Activity 2 – Secret Lives of Plants

Dawn of Morning, Lake George

Materials needed: 

Digital Camera (from your school), journal book, magnifying lens (from school science lab)

Jasper Cropsey was especially popular for his landscape scenes set in autumn.  Not every area has the same beautiful colors that are produced by the trees in the northeast of the United States.  To prove the colors were true, Cropsey often showed real, brightly colored leaves next to his paintings.  To understand how Cropsey observed nature, you too can study leaves:

Collect leaves from plants in the fall and then return to the plants in the spring to collect leaves from the same plants.

• Take photos of each leaf using a digital camera that will allow you to take many photos and only print the ones you like.  Identify the tree that each leaf comes from. 

• Use a hand lens to look for details in the leaves. Record what you see in your journal and mount the photos next to your observations.

• After you have two leaves from each plant, compare your observations and the photos of the leaves.  What similarities do you see.  What differences?  

• Do some research.  Explain what causes a leaf to be green in the spring, but show red, orange, yellow and even purple colors during autumn.  Record your research about the ‘secret lives of plants’ in your journal.

Helpful websites:

www.dec.state.ny.us/website/education/educatorstudent.html

http://www.arborday.org/index.html

http://www.arborday.org/carly