The Tree in the Wood Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan #: AELP-MMS0200
Source: School Library Media Activities Monthly, (April 1994, p.15-16)

Grade Levels: PreK, K

Subject(s):

Physical Education/Motor/movement skills
Language Arts/Reading

Library Media Skills Objectives: The students will listen to a verse and act out parts of the verse in a creative-dramatics activity.

Curriculum (subject area) Objectives:

This activity may be used for several creative-dramatics sessions on literature appreciation, or may be used in connection with a science lesson for Arbor Day.

Resources:

Fiction and Nonfiction Books on Trees, such as Caldecott-winner Janice Udry’s A Tree Is Nice HarperCollins, 1956).

Manson, Christopher. The Tree in the Wood. North-South Books, 1993.

Schwartz, Alvin. And the Green Grass Grew All Around: Folk Poetry for Everyone. HarperCollins, 1992.

Reference Sources

Cooper, Kay. The Neal-Schuman Index to Finger Plays. Neal-Schuman, 1993.

Defty, Jeff. Creative Fingerplays and Active Rhymes: An Index and Guide to Their Use. Oryx, 1992.

Instructional Roles:

This language arts or literature-appreciation activity may be used by either the classroom teacher or the library media specialist. Finger plays about trees may be located in two excellent indexes: The Neal-Schuman Index to Finger Plays and Creative Fingerplays and Active Rhymes: An Index and Guide to Their Use. Plan the activity for a fifteen- or twenty-minute period. Other poetry books on trees may be used. The sources listed above are especially appropriate for Arbor Day.

Activity and Procedures for Completion:

During a story hour, introduce students to Arbor Day and the importance of trees, by using movement and rhyme. Alvin Schwartz’s And the Green Grass Grew All Around: Folk Poetry for Everyone (HarperCollins, 1992) includes a nursery rhyme often shared. The French nursery song, The Tree in the Wood (North-South Books, 1993) illustrated by Christopher Manson, is an excellent introduction to trees and their role in our lives. Each verse can be reenacted. Read the verse aloud once before introducing students to the creative movements.

E.g.,
(Students may stand tall with arms stretched high)

All in a wood
There grew a fine tree,
The finest tree

you ever did see,
(Students may spread arms out from side and twirl once)

And the green grass

grew all around,
And the green grass

grew all around. The refrain will be repeated with each verse. Demonstrate movements for the first lines of other verses. In each verse, the movements are cumulative, so students repeat each of the previous movements during each verse. Be creative and substitute movements if desired. (See chart for movement ideas.)

Following the movement activity, share other books or stories about trees–e.g., Janice Udry’s A Tree Is Nice. Use other finger plays with a tree focus. After the activity, students may select a verse to illustrate.

Evaluation:

The student will listen to the nursery verses and participate in a creative-movement activity.

Follow-Up:

Students may read about trees and how they grow before they plant a tree and care for it.

These integrated lesson plans and suggestions for teaching library and information skills in connection with various classroom subject areas are provided by LMS Associates and were originally published in School Library Media Activities Monthly. Lessons may be used for the non-commercial purpose of education. All materials are held in copyright by LMS Associates for the magazine, School Library Media Activities Monthly. For more information, contact, LMS Associates; 17 E. Henrietta Street; Baltimore, MD 21230 410-685-8621.

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