of Grampa's favorite things - Bowling!
We are used to candelpin, but they don't even know what that is in the south,
so it was off to the big balls - Ten Pin Bowling!

Then we played in the small arcade for a bit!
Thursday was our last day in the tropics! (It was HUMID) so KM wanted to try some Shuffleboard! She did really well.
On the flight home Thursday evening I asked KM what her favorite part of the trip was -

Here response was playing the funny piano at the MOSI - turn on your sound:

Instead of playing different instruments, this keyboard played different bodily functions!

All and all it was a very good, relaxing, enjoyable trip! Just what we needed!