Have a question on trees About This Page:

[disneyprincess]

Anyone have any info on where my DS can look up various leaves and find info out about them other than the library?

He had to collect 15 different leaves and has to place each one on a piece of paper. He then needs to write the name of each leaf and brief statement about each one.

Thanks!

[maggieworkman]

Hi Disneyprincess,
I am an environmental scientist and can maybe help you. You should get a Tree Key book. It will have a dichotomus key (i.e. it asks 2 questions. If the leaf has this ... go to page 54, if the leaf has this ... go to page 62, etc.) Kind of like those make your own mystery books from years ago.

There are some of these keys on line:
What tree is it: http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/products/tree/

Arbor Day Tree Finder:
http://www.arborday.org/trees/treeID.html

Make sure that when he picks the leaf that he notices whether the leaves are opposite to each other, alternate to each other or whorled. He will need to know this to key out the leaf. Opposite leaves will have one leaf on each side of the twig coming out at the same point. Alternate leaves will have one leave on the right side, then a couple inches up it will have another leaf on the left side, etc. all the way up the twig. Whorled is when many leaves come out from the same point.

Also make sure he understands the difference between a compound leaf and a simple leaf. A simple leaf would be like a maple leaf or oak leaf - one big leaf. A compound leaf would be one that has many little leaflets that make up ONE leaf - e.g. a buckeye tree leaf. The difference between simple and compound can be difficult sometimes.

He should also look at the leaf edges to see if they are toothed or smooth. Toothed means jagged. Sometimes they are double jagged, sometimes single jagged.

Sometimes it helps to write down a little about the tree it came from too, because sometimes leaves are so similar that you need to look at the tree bark, shape of tree, height of tree, etc.

That may be more than you wanted to know, but I hope it helped. If you ahve specific questions, feel free to ask.

Maggie

[joyjoy]

Wow. I don't know about Gina's boy, but I'm wildly impressed with Maggie's tree smarts. Where were you when MY kid was in Middle School and doing these kinds of projects? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] If it weren't way past time for bed, I'd go out in the backyard and start checking things out myself.

[disneyprincess]

Joyjoy you are too funny. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Maggie I have to say WOW too! Thanks for all the info. I am going to print this out so that he and I can sit and go over this stuff together. Tonight is the BIG parent/teacher conf.'s. Don't know if you read my other post. I can't wait to see what they all have to say. This is sooo not like him. Up until this year he always had good grades, 90's and 100's. I don't know if its just the age (11) or what!

I didn't know there was so much to leaf learning! LOL

Thanks again and I will be sure to post how we did. (Hey by the way how are you in Algebra? I could use a little help with my college work! HA)

Gina

[DisneyDreaming]

Hey Maggie,
Great info for both the mom and child.
boy does it bring back memories from highschool and from college. I hadn't heard those discriptions for a long time. Glad you were there to help her.
Also thanks for the memories. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] I needed more pleasant ones right now.

Marylee

[Boiler Joanne & Tim]

Thanks SO much for these links! My 1st grade daughter has a leaf project due tomorrow, and we had to identify 10 leaves. We went to the park and chose leaves, and we were able to identify all of the leaves she chose, the most interesting being the mulberry leaf. We could not have done it without your help. Many thank-yous!

Joanne