Outdoor Hour Challenge #31...Into the Trees

This challenge begins a new series on trees.  I am excited about the tree challenges.  The days are pleasent and the leaves are beginning to change color all around us.  We may try to do a couple of these challenges per week so all the leaves don't fall to the ground before we are finished.

We began this challenge by taking a walk through our yard and down our road.  I asked the boys to point out trees that they could identify.

They knew...
pecan
dogwood
magnolia
pine
oak
apple

We took the field guide and looked up a couple of the oak trees to see if we could identify the exact type.
We planted a pin oak in the yard for Bo when he was a baby, so we knew this one.  We think there is a water oak growing in the edge of the woods.  There is an oak growing down the road, but I wasn't sure what kind it was.

I helped the boys identify...
sweet gum
poplar (tulip tree)
cedar
hickory
black walnut...we think

As we looked at the pecan trees growing in the yard, we talked about the different parts of the tree...trunk, crown, roots, branches.
When we came in we drew a picture in our nature notebooks of a tree and labled the parts.  The boys also made a list of the trees we identified on our walk.

We also wrote a poem about trees...

Trees

Trees are good for climbing

  and resting in the shade

Trees are homes for animals

and they give us wood to build

Trees have pretty leaves

and they give us food...

acorns, pecans and apples too.