Provide your students with brown and green cardboard, safety scissors, glue and other decorative items. Pin up pictures of sequoias in the classroom or around the school and direct the students to create their own sequoias using the materials you have provided them as an arts and crafts project. Help the students keep the parts of tree in proportion. When the students complete their projects, display them in a prominent area in the school or classroom.
Fully grown sequoia trees are truly remarkable due to their massive age, size and strength. One school project could be to map the interesting and rich history of the giant sequoia. Encourage younger students to write a first-person story from the perspective of the tree. For example, the students could write about the changes that have occurred over the course of the tree's estimated 2000-year life span. In particular, students may wish to focus on the biggest sequoia tree of the lot: General Sherman in the Sequoia National Forest. Display the students' stories alongside the cardboard sequoia trees they made.
Use the giant sequoia tree's many dimensions, including the height, width, circumference and crown width to lead your students through a project based on the mathematics of measurement. Introduce the metric and imperial measuring systems to the students and show them how simple conversions can be made between different units of measurement. For example, explain to students that, while Americans refer to General Sherman's height in feet and inches, most of the rest of the world refers to the tree's height in meters and centimeters. Instruct students to decorate the trees they made with both imperial and metric units of measurement.
Encourage your students to study the interesting science behind giant sequoia trees. For example, introduce the idea of coniferous and deciduous plant life to the students and ask them to think about the changes that occur in different species of trees, including sequoias, during the four seasons of the year. For an alternative perspective, students could study the reproductive cycle of giant sequoias and investigate the role that insects play in distributing the giant sequoia's seeds. Divide your class into groups and get each one to form a presentation on one element of the giant sequoia, such as seasonal changes or reproduction.