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Nature's Classroom |
Coquitlam Great Tree Hunt
Coquitlam, B.C., Canada
In 2002, Coquitlam began a search to acknowledge the "great
trees" of the community.
By June 30, 2002, one hundred nineteen entries had been received! We really
love our trees!
On September 8, 2002 at the TreeFest Celebrations held
on the Riverview Grounds,
we learned that OUR TREE WAS CHOSEN as one of Coquitlam's Great Trees!!!
Four posters of fabulous trees have been produced by the
Coquitlam District.
A wonderful photograph of our tree appears on the bottom right corner
of Poster #2!
Classroom 20 (2001-02) submitted this "Great Tree"
entry.
We felt that the tree outside our classroom deserved special merit as
an educational resource!
Here was our entry information:
City of Coquitlam Great Tree Hunt
Common Name: Shore Pine (we originally thought it might be a Lodgepole
Pine)
Scientific Name: Pinus contorta
Native Species: yes (but this one may have been planted)
Neighbourhood: Nestor / Pinetree area
Tree Location Address: Nestor Elementary school, 1266 Nestor Street, Coquitlam
Type of property: School Property
Tree is easily viewed from the Park adjacent to the school (Nestor Park)
As people walk along the path from Nestor Street to the Nestor Park &
Playground, they can look towards the school and see this tree. They can
also see the tree from the picnic tables in the park.
Reason for Nomination
Personal Story/Significance; Educational value; Distinctive Placement (for us!)
This tree is located right outside our classroom door, in front of the handicapped parking spot. Not only does it give us a beautiful piece of nature to look at through our classroom window, but it is an important part of our local nature studies. We keep a suet feeder hanging in the tree and every Monday the “Weekly Ornithologist” prepares a peanut-butter & birdseed cone to hang in the tree too. In our tree we have seen chickadees, juncos, downy woodpeckers, crows, starlings, bushtits, hummingbirds, and our own provincial bird, the Stellar’s Jay. We also have a bird feeder on our classroom window and a hummingbird feeder and both get lots of “visitors” because of this tree! We are participants in the Canada Bird Feeder Watch program and have sent in weekly reports online since school started in September (http://www.bsc-eoc.org/national/pfw.html). By learning to recognize birds near our own classroom, we were also able to participate in the SEEDS Canada BIT (Bird Identification Tally) in May. (http://greenschools.ca/may/mayover.html). What’s more, we have been excited to have a squirrel visit our tree as well. (As a matter of fact, we watched him steal a birdseed peanut-butter cone and drag it right across the parking lot to Nestor Park!) On hot days this tree gives us shade, on rainy days it provides a little shelter, and in the winter it protected the little snowman that we made! This year it is really full of new pollen cones! It is a very special tree to us and has helped us with our Grade 2 studies of native wildlife!
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