Caption This! Trees in the City
Provided by: Mongabay Kids|Published on: April 16, 2026|Last updated: September 26, 2026
Grades: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Type: Activity - Classroom
Subjects: Biology
Authors: Mongabay Kids
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this activity, students look at a photograph of trees in a city and write captions describing what they observe in the image.
- The resource also includes a short informational text about the benefits of urban trees, which students can use to inform their captions and discussions.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- Students will love flexing their creative skills with the captioning activity!
- The option to submit their work to the website can help generate students’ excitement.
Prerequisites
- Some students may need to see examples of cartoon captions before writing their own captions for this activity.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Teachers can use the captioning activity as a pre- and post-lesson assessment. First, ask students to write a caption that includes everything they know about trees in the city. After learning about the importance of urban trees, have students write a new caption.
- After learning about how trees cool cities, teachers can transition to a lesson about the urban heat island effect to help students understand why cities are so hot. This resource may help introduce this topic.
- Weather and other conditions permitting, teachers can take students outside to identify and appreciate the trees on the streets near their school.
- Teachers can use this resource to help students eventually understand trees’ role in sequestering carbon and mitigating climate change.
- Early finishers can color the picture while they wait for others to write captions.
This resource tasks students with captioning a single-panel cartoon of two urban trees. The text highlights the many benefits of urban trees, notably carbon storage. This activity engages students in thinking about the myriad benefits of urban trees and is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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