The Giving Tree 

By: Shel Silverstein

     The book, The Giving Tree, was a book that I had never read before this class. I picked the "Read-A-Loud" book list which really caters to the grades I am wanting to teach (Kindergarten-3rd). I had seen it around when I was a kid but I never read it or had it read to me. Reading this book now that I am older has had a completely different effect than it would have had if I read it when I was younger. The children's book is a story about a relationship between a boy and a tree. The tree loves him so dearly and gives everything that she can in order to make the young boy happy. The book continues as the boy grows and continually "needs" more things to be happy. The tree is so selfless in that she does everything she can in order to make the boy happier in his life. I LOVED this book for the story and moral behind it. So often we forget to "pay it forward" if you will. Good deeds can change a persons day entirely and if we teach that to our students, it would be very beneficial throughout their lifetime and change the way they treat their peers and elders. I think it would be an awesome book for any age to read, but I would recommend to read it in a 2nd or 3rd grade class (though you can read it to any of your classes)so you can really stress that point of "you don't need something in return in order to do something nice." Some of the different activities you could do would be to create an actual "Giving Tree" and have students make books and crafts to hand out to other students and families around the holidays, or have the students think deeper as to what else the tree could have given, or what the boy could have done for the tree, and the third and final tree was to create an actual tree out of construction paper and have the students create the branches and put what they are thankful for or encouraging words that they would like to tell their parents or friends or siblings. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book: READ IT!!! :)