“These trees don’t all look the same.”

With all of the mapping and leaf exploration that has been going on in Studio Purple, we decided that it was time to blend these threads together a bit.  How do we see and know the different trees that make up this beautiful park?  Leaves are one way, but what other ways can we  identify a tree?  How might we find these trees when some identifiers, such as leaves, aren’t there?  Could we make a record of these observations?  To help us begin thinking about these questions, we took to the park in small groups in order to pay careful attention to the trees.  

“These trees don’t all look the same.  They’re different shapes and colors.”  ADDIE

"This is the one with no leaves." ADDIE
"This one is kinda turny." ADDIE
"That one has two holes." CHARLOTTE

“I found something…What are those?…I found another one!  I think it’s tomatoes!”  TAIT

“That’s the one that I went around last year, at the winter sing and then I fell down. There’s letters on it.” ADDIE

“This is what I drawed. I drawed a tree...It's that one...This is the one that has the holes.” CHARLOTTE
"That's the tree. Right there. The pear one. And so that's our blanket...This is the tree I included. And the other one is here...Were they apples or were they pears? (referring to the horse chestnuts)" TAIT
"I drawed the one over there. That's the hole...I have two things checked off. The tree with the hole and the blanket...I made a tree. The one right there. The one where we found those pears." ADDIE