Where Redwoods Thrive – Elementary School

Becoming the world’s tallest trees

Place-based Elementary School (3rd-5th) Curriculum

This Elementary School redwood curriculum is built for students to explore questions surrounding the magical coast redwoods.

Key questions students will answer:

• Why do redwoods grow where they do?
• Why are redwoods the tallest living things on Earth?

Elements of the lesson to consider:

• Download Lesson Overview
• Download all readers combined
• The class should work through 1-2 pages per day and use the graphic organizer to summarize what they learn.
• Have students record a “score” for how redwoods stack up to the competition with respect to survival.
• Have students create a classroom redwood journal where they develop their thoughts about the guiding question, create models about how redwoods function, or ask more questions they hope to discover.
• Audio readings are provided to front load the class before they read on their own or again as a group.

NGSS Standards

• 3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. 
• 3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.* 
• 4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
• 4-LS1.A. Structure and Function Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.
• 4-ESS2-2. Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features. 
• 5-LS1-1. Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water. 
• 5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.