Welcome to Loudonville Elementary Schools Tree Station!

Objectives: After visiting the tree station you will be able to define an urban forest, explain why an urban forest is important, and identify the trees growing on the schools grounds.

What do you think of when you hear the word forest? Lots of trees, something far away, leaves on the ground, hiking paths, something big and sometimes a little scary, tangles of shrubs, a place without grass, fallen tree limbs etc. These kinds of forests only cover 29.6 percent of the worlds land. There is another type of forest called an urban forest. Do you know that the schoolyard is an urban forest? What do we mean by an urban forest? An urban forest is a forest or collection of trees that grows within a city, town, or suburb. Urban forests include; green space, trees, parks, public gardens, landscaped streets, your schoolyard, and even our backyards. Trees are especially important in an urban forest, but an urban forest includes any kind of woody plant vegetation growing in and around human settlements. Why are urban forests are important? Urban forests play an important role in making our world more habitable. They enrich our lives by conserving energy, supplying the oxygen we need to breathe, cleaning our air and water, moderating temperature and rainfall, slowing storm water runoff and preventing erosion, supplying useful products, providing shelter and food for wildlife, and giving communities beautiful spaces to enjoy.

Tree Identification Activity Would you like to learn more about the trees in your urban forest here at Loudonville Elementary School? Have you ever thought about the many different kinds of trees that surround your school and schoolyard? Try thinking about your favorite tree on the playground. Once you have chosen a tree we can start the process that scientists use to classify trees. This process is called Taxonomy. Taxonomy provides an organized system for grouping things based on certain like characteristics. We can classify trees as well as all plants and animals this way as well. The first step in tree identification is recognizing that there are always distinguishing characteristics that separate one tree species from another. By examining separate tree parts you will be able to confidently identify the different trees around you. To start, your unidentified tree should be divided into one of these two main tree types. Is your tree a Conifer or a Broadleaf tree? Conifers are cone-bearing trees and most are evergreen. Conifers have needle-like or scale-like leaves. Pines, firs, cedars and spruces are conifers. Larches and bald cypress are conifers, they have cones, but they lose their leaves annually. Broadleaf trees have thin, flat leaves that are usually shed annually (deciduous). Broadleaf trees bear a variety of flowers, fruit and nuts. Oaks, Maples, birches and sycamores are just a few of the many different kinds of broadleaf trees.

Once you have decided which category your tree falls into you should next examine the leaves. Leaves are often the easiest way to identify a tree. Leaves have lots of different sizes and shapes. What do the leaves or needles of the tree look like? Is the leaf smooth or rough? Is it shiny or dull? Is there one blade on the leaf stalk or are there many blades?

If there is one it is a simple leaf. If there are many blades on the leaf stalk, it is a compound leaf.

These are examples of compound leaves

Are the leaves arranged in an opposite or an alternate pattern? Does the leaf have one point or lots of points?

This is the margin of a leaf, or the leaf edge. Some trees have lobed leaves, others are smooth or have a toothed margin.

Bark has characteristics that can be very helpful for identifying some types of trees. There are lots of kinds of bark. Look for the differences.

What can you determine about the bark of your tree? What color is the bark? Is it rough or smooth? Is it thick or thin? Does it have a smell? What other differences can you find?

Examples of bark texture

During the years four seasons a tree may produce fruit, seeds, and flowers as part of its reproductive cycle. Fruit is the seed bearing part of the tree and can be in the form of nuts, acorns, berries, drupes, winged seeds, pods, or cones.

Can you see any fruit, seeds, or acorns on your tree?

The way a tree grows and the shape it takes can also tell you a lot about what type of tree it is. Take a look at your tree and draw an outline of its shape.

Did you know that different trees grow into different shapes?

Teaching Resources/Websites You can go online at Arborday.org What Tree is That? Online edition for a complete tree identification guide that will help you accurately identify your tree. www.arborday.org www.fs.fed.us www.findingmyforest.org

Curriculum Connections K-6 Use to map of Loudonville Elementary school grounds to locate trees and key to check your conclusions More Tree activities FALL Fall is a wonderful season to observe and enjoy the trees around us. Go for a walk, observing and collecting leaves along the way. Place the leaves that you find on a blanket and study their characteristics. See if you can match similar leaves together. Maybe you will be able to identify the trees they came from. Making leaf rubbings from the leaves collected is also fun. Place your leaf under a piece of paper and color the paper with the side of a crayon. See what different textures you can make. Make a book with all of your leaf rubbings. WINTER Winter is the season to appreciate all of our evergreen trees. Observe the bark, the tree shape, and any cones. It is also a time to think about our bird and animal wildlife that use trees as habitats and for food. Do you see any wildlife in the tree? In the winter you can gather information on a deciduous trees branch pattern, its silhouette, and twigs. Collect a twig from a tree and place it in a vase of water and leave it in a warm, well lit space. See what happens to any buds. SPRING Observe trees for signs of spring as the temperature outside warms up. Look for new leaves and possible blossoms. Is your tree just beginning to show leaves or does it have them already? Make a sketch or a painting of a tree you admire.

SUMMER Summer is a season to use all of your senses to enjoy a trees beauty. Look closely at the bark and leaves. Look for birds, animals, and insects on or around the tree. Close your eyes while you touch the bark and feel the leaves or needles. Sit quietly under the tree and listen. Are the leaves and branches moving? Do you hear birds or insects?

Key to Loudonville School grounds map

1.Crimson King Maple A cultivar of the Norway Maple with dark maroon leaves. The flowers are small and red in dense clusters. Its leaves and samaras are like the Norway Maple and it also has milky sap in the petiole. 2.Kousa Dogwood 3.Flowering Pear 4.Saucer Magnolia A small tree, often multi stemmed with simple shiny leaves and white to pink flowers in April/May. Saucer magnolias are grown for their beautiful flowers. 5.Katsura tree. Observe the alternate heart shaped leaves. 6. Crabapple tree 7. Sugar Maple The sugar maple has very important sap. The sap is boiled and made into maple syrup. The tree has distinguishing rough bark.

The fruit or samaras are horseshoe shaped. Leaves are bright yellow, gold ,and red in the fall. 8. Amur Maple 9. Crabapple tree

10. Little leaf Linden tree Identified by their unusual flowers and seeds. The small yellow flowers are attractive to bees and hang down from a long stem. 11. Norway Maple Norway Maples are considered an invasive species. In the fall the leaves turn yellow and it is the last maple tree to lose its leaves. 12. Shadblow service berry 13. Eastern Hemlocks Softly pyramidal in outline. The needles have two distinctive silver bands on the underside. The cones are small and hang down. 14. Silver Maple A fast growing Maple with branches that break easily. The leaves are silver-white on the underside and have 5 lobes that are deeply cut. A breeze highlights their silver undersides. The flowers are small and range in color from yellowish to red. 15. Red Oak The leaves have pointed lobes. The bark is distinctive with flat gray and ridged areas. 16. Balsam Fir 17. Cottonwood/Poplar 18. Pear 19. Crabapple tree 20. Crabapple trees

21. Pin Oak Sometimes called the Jumping Jack Tree for the distinctive shape of the branches. The lower branches hang downwards, the middle branches outwards, and the upper ones upwards. Like a Jumping Jack. The leaves are narrow with pointed lobes.

22. Blue Spruce A popular tree, named for its blue green colored needles. The needles are 4-sided, stiff and sharp. The cones are pale tan with wavy toothed scales. 23. Norway Maple 24. Red Oak 25. Japanese Red pine 26. Magnolia 27. Red Maple 28. Japanese flowering cherry Small trees known for their blossoms. There are many different beautiful cultivars. 29. Douglas Fir A native tree to the western US. Its usual height is 40-80 feet tall. Its large cones hang down and the they are very distinctive. 30. Douglas Fir 31. Crabapple tree 32. White oak/English Oak Named for its light gray bark. They grow very slowly and may live for hundreds of years. The white oaks fruit is its acorn. It is one of the most valuable trees in the United States.

33. Honey Locust A popular tree because it needs very little care. Its leaves are narrow and fine. In the summer look for long curly fruit pods with seeds inside. There is a variety that has no pods though. 34. Flowering Pear