|
Arbor Week is celebrated every year at the beginning of September. What is Arbor Week? It is a time that is set aside to celebrate the beauty and benefits that trees provide; a chance to learn more about trees and our environment and a chance to do something positive to improve our world by planting and caring for a trees. By actively taking part in Arbor Week, you can help make our planet a better, greener and more productive place.
Remind your teacher about Arbor Week and perhaps you could have a tree planting ceremony at school. You could also plant your own tree at home!
Trees are our friends
They give us so many things:
- Food for humans, wild animals, birds and insects
- Fuel for cooking, warmth, and energy for the wheels of industry
- Fibre for clothing and paper and medicines and oils
- Fertiliser to enrich the soil so other plants can grow
- Wood for houses and furniture and boats
- Protection to animals especially birds
- Supply a lot of our oxygen
- Help maintain the moisture in the soil
- Prevent soil erosion
- Enrich our lives with their beauty
Growing old
Trees are the largest plants in the world. They also live the longest. The oldest tree in the world is a Bristlecone pine in America. It is over 4 900 years old.
If you look at the top of a tree stump you will see a lot of rings in the wood. Trees make one ring every year. So if you count the rings you can work out how old the tree is!
Watching trees
It is fun to sit quietly and watch a tree. In your diary you can write down everything you notice about it and what lives on and in it. Don't forget to write down the date. Another exercise is to keep a diary about a tree and write down when the leaves and seeds appear.
Growing trees
Plant a tree - in 10 years it will be a home for many birds and insects, and it may live to be hundreds of years old. You can grow trees from acorns or any other tree seeds that you find in autumn. Keep a note of what you find in the diary you made, so that you know which seedling is what later on. You can also collect fruit seeds to plant.
DID YOU KNOW?
On a warm day in spring a large tree takes up about 200 litres of water, the equivalent of five baths.
|
