One of the major types of trees is the deciduous tree, which typically loses its leaves in the fall and forms new leaves in the spring, according to the Nebraska Forest Service. Create a visual, classroom project which looks at the changes in a deciduous tree over the course of a year. To do this, create a cutout of a tree on a bulletin board. Cut out red, green, brown and yellow leaves. Every day for a week, introduce students to a new season. Starting with spring, the students should pin a few yellow and green leaves to the tree branches. The next day (summer), the students should fill the branches with green leaves. On the third day (autumn), the students should remove most of the green leaves and put red and yellow leaves on the tree (and some on the ground). On the fourth day (winter), the students should move all of the red and yellow leaves to the ground and remove the green leaves completely. On the final day, the students should place a few new yellow and green leaves on the tree to represent the new spring.
The seasons occur regularly from year to year because of the earth's rotation around the sun and its 23.5 degree axis tilt, according to information from the San Francisco State University. Show your students how this works by creating a large foam sun and earth. Then move the earth around the sun, illustrating why certain areas get more sun exposure during certain times of the year. After the lesson, encourage students to discuss how life would be different with a different axis tilt, a different orbital around the sun or a different length of time for a full rotation.
Seasons vary from place to place, depending on the location on the earth. Create an activity that explores these differences, especially the differences in seasons from the equator, the two tropics (Cancer and Capricorn) and Antarctica (or the North Pole). To perform this activity, ask students to look up the average temperature for each month and then compare the differences between these temperatures. Students can use graphs, words or even collages to express the differences in temperature.
Different animals hibernate in different ways, according to the Virtual Nature Trail at Penn State New Kensington. In the winter, many animals begin to hibernate in order to prevent death by hypothermia and to save food in the sparsity of winter. Teach students about the different animals that hibernate (such as bears) and the different types of hibernation. Some of these levels of hibernation include "deep hibernation" and "torpor," a mild, temporary form of hibernation.