Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park includes whitebark pines that are over 1,200 years old, meaning they have been there since before medieval times. The second lesson of five details how to read tree rings for climate change and dating purposes. It also includes the relationship to ice layers and the technique for combining both.

Concepts

dendrology, tree rings, climate change

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Discuss how the invention of water sprinklers might make this activity more difficult in the future

Classroom Considerations

• Plan ahead to gather supplies as many need to be ordered, such as tree cookies (not food) and whitebark pine seedling
• One activity, "life history rings" could be upsetting to those with a troubled past so you may want to leave it out

Pros

• Provides many cross-curricular connections to history, biology, math, art, language arts, geography, and intrapersonal skills
• Gives a script to follow when presenting the material

Cons

• None

Common Core

RST.6-8.4 RST.9-10.4 RST.11-12.4