November 3rd, 2020

During the Month of October (2020) we challenged WRDSB students to find and document the biggest trees in their neighborhood.  We wanted to know the circumference of the biggest individual for each species in our leaf key.

The largest tree with a single trunk above 1.4 meters was an Elm Tree reported by students from Woodland Park Public school.  It had a circumference of 606 cm.  We checked!  It was spooky!  Thank you to the wonderful students of the WRDSB who made submissions to #MonsterTreesWRDSB!

We think we have found the largest tree in Waterloo Region… but who knows… maybe there is a monster hiding in a dark forest somewhere.  We are going to keep this citizen science project open all year.  If you find a large tree, feel free to submit it at any time.

To participate, find a large tree, identify its species, note its location, and measure its circumference at 1.4 metres from the ground. Then enter your information in the Google form below.

Anyone in the WRDSB can measure any tree in Waterloo Region – at your school, local park, or even your backyard!  We can’t wait to see how teachers connect Monster Trees to math, science, art, language and social studies activities.

Location information will not be shared publicly, but we would like to know where the biggest trees are to authenticate them.

Please measure the circumference of the tree about 1.4 metres above ground height. Circumference is a measurement of how big around the tree is.

We are defining a tree as any plant with a woody stem, that is at least two meters tall and 20 centimetres in diameter with a single trunk up to at least 1.4 metres.

Enter as many trees as you’d like. Take a photo and share it with us through twitter #monstertreesWRDSB.

Have fun!

This link will take you to our Submissions form.