Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Tree Project

Today my youngest is doing her tree report - she needs to find the scientific name of a tree and state five (5) facts about this tree... In addition - she must supply plenty of pictures.. This got me to thinking... (I know that is a dangerous thing).... How would my kid do her project in less than one week if we did not have a computer to use?

Having a computer in the house with a color printer has become the requirement in most households... It's crazy - Thankfully, we can afford to have one - but what about the families in lower income areas - when just putting food on the table is an accomplishment? I remember when I was in the 6th grade and I was to do a report on Brazil. I had to write a letter to the Brazil tourist board and hope that they would send plenty of pictures and information for my report.. To get more information - I had to use my library card and copy down all I could out of the encyclopedia.. In those days, copiers and scanners were not items you would find in your local library.. Times have definitely changed...

So the scientific name of her tree is...(drum roll please)

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

We chose this tree because we have a few - the leaves are easy to get... and they are pretty. Can you guess the common name from the pictures?




11 comments:

  1. It's very pretty! It would be really hard to do a report with a computer now.

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  2. Okay so clearly you're not in the northeast :) But it makes me long for sunny Florida again!

    I don't know what we'd do here without PC's. We have 5 in this house and there are only three people in our household.

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  3. I'm jealous!! I want a palm tree in my front yard!

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  4. How awesome to have palm trees in your front yard! Beautiful!!!!

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  5. What an awesome tree to have in your yard!

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  6. It looks like it might just a Date Palm Tree. Is that right? And we thought the electric typewriter was the invention of inventions, huh?

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  7. Kelly,

    You hit the nail on the head with that post. I guess we take for granted the fact that we do have a computer and printer for use as well as internet access. I too, was like you, in those great old days with my library card at the library.

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat

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  8. Hmmm...what a lovely tree. I want a palm tree in my yard. I would never have thought of the scientific name.

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  9. The common name is King Palm. We planted the tree about 5 years ago - and it was about 6 feet tall... That thing is growing like crazy... must be the sunny So. Cal weather...

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  10. For a year my husband was teaching in the richest suburb in our area while I was teaching in the poor, very poor inner-city school. The difference between the two was enormous!

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  11. As a geography/geology major in college ( yeah, I know it sounds so exciting ), I can relate. We studied lots of trees. That is an unusual one.

    You're quite right. I guess in this era it's assumed that everyone has the computer gadgets in their home.

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