Treemendous Science! is designed to help K-2 students explore and collect tree data to develop understandings about how trees grow, the roles trees play in ecosystems, and the ways in which trees and humans interact.

The K-2 developmental period represents a time of significant adjustment, knowledge gain, and personal growth, with different children developing at different paces. 

A unique feature of Treemendous Science! is that it’s organized around three levels, which approximately correspond to kindergarten (Level A), first grade (Level B), and second grade (Level C). You have the option of presenting one level in its entirety or picking and choosing from the different levels, depending on the needs and competencies of your student population.

Project Learning Tree's hands-on and engaging activities help teach students how to think, not what to think about the environment and their place within it.

• The activities are designed to develop students’ critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• The lessons are flexible and easy to incorporate into your existing curriculum.
• Activities are multi-disciplinary.
• They are constructed around – rather than simply correlated to – targeted performance expectations of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). They build on one another to foster students’ understanding and skills for meeting the specific standards.
• They are aligned with the Common Core State Standards for both English Language Arts and Mathematics.
• They are aligned with the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies.
• They are organized around the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) 5E Instructional Model – engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate.

What’s included:

1.  Treemendous Science! e-unit

Project Learning Tree's e-units support learning as a developmental progression. For this reason, this e-unit is designed to be flexible and scaffold learning across K–2 grade levels and student competencies. Teachers may use individual activities as stand-alone investigations or choose to conduct all e-unit activities from beginning to end.

The e-unit contains:

• access to detailed step-by-step lesson plans online
• downloadable student worksheets, also available as Google Slides compatible with Google Classroom
• a range of assessment tools, including pre- and post-assessments and evaluation rubrics
• easy-to-understand teacher background information
• comprehensive, interactive connections to academic standards -- correlations are showcased for educators using innovative and interactive hyperlinks
• resources for customizing the lessons to your students and situation
• suggestions for fiction and non-fiction books to enhance the activities
• more teaching tools, including links to websites, videos, online quizzes, and other supplementary resources

The self-paced online workshop (approximately 3 hours) includes:

• 6 coursels (each a 20–30-minute learning experience) 
• video demonstrations of select PLT activities
• lesson planning exercises to help you plan how to facilitate activities with your students in your own setting  
• certificate of completion

Review this Welcome Letter for more information about the unit’s accompanying online workshop.

Continuing education credits and state-specific supplemental resources are offered in some states. For more information, contact your State PLT Coordinator.

If you are a teacher, librarian, or administrator looking to place an order with a purchase order, please contact PLT's Sales & Marketing Coordinator at PLT@forests.org.

Here's what a few teachers have said about PLT's Treemendous Science! e-unit:

“PLT’s Treemendous Science! e-unit is hands-on, easy to follow, and can be easily manipulated to fit a teacher's time, materials, and teaching preferences. It is a great jumping off point for teachers new to teaching about the natural world and a great resource for those that have some of these elements already embedded in their teaching.” – Heather Tate, Kindergarten lead teacher at Evergreen Community Charter School, Asheville, North Carolina

“What a great unit for First Grade! I am definitely using it—possibly all year—for my science. Thanks to PLT, my theme this year is ‘trees.’ I’m psyched!” – Denise Brown, Rockaway Park, New York.

“I have completed the entire K-2 Treemendous Science! Unit. It was pure pleasure and very helpful and informative to me as a K-5 science teacher. I will definitely utilize this curriculum and recommend it to colleagues.” – Marcia Raubenstrauch, Ridgway, Pennsylvania

“I have to tell you, I am enamored!! I would LOVE to use this wonderful unit in my kindergarten classroom this school year!” – Linda Duchnick, Patterson, California

PLT Professional Development

Did you know? PLT’s 50-state network offers educators both in-person and blended professional development that is planned and conducted by locally trained facilitators and customized for specific grade levels, topics, outcomes, and teaching situations. Learn more at www.plt.org/trainings/attend-a-training.