A Tree is Nice, by J. Udry

The simple text and illustrations are a wonderful introduction to why trees and are nice.

Materials

picnic basket, small blanket, thermos
Bag of dirt
Many sticks and small branches from trees
Small pine needle branches rubber banded together to make paint brushes
A variety of tree leaves found in your area, include pine needles
Leaf shapes for cutting
Sticks
Tree trunk page for each child
Paint sticks (free where you buy paint)
10 empty tin cans

Vocabulary

Valley-a low area of land between two hills or mountains.
Woods/Forest- when many trees grow together they make a woods.
Tree Trunk-the main part of the tree, like a humans torso.
Tree Limb-the part that comes out of the torso which is very thick. Branches grow off the limb.
Shade/Shadow – Where the sun is blocked from reaching the ground by an object.

Before Reading the Story

Tell the children that today you are going to read a story about a very special friend to all of us. Explain that you are going to give them clues to see if they can guess who or what this special friend is. The clues; This friend helps make air for us to breath, provides food for us to eat, provides wood for us to build with and paper for us to write with, this friend provides shelter and homes to many kinds of animals, helps keep us from getting sunburned, and tells us what season it is. Can you guess who this friend is? A tree! Let the children share with you anything they would like to about trees.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

Reading the Story

If possible, take the children out to under a read this book.

On the first page where it says, athey fill up the whole sky, stop and ask the children if they have ever seen this many trees all together? Do they know what it is called? (forest, woods,backyard). On the page where it states, even if you have only one, ask the children to raise their hand if they have a tree in their yard? On the page where it is fall, remind the children that in the fall many tree leaves turn colors and fall off the tree. On the page where it talks about the trunk and limb of the tree, explain that the trunk is like our torsos and the limbs are like our arms but that trees have more than two arms. Count the limbs of the tree in the illustration (5). On the page where the tree holds off the wind, help the children to notice what happened to the dog house roof.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

After Reading the Story

Show the page of the children climbing and picking apples in the tree. Ask them to think of other foods that come from trees. Or hold up the tree pictures for the children to name the food that comes from a tree. Has any child noticed that almost all of the food grown from trees is considered fruit?

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Discovery

Add binoculars that the children can use to look out the window into the trees. Ask them what they see (birds, clouds, leaves, squirrel, etc.).

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Put out a variety of leaves and pine needles for the children to examine and compare. Encourage them to sort by smooth edges and pointy edges, big leaves and small leaves, by types. Add magnifying glass so children can see the veins of the leaves.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

Music and Movement

Way up high in the apple tree, Make 2 fists and hold over head

Two red apples smiled down on me.

So I shook that tree as hard as I could Shake fists

And down came the apples

And they were good! Pretend to eat apple

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

Blocks

Put out the wooden blocks and add paint sticks that can be used to enhance building structures.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; approaches tasks and activities with increased flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Art

Put pine needle paint brushes out at the easel today to experiment painting with.

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials ina variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Give the children a tree trunk page and show them how to use bingo daubers, circle stickers, finger prints, or Qtips to cover the tree with leaves. Do this according to the season or with lots of colors for festive looking trees.

Creative Arts/Art; develops growing ability to plan, work independently, and demonstrate care and persistence in a variety of art projects.

Library and Writing

Let the children cut out leaf shapes. Keep these on the simpler side. After the child has cut out a leaf, ask them to tell you why trees are nice and write their response on the leaf. Gather all the leaves cut and hang them on the wall around a tree trunk made from construction paper or paper bags.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity , and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Add sticks of various lengths and challenge the children to try to make letters in their names with them.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shapes and sound.

Sand and Water

Add the dirt to the table today along with small shovels or spoons for the children to plant “trees” (sticks and small branches.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Dramatic Play

Add a picnic basket and small blanket to the center so the children can pretend to go on a picnic.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Math and Manipulatives

Line the 10 empty, and cleaned, tin cans on the table. Label them 1-10 with markers or small pieces opf paper. Put out a bowl of sticks and challenge the children to fill the cans accordingly. For children who are more adept in counting, mix the cans up so the numbers are out of order.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

Outdoor Play

Take several books and a blanket outside for the children to read and relax under a tree. Take a few minutes to lay on your backs and look up into the tree and watch how the sun plays with the leaves. What else do you see?

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest in reading-related activities, such as asking to have a favorite book read; choosing to look at books; drawing pictures based on stories; asking to take books home; going to the library; engaging in pretend -reading with other children.

Bring in, or look for sticks on the playground, to practice writing names in the dirt.

Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing varierty of writing tools and materials, such as pencils, crayons, and computers.

Hang an old stuffed animal (pillow case, pinata) from a tree and use a stick or wiffle ball bat for the children to practice swinging and hitting the stuffed animal.

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; demonstrates increasing abilities to coordinate movements in throwing, catching, kicking, bouncing balls, and using a slide and swing.

Transitions

Hold up, or draw large letters on a whiteboard/piece of paper. Ask the children if they can name the letter, the letter sound, or something that begins with that letter sound. Have them draw the letter in the air.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge;shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shape and sound.

Resources

Look Once, Look Again In A Tree, David Schwartz

This book is part of a science series that delves into nature and habitats. First you get a close up, can you see what it is? Then you are shown the animal and given a little information.

Materials

Animal head masks, squirrel, owl, raccoon, caterpillar, and bird
Pine needle branches
Parts of a tree or signs of life in a tree
Props for Green Grass Grew All Around
10 straighter sticks of different lengths

Vocabulary

Pounce (jump quickly upon)
Bark (the skin of a tree)

Before Reading the Story

Tell the children that today you want them to help tell a story before you read your story. Ask the children to make themselves very small and round just like an acorn, or whatever other seed from a tree you want them to be. Tell them that they are in the ground where it is warm and dark. Soon it starts to rain and you begin to grow little roots that stretch down into the ground. Now you are just a sapling or a tiny baby tree. Each year you grow a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger until one day you are a great big tree that almost touches the sky. You stretch out your branches as wide as you can because you are a strong and beautiful Oak tree. One day a squirrel scampers up on you and it tickles so you wiggle with laughter. One day a caterpillar begins to eat your leaves so you shake to get it off. One day a bird comes and makes a nest in your branches and you gently rock it. The wind blows through you and you slowly sway from side to side. Sometimes when a storm comes you bend over and almost touch the ground but you do not break. You are the home to many animals and you give the children on the playground shade when it is hot outside. You look down and you smile because you are an Oak Tree and very important to the world.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

Reading the Story

Introduce the story and let the children guess what each object is in the tree.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

After Reading the Story

Ask if anyone has a tree in their yard at home. Let them share any tree stories they might like. Tell the children that they did a good job at the rug today.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

Discovery

Look at the trees in your school yard; do you see any signs of animal life? Bring in bark, branches, leaves eaten by bugs, a birds nest, and any other interesting tree specimens you have to share with the children. Encourage them to bring in more.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to describe and discuss predictions, explanations, and generalizations based on past experiences. AND Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes.

Music and Movement

Teach the children the song The Green Grass Grew All Around. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkAOeIMypg8 This is an echo song. The teacher sings it and the children sing the line back. The chorus is sung by everyone all together. Use the props to help the children recall the order. (This is a long song, are the children able to stay on task throughout)?

There was a hole children repeat

In the middle of the ground children repeat

The prettiest hole repeat

That you ever did see repeat

And the green grass grew all around all around and the green grass grew all around.

And in that hole repeat

There was a tree repeat

The prettiest tree repeat

That you ever did see repeat

Well, the tree in the hole and the hole in the ground and the green grass grew all around all around, and the green grass grew all around.

And on this tree repeat

There was a branch repeat

The prettiest branch repeat

That you ever did see repeat

Well the branch on the tree and tree in the hole and the green grass grew all around all around and the green grass grew all around.

And on that branch repeat

There was a nest repeat

The prettiest nest repeat

That you ever did see repeat

Well the nest on the branch and the branch on the tree and the tree in the hole and the hole in the ground and the green grass grew all around all around and the green grass grew all around.

And in that nest repeat

There was an egg repeat

The prettiest egg repeat

That you ever did see repeat

The egg in the nest and the nest on the branch…..

And in the egg there was a bird….

Well the bird in the egg and the egg in the nest and the nest on the branch and the branch on the tree and the tree in the hole and the hole in the ground and the green grass grew all around all around and the green grass grew all around!

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems. AND Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; grows in abilities to persist in and complete a variety of tasks, activities, projects, and experiences.

Blocks

Bring in small branches to add to the block play today. Tell the children that your blocks are made from wood that comes from trees.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Art

Bring in pine tree branches to use at the easel instead of paint brushes. Use a rubber band or tape to hold together. (Bring lots because they can not be easily cleaned).

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; progresses in abilities to use writing, drawing, and art tools; including pencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes, and various technology.

Library and Writing

Tree begins with the letter /T/. Have the children help think of T words. Give them paper to practice writing T’s. Make a list of all the /T/ words that your children were able to come up with and hang it on the wall.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing awareness of beginning and ending sounds in words. AND Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shape and sounds.

Sand and Water

Put water into the table and add leaves. Do they look the same dry and wet? You can especially notice the color difference in the fall time when the leaves are changing color. Do dried out leaves stay dried out in the water? Do leaves float or sink? Can you smell the leaves better when they are wet or dry?

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations.

Dramatic Play

Make masks for the children by stapling the animal heads to a sentence strip. The children can pretend to be the animals and your dramatic center the tree house.

Creative Arts/. Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Math and Manipulatives

Put the 10 straight sticks in a pile and challenge the child to put them in order from shortest to longest. Have them then count the sticks, how many in all?

Mathematics/Pattern & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size.

Outdoor Play

If you have pine needles on your playground, help the children gather them up to make a giant nest (toy rakes work well but you can use your hands also). They can be the birds. The pinecones can be the eggs.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Transitions

Have the children recall animals and items that they saw in the story today or things they have really seen in a tree. (My Grandma has a tree with cherries in it, I have a swing in my tree).

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and non-fiction books and poetry. AND Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes.

Resources

The inside of a tree has rings to tell how old the tree is.

The branches are beginning to grow on this tree.

A Grand Old Tree, Mary Newell DePalma

This is the story of a tree’s life cycle, how it lived and was a home to many animals. This is a good book to use to introduce a tree unit or to be used to talk about animal homes.

Materials

Tree trunk shape
Collect a variety of leaves from different kinds of trees.
1 large pinecone per child, peanut butter, plastic knives, and a bag of birdseed.
Collect a bag of leaves (green or colored) to use in dramatics, make sure that they are NOT poisonous.

Vocabulary

Grand (outstanding and wonderful)
Scurried (to run back and forth)
Sowed (spread or plant seeds around)
Bask (to lift up your head to the sun and feel its warmth.

Before Reading the Story

Bring in a variety of items that are made from wood or trees. Say, “Guess what all these items have in common? They are made from trees! Trees give of wood to make many things and also foods to eat”. Talk to the children about what each thing is. Say thank you tree as you introduce each item. (paper, pencil, bowl, chair, book, cardboard, chocolate, many fruits, etc).

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Reading the Story

Show the children the cover of the book and ask them if they know what the word grand means. Tell them that it means something or someone who is really wonderful. Ask them if they can think of what would make a tree really wonderful (It makes apples, I can swing on the swing that my Dad made on the branch, I climb the tree in my yard). Introduce the story.

Language development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they can recall any of the animals that lived in the tree. Can they think of any other animals that might live in a tree?

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Discovery

Bring in pictures or objects of things that come from a tree. (Things made of wood and also paper). Also pictures of animals that make their home in trees. Add parts of trees to the center for the children to explore (bark, seed pods, leaves, branch, birds nest). Give the children magnifying glasses to look more closely at the tree parts. Help them to name the various parts of the tree. Talk to the children about the importance of trees.

Science/Scientific Skills & Method; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

Music and Movement

Have the children act out parts of the story. Ask them to show you what it looks like to sink your roots deep into the soil; reach your branches high into the sky, sway in the breeze and dance in the wind. Show what cracking looks like and falling down.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

Put on the song If I Were A Tree video by Jason Mesches. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mt79JW9u18

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Do the 5 Little Monkeys in the Tree finger play.

5 little monkeys swing from the tree, Hold up 5 fingers

Teasing Mr. Alligator, You can’t catch me! Hold hands by ears making nah nahs

You can’t catch me! You can’t catch me! Say in teasing voice with nah nahs

Slowly Mr Alligator comes, Put hands together to make an alligator head

Slow as slow can be Move alligator around

And snapped that monkey right out of the tree! Snap hands

4, 3, 2, 1, 0 monkeys but Mr. Alligator is full.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems. AND Mathematics/Numbers & Operation; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

Blocks

Remind the children that the blocks are made from wood and that wood comes from trees!

Art

Give each child a tree trunk shape and a variety of collage materials. Let them decorate the trunks to represent a tree in various seasons or stages of its life. Or cut out 4 large trees about three feet tall and have the children work together to make classroom trees depicting the seasons.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; approaches tasks and activities with increased flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness. AND Creative Arts/Art; progresses in abilities to create drawings, paintings, models, and other at creations that are more detailed, creative, or realistic.

Writing and Library

Encourage the children to write with pencils today. As they write remind them pencils come from wood and wood comes from trees!

Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing tools and materials such as pencils, crayons, and computers.

Ask the children to write a thank you letters to a tree and illustrate. (Thank you for pears that I like to eat, Thank you for letting me climb on you, Birds thank you)

Literacy/ Early Writing; develops an understanding that writing is a way of communicating for varied purposes.

Sand and Water

Add pieces of bark to the water and pretend that they are boats. How many small bear manipulatives can the child put onto the boat without sinking it. Try adding leaves, can the bears float on these?

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination such as building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Dramatic Play

Add a large bowl of leaves to the center and encourage the children to pretend that they are food.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; approaches tasks and activities with increased flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness.

Math and Manipulatives

Put out your other bag of leaves and let the children sort them in various ways.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; Shows growth in matching, sorting putting in a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Outdoors

If you have a tree on your playground, go out and examine it. Look for signs of animal life. Look and ask the children to help the parts of the tree. Give the tree a thank you hug.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge if and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Let the children use the plastic knives to spread peanut butter onto the pinecones. Then have them roll the pinecone in the birdseed and attach a string. Hang these in a nearby tree as snacks for the birds.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; shows growing capacity to maintain concentration over time on a task, question, set of directions or interactions, despite distractions or interruptions.

Transitions

As each child gets up to go to the next activity, ask them to say, “Thank you tree for ___________”. Encourage the children to try to think of a variety of objects and foods that come from a tree.

Science/Scientific Skills Knowledge; shows increased awareness and beginning understanding of changes in materials and cause-effect relationships.

Have the children look around the room and name objects in your classroom that come from trees. Remind them that things made from wood or paper are the products of trees.

Science/Scientific Skills Knowledge; shows increased awareness and beginning understanding of changes in materials and cause-effect relationships.

Dear Parent- Today we read a story about a tree and all the animals that lived in the tree. Ask your child to help you name animals that might live in a tree. Then ask your child what else does a tree give us? (Think of wood and paper products and foods).

Resources