Selected resources provide three web-based activities to complement science lessons in an issue of Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The free, online magazine for Grades K-5 teachers explores the essential principles of climate literacy.

The goal of this unit is for students to gain an awareness of several potential ways to mitigate climate change. Many climate solutions exist, are in use, and can be expanded in scale. Students will examine solutions from Bending the Curve, explore carbon sequestration by trees, coastal wetland restoration, and food waste reduction in more detail. They will propose three (3) realistic solutions that could happen at an individual, school, or community scale that would assist in mitigating climate change.

In this nonfiction story, young readers and listeners learn how scientists use cross sections from trees to reconstruct past climates. Versions are provided for readers at two levels, k-2 and 3-5, and in text-only and illustrated formats. The story is also available as an electronic book with recorded narration. An original story is a regular feature of each issue of the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The story can be used in science and literacy lessons and activities throughout the magazine.

Trees within a city can help reduce urban heat, control stormwater, and provide habitat to local wildlife. As climate conditions change, a Chicago group is working to enhance its urban forest so that the city can continue to receive these benefits.

During the leaf activities the students will compare, contrast, classify, categorize, identify attributes, learn art techniques and learn about the importance of trees.

This activity is a field investigation where students explore different types of trees and identify them using leaves and classification tools.

Three types of climate proxies -- tree rings, fossils, and ice cores -- are the subjects of lessons that will help K-5 students understand that Earth's climate has been different in the past and that scientists can reveal its history. This article is from the science lessons column of the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The magazine is structured around the seven essential principles of climate literacy and identifies age-appropriate resources for young learners.

Students in Grades 1 & 2 at Chain Exploration Center developed an understanding of the maple syrup production and its importance as an agribusiness. Students also learned about plant structures and their role in photosynthesis and the ecosystem services of sugar maple trees. The culmination of student learning was a project showcase in the form of a Maple Tree Museum to which parents and community members were invited. What follows is an outline of key place-based lessons and experiences that supported students’ learning.

A year long field study of a deciduous tree and its interdependence through phenology.

In this biology field experience, students will explore trees of Minnesota. Working in cooperative groups, students will discover biodiversity of trees and determine populations of tree species through observation and use of dichotomous keys.

This expository nonfiction text is about how an oak tree may become vulnerable to disease from its bark being damaged by a bear clawing it.

Help Sam the gardener in the Sunflower Greenhouse. Learn about plants and their parts, photosynthesis and energy. This lesson includes practical exercises. Good for grade 3.

In our last episode, we talked about using technology to suck out extra carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But you might also be thinking—don’t trees do that? Yeah, they do! In fact, some people have proposed that by planting enough trees, we could make a big dent on climate change. In this episode of TILclimate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Charles Harvey helps us answer the question: could we just plant a whole lot of trees to solve our climate problem?

This nonfiction text discusses how a fourth grade class at Union Avenue School worked hard to protect the New Jersey shoreline by planting recycled Christmas trees in the sand. The trees prevent high tides from flooding sand dunes, which serve as animal habitats and also protect peoples homes.

This activity is a field-based investigation involving identifying and investigating common trees on the schoolyard and creating a field guide containing pressed leaves.

During this project, students will be working to cooperatively create a field guide to trees in the neighborhood near the school. In doing so they will be making observations, introduced to tree and plant anatomy and physiology, and will learn how to make and use dichotomous keys.

This investigation is a year round study of the phenology of a schoolyard.

The students will observe a maple tree throughout the year and recognize changes in weather and phenology using their 5 senses.

This activity is a tree leaf collection, identification, and display of dried and pressed leaves. It teaches students about distinguishing leaf characteristics as well as a way to display and label their collection.

In this math meets life science lesson, learners measure the circumference of local trees in order to calculate diameters. Learners use this information and a growth rate table to estimate the age of the trees. This lesson guide includes questions for learners, assessment options, extensions, and reflection questions.