You’ll need:

• Notebook and pencil,
  

  Make it your tree.

• Measuring tape,
• Magnifying glass
• Camera
• Tree field guide

1. Find a tree at home, at a near by park, at school or anywhere else close by. It should be a tree you like or that interests you in some way.

2. See if you can find out what kind of tree it is. You can ask someone who knows, or you can look it up in a tree book. (Use the tree’s leaves, twigs, and bark as clues)

3. Write down everything you can describe about your tree. How tall do you think it is? How big around is its trunk at your chest height? Does it have smooth or rough bark? (You can have an adult help you with all these questions.)

4. Look closely at its bark, branches and leaves. Use a magnifying glass to get an even better look. Do you see any insects carwling on it or feeding on its leaves? Any spiders hiding in the cracks of the bark? Any moss or lichen (an organism that lives on trees) growing on its trunk? Any aquirrels or birds–or their nest–in its branches?

5. Visit your tree often, all through the year. What changes do you notice? Do the leaves change color and then fall? When do its flowers bloom? (Look carefully–Sometimes a tree’s flowers are small and hard to see.) When do its leaves start to come out? Does it produce any seeds, fruits or nuts?

6. Take pictures of your tree during different seasons and years after year.

1. Some kinds of trees can watn other trees of danger. When their leaves are chewed on by caterpillars and other insects, they give off chemicals that nearby trees can detect. Those nearby trees then produce of the kind of acid that makes their leaves for insects to digest.

2. There are about 20,000 different species (kind) of trees in the world. More than 1,000 of these different species can be found right here in North America (not counting Mexico).

3. Trees are among the most valuable things on Earth. They not only give us wood, paper and other products, but they also work for us in many ways. For example, they shade the ground and give off moisture, which helps cool our air. They shelter the ground and prevent soil from washing away. And they help control global warming by taking in a gas called carbon dioxide.

4. The oldest tree in the world is a bristlecone pine in California. It’s been alive for more than 4,700 years!

Hyperion Tree

5. The tallest tree in the world is a coast redwood in California named Hyperion. It was discovered in 2006, and its height was measured at 379.1 feet. Someone actually climbed to the very top of the tree with a measuring tape!