Tree Trunk and Branches

Dear Parents,

We started our week looking for a picture of a pine tree in one of our books. We asked the class what shape it resembled. One person said, “It has three sides, like a triangle!” Another said, “It looks like a Christmas tree.” We talked about pine trees staying green all year. We found two pictures of forests full of pine trees in our books. We created the trunk of our family pine tree by scrunching up a giant sheet of brown paper.

We asked what pine trees have instead of leaves. "Pine needles," answered the children. Everyone helped cut green sheets of paper into tiny pieces for our pine needles. Someone said that pine trees have at least nineteen pine needles. We cut many more than that.

We worked our hand muscles, squeezing glue onto our branches that we made out of the same scrunched brown paper as the trunk. One person said as we glued tiny pieces of green paper, "This is taking a long time." We asked the class how long it takes for a real tree to grow.

During circle we compared the leaves from three different trees. We talked about what was the same: they're all leaves and they all fell off a tree. What was different: they were different colors, different shapes, different sizes, and their stems were different. One person wondered if the trees had fallen over. The trees were fine, but the leaves had fallen.

On Friday we cut even more pine needles to add to our branches. We used green ribbons, felt, and lots more glue. 

During circle we read Black Is Brown Is Tan. The book is written in a singing poetic style. We asked the class what they thought the book was about. They answered: colors, mamas, daddies, brothers, sisters, grandparents, dogs, humans, and love. All true. 

Wednesday November 27 will be a half day and our Family Feast. Our feast will begin at 11:00am. Parents are invited!

Have a piney weekend,

Therese 

Trees We Know

Dear Parents,

We began our week brainstorming trees we know. We read Trees, A Tree Is Nice, and A Tree Can Be…The following day we voted on which tree to make for our family tree. It was almost a tie between a pine tree and a cherry tree but the pine tree won by one vote. Some children expressed disappointment when their tree didn’t win. We talked about not always getting what you want. One child shouted out, “Kamala Harris lost!”

Every day we are looking at our tree in the yard to see if the leaves are all yellow yet. The children said they are mostly green, with a tiny bit of yellow. We are waiting for all the yellow leaves to take our fall picture. 

We made a list of everyone who lives in our homes. Many children included their pets, and a couple of grandmothers. We read Homes and Bodies Are Cool!

Everyone took turns getting measured on our Mr. Bones height chart. The class wondered who was the tallest in our class. One friend said he was the smallest, but when we looked at the chart, we saw several people who were shorter. We reminded him that last year he was the smallest in our classroom, but now we had many new friends who were younger and smaller. 

We asked the class, “What do trees give us?” They answered: shade, a place to play, somewhere to climb, bookshelves, tables and chairs, the bench in our classroom, puzzles, paper, something to plant, and fruit. We read The Giving Tree and noticed some of the same things we had said were in that book as well. We have many things made of wood in our classroom. We looked in our mind's eye to see if there were things made of wood in the big room too. We closed our eyes and pictured the big room. The children said the floor, the blocks, and the ceiling are made of wood. 

Family pictures! Pretty please. We need your 4x6 family pictures this coming week for the fruits of our family tree. 

Have a photogenic weekend,

Therese