"A Tree Is Nice"

Objective: To assess students' color recognition, counting, and following directions through the theme of seasonal change.

Procedure:

1) Read the book A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry.

Possible ideas to jump off from:

•The name of this book is A Tree is Nice.

•How many trees do we see on the cover? Think about how the trees are different.

•Do you like trees? (Wait for responses. Talk about some of the things we like about trees.)

•Open the book together. The page is green like leaves.

•Look at that little boy in the big tree. Do you think he might be scared?

•Lots of trees make woods. We sometimes call it a forest.

•This is a picture of fall. Sometimes we call it autumn.

•Some trees give us fruit.

•Cats climb trees. Dogs don't.

•Trees are useful, Trees make shade for everyone, Trees can protect us, Some trees are young. Some trees are old, etc.

•A tree is nice.

Then end the story by asking, Why are trees good? When the children have answered together, introduce a "tree-making" activity.

2) Demonstrate the "tree-making" activity in front of the class. Students will then return to their seats and create their own trees.

To make your tree,

first: Lay the top of your arm and your hand on a piece of white paper and spread your fingers out on the page.

second: With a brown crayon, trace around your arm and your hand. Color in the arm brown to make a trunk and color in the fingers brown to make branches.

third: Choose ten construction paper leaves from a bowl on the table. Select two red leaves, two green leaves, three yellow leaves and three orange leaves.

fourth: Glue the autumn leaves on your page. They may be on the tree, falling to the ground, or on the groud in any combination you would like. Just be sure that all of the leaves are somewhere on your page.

fifth: When finished, raise your hand so a teacher can come see your work. With your teacher, check your work by counting the leaves on your tree and making sure there are ten.

ESSENTIAL UNDERSTANDING:

  • counting independently from 1 to 10
  • sorting colored leaves based on color (recognizing red, green, orange and yellow)
  • using fine motor skills to glue and color
  • following directions

FACETS OF UNDERSTANDING:

  • application -> able to use knowledge and skills in different contexts
  • self-knowledge -> are you right-handed or left-handed?

Display of Student Work: