Tree Cookies

A wonderful way to teach how scientists determine Absolute Time is to have some Tree Cookie Activities.

Here are a collection of great activities to choose from. I would usually do the PowerPoint first and then do a simple "count the rings" lab. If I had time, I would do a cross-dating activity, which shows how dendochronologists string rings from many trees together to determine the climate of an area. Exploring the Methuselah Grove is a really nice way to calm them down after a couple of active activities. Give them a homework worksheet and they will do both things at the same time!

What fun! And real learning, too!

These are in the order I would do them over one or two days, with extras at the end.

1. Tree Cookies PowerPoint - fun way to introduce the whole concept of using trees to do some Absolute Dating. NOTE: I'm having problems with some of these images! Email me if you are, too. Can probably work something out.
2. The Stump - show your students how to count tree rings.
3. Be a Dendochronologist - good practice reading two different tree cookies
4. The Tree Cookie Lab Activity - Great lab. You need your own Tree Cookies for this lab, at least a couple dozen, preferably from several different trees - and if you must make your own, use downed trees, please! Try to find trees with different ring thicknesses and/or wounds.
5. The original Tree Ring Science Lesson - FABULOUS crossdating lesson - I used this idea for many years.
6. My version of the Tree Ring Activity - I've got it simplified and organized with a page to run off multiples of the "straws"
   
7. Interactive Tree Ring Activity - from NOVA - requires Shockwave -project onto your SmartBoard
8. Explore the Methusalah Grove - from NOVA - uses a QuickTime plug-in - beautiful 360 degree panoramic view of very old bristlecone pines - project onto your SmartBoard
9. Tree Cookie Game - not really a game but good practice for "reading" tree cookies
10. Tree Cookie Worksheet - basic identification of terms - might be good followsheet for PPT
11. Label Tree Ring Anatomy - from Enchanted Learning - also might be good PPT followsheet
12. How to Make Tree Cookies - good basic info for teachers - has a great section on what the different Special Features mean, such as thin rings, wide rings, scars, narrowing of rings on one side, etc.
13. YouTube has several videos on Reading Tree Rings; such as this one, which includes a visit to the Methusalah Bristlecone Pines. Search for Dendoclimatology or Reading Tree Rings.
    

Landfill Games and Puzzles

Some fun things to jazz up the subject of Landfill.

Landfill Word Search - fun word search

Dumptown Game - from the E.P.A. - online simulation - requires Shockwave

Garbage - How can my community reduce waste? - simple online interactive

There is No Away in Throwaway - mini-lesson on waste management

Environmental Education Kit - has a nice chapter on Landfills

Brown Countyt Landfill Page - fun concentration that could be played on your SmartBoard! Other games, too.

Teaching about Landfills

What does a dump look like? 

Your students should understand that modern landfills are NOT dumps! Waste is no longer just dumped on a vacant property out in the "county" somewhere. 

Show your students a good video on what happens after they take the trash to the curb. This one is from Oklahoma City:



There are state laws about how a landfill is constructed to protect the groundwater and adjoining properties.

CONSIDER THIS: Make a mini-landfill in your classroom! Do one the "right" way and one the "wrong" way! Click here for a great example of this concept. Great worksheet that goes with the lesson.

FUN LINKS:

1. This one contains a good puzzle page.
2. Need more background yourself. Go to How Stuff Works.
3. This site has a couple of nice videos.
4. Click here for my FREE simple version of a Groundwater Pollution Lab.

Using Discovery Education's PuzzleMaker

Here's a Hidden Message Puzzle you can put out on your Pick-Up Table Monday morning!
Click here.

(BTW, the hidden words in this puzzle are reuse, reduce, and recycle.)

Want to make more of your own?
Want to use the vocabulary you are teaching at the moment?

GO TO: Discovery Education and use their wonderful online Puzzlemaker.
Click here.

Wonderful website. Many different puzzles to make.

What fun!

CONSIDER THIS: Make a puzzle for your students! It could be a bonus page, a quiz, a pairs game or activity, a team game, or a test review.

The Sky's the Limit!

FRIDAY FUN!

One-Minute Mysteries

My good teacher buddy, Janet, loved to do this with her students when she had a spare minute.

Here's how this works:

Read a scenario. You know the answer. Your students get to ask yes or no questions to try to figure out the solution.

Good idea to recommend they start with general questions and narrow down to more specific questions.

Might be fun to make this a Team Game! Each team gets to ask a question and then take a stab at the answer. If they are wrong, then the next team gets a question.

You can purchase books of One-Minute Mysteries here.

Here is a website with over 100 Mysteries and the solutions.

EXAMPLE from the above website:

Mystery: Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice all live in the same house. Bob and Carol go out to a movie, and when they return, Alice is lying dead on the floor in a puddle of water and glass. It is obvious that Ted killed her but Ted is not prosecuted or severely punished.

Solution: Alice is a goldfish; Ted is a cat.

CONSIDER THIS: Add some Friday Fun to your classroom with One-Minute (or Two or Five!) Mysteries!