The Giving Tree Unit

School is winding down quickly! Last week we finished up our basal reader, and I knew I wanted to do something special these last couple of weeks. My kids and I LOVE Shel Silverstein's poetry and have read his work all year. So this week I decided to do a unit on his book The Giving Tree.

I'm thinking next week we may focus on the poetry, but for this week just a focus on giving. On Monday when we first talked about giving, all the kids wanted to share what Santa brought at Christmas. BUT by today we were sharing ways we could give such as: helping Mom clean, picking up sticks in the yard for Dad, donating old clothes to those in need, etc. I really want my kids to have a heart for others!

We have really focused a lot on writing this week, which has been great considering how quiet we have had to be on the testing hallway!! YAY for Spring Fling tomorrow! My kids are dying to run around and actually TALK!

We put all of our writing together to create a "Stories of Giving" book.

This little girl wrote about someone she knew that was a giver. I thought this was so sweet with Mother's Day just around the corner!

For this topic the kids had to write about a time they gave something to someone else.

Here is another book we made called "My Giving Book". They had to think of four gifts they could give to other people.

I really hope my kids leave my classroom with a simple understanding of being selfless and taking time to help and give to others. AMEN?!

This unit also includes a long e sort and story element graphic organizers. If you would like to purchase this unit click here.