Transportation
How does water get to a tree's trunk?
It travels through the roots in the tree (p. 101).
This type of tree has spiky bark for protection.
What is a honey locust tree (p. 103).
Which part of the bark is growing the outside or the inside?
What is "the inside" (p. 105).
Why do some sidewalks split open when a tree is growing nearby?
The roots are very strong and lift the sidewalk when they grow (100).
Give three reasons how an acorn might end up many miles away from the tree it fell from?
It could get carried away by an animal, blown away by the wind, or float away on water (p. 110).
Why are a trees' leaves important?
The leaves make sugar, which the tree uses as food (p. 95).
What is the connection between acorns and flowers?
Some parts of flowers become seeds. Clumps of flowers called catkins help make acorns, the seeds of an oak tree (p. 109).
How do a tree's roots help it stay in place?
The roots grow into the ground and spread out a lot, holding the tree in place (p. 101).
How do water and sap travel differently through a tree?
Water travels up the trunk and through the branches to the leaves. Sap travels down from the leaves and through other passages in the trunk (p. 99).
What causes leaves to lose their green color?
The leaves stop making sugary food (p. 112).
The illustrator won this in a coloring contest.
What is a red wagon (p. 92).
This type of tree has roots that grow into columns all around the tree.
What is the Banyan tree (p. 100).
How does the seed of a palm tree travel?
Coconuts fall off a palm tree, float across the ocean, and sprout on a sandy beach (p. 111).
What is the relationship between a tree's leaves and its buds?
The buds turn into leaves (p. 95).
What are two uses of sap for a tree?
Sap mixes with the sugary water that acts as food for the tree and carries it throughout the tree. It also helps protect the tree from being eaten by insects by giving off smells that insects don't like (p. 95).
How do mushrooms and trees help each other?
Mushrooms growing near a tree's roots help the tree get minerals, which the tree needs to grow. Mushrooms get water from the tree's roots (p. 100).
Work with your group to fill in the blanks to complete a summary of this text:
Trees are always growing and changing. Some have been growing for thousands of ______. All trees make food, in the form of ________, with their _________. A tree's roots absorb ___________ and minerals from the ground. A tree can drop thousands of _____________, but only a few become new trees. The leaves change color in the autumn, fall off, and then ______ form again in the spring to continue the cycle of growth.
years, sugar, leaves, water, seeds, buds
What do trees get less of in the winter that would make it a time of rest?
What is sunlight (p. 115 & 99).
Explain how the word "stories" is used to connect the author's childhood memory to writing.
The maple seedling he planted when he was five grew to be taller than a two-story house, and he believes everyone has stories to share (p. 92).
How does a tree's bark change as the tree gets older?
When a tree is young, its bark is smooth. As it gets older, the bark becomes rough and cracked (p. 102).