This activity provides opportunities for the students to demonstrate their understanding of the role that trees play in their local environment. Earth and Beyond 2.3 Students discuss how their community uses resources and features of the earth and sky. Students could be placed in pairs and assigned an area of the school to report on. This activity could serve as a form of formal assessment to find out the students' individual level of understanding about the need for trees.
Students then walk around the school grounds or a bushland area and identify the tree types present.
Enhancing Students choose an area of the school grounds to survey. In pairs, the students draw and label the tree types that are evident in their chosen area. Students write a statement under their illustration describing the purpose of the trees in the area they surveyed and why they are important. Synthesising These drawings could then be collated into a class book with a front and back cover, and a title such as 'The Placement and Role of Trees in our School'. The different tree types could also be located on a map of the school.