Kindergarden - Plants

Plants: Supplemental Guide 6A | Evergreen Trees 139

Presenting the Read-Aloud 10 minutes

Evergreen Trees

 Show image 9A-2: Evergreen trees

What type of tree is surrounding the lake?

• Evergreen trees are surrounding the lake.
  We use the word evergreen to describe plants that have green leaves
  all year around. Evergreens come in a variety of shapes and sizes,
  but they all have at least one thing in common.

Can you guess what all evergreen trees have in common? The

answer is part of its name.

• They are always green.
   Show image 9A-3: Christmas tree
  One type of evergreen tree is called a pine tree. Pine trees have a
  pleasant smell, which many people like to have in their homes during
  the winter months.

 Show image 9A-4: Pine needles

The leaves of most evergreen trees are called needles. Needles

are very thin leaves. This picture shows the needles of a pine tree.

Wherever you find pine trees, you can find a layer of brown pine

needles on the ground. Evergreen trees lose their needles and grow

new ones, but they do not shed their leaves all at once like deciduous

trees do.

Evergreen trees are like deciduous trees because both of them make

food through photosynthesis. For deciduous trees, photosynthesis

happens in their leaves. During the end of fall, deciduous trees lose

their leaves and photosynthesis stops.

The needles of an evergreen tree are much smaller than the leaves

of a deciduous tree, so it is easier for the evergreen tree to make

enough food to keep most of its leaves alive and on the branches. So

the evergreen tree does not become bare in the winter.