Lesson 1: Tree Sense The student will use varied senses to get a better understanding and appreciation of trees. These activities will help the student use their senses in order to more fully understand and appreciate their environment, including the urban trees that surround them. Suggested grade levels are 2 - 5, but remember that with teacher modification, any grade level can learn and benefit from the lesson. Activity 1: To Touch a Tree Activity 2: Shapely Trees Activity 3: Nature's Songs Activity 4: The Smell of the Forest Activity 1: To Touch a Tree Time: Approximately 20 minutes Materials: Blindfolds Objective: The student will use their sense of touch to discover trees. Procedure: Students should be in pairs. One student should be blindfolded. The blindfolded student should carefully be led to different trees by their partner. The blindfolded student should carefully feel the textures of the leaves, needles and bark of the tree. Once the blindfolded student removes the blindfold, they should see if they can identify the trees, needles and leaves that they felt while blindfolded. After a few minutes, the students should switch places and repeat the exercise. Back in the classroom, the students should be encouraged to write about their experience. Activity 2: Shapely Trees Time: Approximately 20 minutes Materials: Scissors and paper to create geometric shapes Objective: The student will discover geometric shapes in nature. Procedure: In the classroom, students should cut out a variety of different sized geometric shapes (triangles, rectangles, squares, etc.) Students should take a walk around the wooded areas of the schoolyard and try to match the shapes with similar patterns that they find in nature. Back in the classroom, students could recreate the patterns that they saw with their shapes, drawing details as necessary. A class bulletin board or mural could be created. Activity 3: Nature's Songs Time: Approximately 30 minutes Materials: Cassette tape recorder, blank tape Objective: The student will identify sounds in nature.   The student will create sound using their body. Procedure: The students should take a nature walk. Each group of students, or the teacher, should take along a cassette tape recorder and record sounds. Students should try to find sounds that they like as well as sounds that they don't like. Students should be encouraged to try to find "tree sounds" of rustling leaves, wind in trees, storm sounds, water, wildlife sounds, etc. In the classroom, the teacher should play the recordings and ask the students to identify the sounds. The students should try to imitate the forest sounds using body percussion and objects. For example, the student could rub their hands together to imitate the sound of rustling leaves, or pay their legs for the sound of a soft rain. Activity 4: The Smell of the Forest Time: Approximately 15 minutes Materials: Various soft and hardwood blocks Objective: The student will use the sense of smell to identify different woods. Procedure: The teacher should have small blocks of aromatic woods such as cedar, pine, and camphor. Good sources for the blocks are local furniture makers, building contractors, lumberyards or the high school woodworking shop. Softwoods (coniferous trees) are more aromatic than hardwoods (deciduous trees). you can make some woods more aromatic by wetting them. The students should smell each block as the teacher tells them the name of it. Once the students can identify the type of wood by smell and sight, they should close their eyes (or use a blindfold) and try to identify the wood by smell alone. Adapted from Arbor Week in Louisiana, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.