LESSON #6: Nature Sketches: Creating a Common Vermont Tree Book

Focusing Question:
What are the physical and ecological characteristics of deciduous and coniferous trees in various Vermont natural communities?

Vermont Standards addressed:

1.8 c/e	Students organize information gathered through readings and experiments so that the reader can easily understand what is being conveyed; include appropriate facts and details, excluding extraneous and inappropriate information.
1.17	Students appropriately represent data and results in multiple ways (e.g., numbers and statistics, drawings and pictures, sentences, charts, tables, etc.
3.9 dd	Students demonstrate understanding that natural and human communities are part of larger systems and that the interrelationships between all systems affect their sustainability.
7.1 bb/cc/dd	Students seek, record, and use information from reliable sources, including scientific knowledge, observation, and experimentation; collect date through observation and instrumentation, and analyze data to draw conclusions; use conclusions to clarify understanding and generate new questions to be explored; and describe, explain, and model, using evidence that includes scientific principles and observations.
7.2 bb	Students design and conduct field work.
7.13	Students identify, model, and explain the structure and function of plants, both as individual entities and as components of larger systems.

Length of Lesson:
Early September through November

Resources/Materials:
Clare Walker Leslie and Charles Roth's Keeping a Nature Journal, Common Vermont Trees book, Polaris Plant Guide, patience and precision.

Procedure: 

1.	Provide each student with an American beech leaf.
2.	Demonstrate how to accurately go about drawing a leaf. Example: Begin by very lightly drawing the overall shape of the leaf (elliptical). Fill in the single main vein, then the 11 parallel side veins. Attach the short stem. Draw one side of the leaf margin, making sure each side vein connects to the serrated margin. Finish the opposite side. Provide finishing touches (shadows, irregularities, fine hairs on margins, labels, brief notations, etc.).
3.	Using patience and precision, have students complete their own American beech leaf drawing. Label the leaf drawing 911 parallel veins, short, stout stem, elliptical shape, singly serrated, tiny hairs on margins, length, width, color, texture, etc.)
4.	Instruct students how to draw tree forms, twig and buds, and fruiting bodies.
5.	Go outside. Have students sketch the remaining parts of the American beech.
6.	For the next eight weeks, have students sketch and research a different tree each week. They must include two coniferous and six deciduous entries in their book.

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