Today we gathered at the entrance to the woods and I we discussed the difference between the pine trees and the deciduous trees. I then handed out ‘nature Detective’ tree ID wheels and sheets and asked the groups to find and identify as many different tree leaves as they could. The children did very well and with help and re-visits, each group ended up with: Ash, Rowan, Elder, Oak, Holly, Birch, Sycamore and Beech. I asked children in turn to hold up  a leaf and say what it was and then as a group I asked them to show me their oak leaf etc.

Next I pulled out a laminated Carroll diagram and we discussed what it was for. I then showed everyone how to sort four leaves using two criteria before using this to write a key. Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera! All groups managed to sort four leaves but only one wrote a key. We had some interesting discussions about whether we could use leaf size as a sorting criteria.

An example of two sets of criteria;

Single leaf / composite leaf

smooth edges / toothed edges

In the end we played  a blindfold game; one person is blindfolded and the other two in the group spin him round before leading him to feel a tree. The blindfolded person is then lead back to the place where they started, the blindfold is removed and they have to identify the that they had visited etc. Good fun.