Field Investigations

During your field investigations for our Early Explorers program students explore and observe plants and their habitats at the Arboretum. They compare shapes and colors, learn that plants go through a life cycle, have life needs, and similar parts.

Below is an overview of the “standard” program activities to assist you with integrating this field experience into the classroom experiences. This will change due to weather, the volume of students, or communication with environmental educators. Click here for a sample schedule (will vary depending on the number of classes).

Leaf Shape and Color Exploration Walk - Using shape cards we explore looking for leaves in the shapes of star, heart, oval, cat, and fan. Students may also do color comparisons with paint chips, describing, comparing, and contrasting their findings. While exploring, we think about tree needs and discuss evidence that trees are living things. We also use our other senses, listening to leaves and the creatures in the trees, touching leaves and bark pointed out by Blandy Educators, and possibly smelling in the herb garden. 

Discovery Tree - Students sit on felt leaf shapes and tree cookies around a child-sized model tree. Each student gets to hold a felt model of an animal in the poem. As their creature is mentioned, they come up to place their organism in the described space of the tree. We then admire to wonder at the diversity of animals that can live in one tree. 

Leaf Rubbing or Collage – Students will either place paper over laminated leaves and use a block crayon to rub, or are permitted to choose one leaf from each of the shapes and glue either to paper creating a leaf card, or to each other thus creating a collage. 

Seed Museum - Using collection trays, we search the pollination garden and native plant trail to find seeds. Then, in pairs or small groups we sort the seeds based on their varying characteristics. 

Literacy Resources and Suggested Activities

Plants & Trees: Leaf Man - Fiction

Author and Illustrator: Lois Ehlert 

Grade: PK- 2                Lexile: Lexile: 460L

Suggested Activities:

• Practice word and letter, shape, and color recognition during read-aloud. 

Plants & Trees: My Leaf Book - Fiction

Author and Illustrator: Monica Wellington

Grade PK - 2                Lexile:  Lexile: 450L

Suggested Activities:

• Practice word and letter, shape and color recognition during read-aloud. 
• Go outside to collect leaves (or bring leaves from home) and create a leaf book. Practice writing by labeling the leaves. (teacher will need to be comfortable identifying leaves OR make a literacy activity of describing the leaves and giving them names based on characteristics) 
• Create leaf rubbings or prints (activities in book)

Plants & Trees: We're Going On a Leaf Hunt - Fiction

Author: Steve Metzger            Illustrator: Miki Sakamoto

Grade PK - 2                Lexile:  Lexile: 410L

Suggested Activities: