This Forests Life Science Reading Comprehension Worksheet gives 2nd graders a short non-fiction passage about pine, leafy, and rain forests, plus questions and an answer key. Great no-prep practice for main idea and key details.
This tree cut outs activity is a tree-shaped book for kindergarten to 2nd grade. Children color the cover, draw a tree, write about it, and cut out the pages on the bold line.
Using Characters, Settings, and Big Events Worksheet, students draw pictures and write a sentence for each to tell about the story elements in a book.
This The Catching Tree Reading Comprehension Worksheet gives third graders a non-fiction passage about how a wide tree catches what the wind carries, four multiple choice questions, and a written response. An answer key is included.
Use this Christmas Tree Reading Comprehension Worksheet to give your 2nd Grade readers a short holiday story with four questions and a written response. Answer key included, so checking work takes seconds.
This Dr. Seuss The Lorax Maze is a fun addition to your students' Read Across America celebration tohelp the Lorax find his way to the Truffula Tree.
This Tree Swing Reading Comprehension Worksheet has 5th graders read a two-page science passage about building a safe swing, answer five questions, and check their thinking with the included answer key.
Using The Giving Tree Worksheet, students compare two characters from a story to determine how they are alike and different.
Roots down, branches up
Trees are one of the best ways to teach how living things grow and change. Younger kids learn the parts of a tree (roots, trunk, branches, leaves) and what each part does, and they watch trees change through the seasons. Older kids dig into how leaves make food from sunlight, how forests are habitats for animals, and how people depend on trees for wood, fruit, shade and clean air. The click comes when kids realize a giant oak started as one small acorn.
There's probably a tree right outside your window, which makes this one of the easiest science topics to make real.
Give kids tree cut-outs and have them assemble and label the roots, trunk, branches and leaves. Next to each part, they write its job: "roots drink water." Building and labeling at the same time makes the vocabulary stick.
Why it works: the U.S. Department of Education's guide for teaching elementary math recommends moving from hands-on objects to drawings to numbers.
Try it withTree Cut OutsActivitiesOpen it →Read a short forest article together and stop to model: "So the forest gives the owl a home and the owl eats mice. That's a habitat connection." Then kids find one more connection on their own and share it.
Why it works: showing first, practicing together, then letting kids try alone is the "gradual release" model teachers have relied on for decades (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withForests Life Science Reading Comprehension WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Pick one tree near your school and visit it once a month. Kids sketch it, note the leaves and weather, and compare to last time. By spring, they've tracked a full cycle of seasonal change with their own eyes.
Why it works: short practice spread over several days beats one long session, according to a large review of learning research (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withCharacters The Giving Tree WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Trees are made for stories and outdoor play. Try these:
WorksheetsRead the classic story and talk about what the tree gave and what the boy could have given back.
Open The Giving Tree Worksheet →
WorksheetsHelp the Lorax through the maze, then brainstorm ways to protect real trees.
Open Dr. Seuss The Lorax Maze →
AssessmentsRead a short tree story and draw your own favorite outdoor spot.
Open Tree Swing Reading Comprehension Worksheet →Teacher favorites right now: Forests Life Science Reading Comprehension Worksheet, Tree Cut Outs and Characters The Giving Tree Worksheet.
The main parts are the roots, trunk, branches and leaves. Roots take in water, the trunk holds the tree up, branches spread out, and leaves make food from sunlight.
Go outside! Look at bark, leaves and seeds, then build or draw a tree and label its parts. Reading stories and science texts about forests adds depth.
As days get shorter, trees stop making the green chlorophyll in their leaves. The yellow and orange colors that were there all along finally show through.
Leaf rubbings, bark rubbings, planting a seed, sketching a tree through the seasons, and counting rings on a slice of a log are all great hands-on activities.
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