Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Welcome to TreeTop

Chapter 1: Tree Tales

Chapter 2: Flows and Goes in the Forest

Chapter 3: I Need You, You Need Me

Chapter 4: Different Trees, Different Forests

Chapter 5: Change in The Wind

Answers for Chapter 1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Funding for this project was provided by a U.S. Forest Service Conservation Education grant and by the Minnesota Extension Service

Special thanks to the reviewers who spent many hours improving the materials and activities:
Dick Byrne, 4-H Youth Development, Minnesota Extension Service
Laura Noy, Project Learning Tree Coordinator, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Carl Vogt, Extension Forester, Minnesota Extension Service
Dave Rathke, Dept. of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota
Rob Adsit, Extension Educator, Minnesota Extension Service Ramsey County
Pam Packer, Extension Assistant, Minnesota Extension Service
Valerie Malmquist, Extension Educator, Minnesota Extension Service Isanti County
Mary Ann Scharf, Extension Educator, Minnesota Extension Service Stevens County

And special thanks to the pilot sites and pilot leaders, including:
Morris Elementary first and second graders and their teachers; Linda Retzlaff, teacher; Scandia Woods Environmental Learning Lab; Trisha Leck, Kandiyohi County; Brenda Shepersky, Hubbard County; and Ben Fritchman, Nicholas Kroll, and Max Epstein.

Welcome to TreeTop!

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Do you like trees? Do you like to sit under one on a hot day? Do you like to climb the branches of a tree, like a ladder? Do you like tall trees? Wide trees? Brown trees? Green trees?

Forests are made of trees and other plants. Animals live in forests. Forests are alive! Everywhere!

TreeTop helps you find out about forests and trees. Trees are very, very important! We use trees for things like paper and houses. Trees cool our homes. They keep the city from getting too noisy! They make the air cleaner. Trees even give squirrels, birds, and other animals a place to live!

This book is a workbook. It is all yours. Please write, draw, and color in it! You can write your name in this book at the bottom of this page. 4-H'ers can use the fair project ideas at the end of each chapter. School children can use the project ideas for science fairs. Or you can just do the projects for fun!

Welcome to TreeTop!

My Name Is.

Chapter 1: Tree Tales

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Trees Up Close

You see a tree from your view. But how do other things see a tree? How do an earthworm, a caterpillar, a squirrel, and a woodpecker look at a tree?

Nutrients (say new-tree-ents) are like food. They help an animal or plant grow. You can't see them, but they are important.	carbon
	nitrogen
	copper

A tree has four main parts:

• roots
• trunk
• branches
• leaves

The roots take water and food (nutrients) from the soil. Roots also help hold a tree in place. If a tree didn't have roots, it would fall right over!

The trunk helps water and nutrients get to the rest of the tree. Inside the trunk there is wood. This wood acts like a straw to help keep everything moving. The trunk also helps the tree stand straight!

The branches grow and grow as a tree gets older. Branches hold leaves and help make food. But the leaves are the hard workers! They make most of the food for the tree.

But what happens when the leaves fall to the ground in the autumn? The trunk and roots store food for the tree to eat during the winter!

Write the name of the tree part on the correct line. A list of tree Parts is on the bottom of the page. Decide if it is summer or autumn, then color your tree.

roots

trunk

branches

leaves

A tree needs all four parts--roots, trunk, branches, and leaves--to live a long life. A tree is a living thing, just like you. It uses air. It grows. It needs food and water. But a tree is not human! It is a member of the plant family. You are a member of the animal family.A tree helps you survive in the world. How can that be? Well, a tree doesn't use oxygen like you do. A tree takes in a gas in the air called carbon dioxide. It then lets out oxygen. And who breathes the oxygen? You do! Without trees and other plants, you wouldn't be able to live on the earth.

Trees make their own food. No, they don't slap together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Instead, they use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide (the gas in the air) to make sugar. This sugar helps trees grow leaves and branches for caterpillars and deer to eat. Trees feed many animals!

Makers, Eaters and Breakers

Then what are you? You are an eater, or a consumer. This means you have a lot in common with a caterpillar! You both like to munch on food. Have you ever eaten grapes or green beans? How about squash or strawberries? If you have, then you've eaten plant material. Trees and green plants make food for you and other animals.

Worms, snails, and mushrooms are breakers, or decomposers. They feed on animals and plants that are dead. Ehhhhh! This may sound disgusting, but it's very important. Breakers give the makers nutrients. The makers use the nutrients to grow bigger and to make new food.

Color the makers green, the eaters orange, and the breakers brown.

Pieces and Parts of the Forest

Most people harvest, or cut down, dead trees. They use a saw to make firewood. Or they look for trees laying on the ground. People will make firewood from these trees. But is it a good idea to harvest these trees or take logs from the woods?

Maybe not. Scientists have found that dead trees and logs are very, very important. Think about it. Where do you see squirrels in the forest? Are they sitting in wildflowers? Or do they chatter while standing on logs? What about birds in the forest? Do you see them sitting on a rock? Or do they perch in the limbs of dead trees? Animals love to hide and find food in logs and dead trees.

Have you ever seen a stream in a forest? Did you know that dead trees are important to the stream? How can that be? Well, when a tree falls into a stream, it makes a home for fish. Trout, salmon, and other kinds of fish love logs. They can hide from bigger fish and rest behind these logs.

Circle each animal above that uses dead trees and logs. (answers on last page)

FUN THINGS TO DO

Sing the Maker (producer), Breaker (decomposer) or Eater (consumer) Song! You can sing these songs with a friend (or two or three or more!).

Sing them to the tune of "Are you sleeping, Brother John?"

Look for Log Hogs. Take apart an old log or stump. Use a pencil to gently remove pieces of bark (the outside "skin" of a tree). Look for insects, like those drawn below. Look for fungi (like mushrooms or white, rotting wood) on the log, too. These are all breakers (decomposers).

Science or County Fair Projects

Remember, cavities are holes in trees where animals live. Look at trees around your home. Do they have cavities? Dead or dying trees usually have more cavities than healthy, young trees.

Watch the cavities to see if birds or other animals use the holes. If you have binoculars, use them to watch the holes. Draw the types of animals that use the cavities. Are they birds? Owls? Squirrels?

Write the times of day you see the animals. Watch your cavity every day for a week. For your fair project, glue your picture onto a poster board. Also glue your record of when you saw the animals and what they were doing.

Project 2.) If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

Are you big and strong, like a bur oak? Do you smell good, like a balsam fir? Are you kind of a nut, like a walnut tree? Do you change from season to season, like a red maple?

Find out about the tree you pick. You may want to read a book about trees. Then draw a picture of your tree. Glue the picture to a poster board. Glue leaves and twigs from the tree to your poster. Write down what you know about the tree. And be sure to write why you are like the tree you've picked!

Tree Time!

First find out the type of tree you've chosen.

Do its leaves look like this?	or like this?

If its leaves look like needles you've got a conifer (say con-i-fur). If they are flat and broad you've got a deciduous (say de-sid-you-us) tree.

Draw your tree on a piece of paper, using crayons, markers, or pencils. It's okay to name your tree if you want to. Gently take a leaf or needle from the tree's branch, and glue it to your picture. Hang your picture in your room.

ANSWERS

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Line A=leaves

line B=branches

line C=trunk

line D=roots

ALL these animals use dead trees and logs in one way or another!

Produced by Communication and Educational Technology Services, University of Minnesota Extension.

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