Let’s Talk About Books {June2nd}

Oh, Oh, Oh! I get to share my favorite books? Well lucky me! Thanks to Deanna Jump at Mrs. Jump’s Class, you will get to read about lots of different books and how teachers used them in their classrooms.

Pop on by and take a look at all the links!

I don’t know about you but I still have about 3 1/2 weeks of school left and it is getting B.U.S.Y.!  This link up will be perfect to help me choose some books to see my way through to the end of the school year. If you are already off, you can leisurely look at these posts and plan for next year – lucky you!

The book I’d love to share with you all is called Our Tree Named Steve by Alan Zweibel.  It is just precious! It was the perfect book as we have just finished the Environment and Earth Day and then Air, Water and Soil.  This book is so adorable it can be used anytime!

This book is a letter written by Dad while children are at their grandparents’ house.

The book takes a trip down memory lane as the family buys a plot of land.On that land is a big, beautiful tree. The baby can’t say “tree” so she says “Steve” and the name sticks.  They don’t chop it down and leave it in their yard.

This tree becomes the family “friend” as Dad remembers all of the good times around the tree and some of the useful purposes of this tree as the seasons change and the kids grow.

In the end, the tree goes through battles with winter but always survives until one day a storm hits. Steve is destroyed so Dad writes the kids a letter to let them know before they get home. He has already built a tree fort in a new tree for the children when they get home.  I asked my students what they think a tree would say in the seasons if it could talk.  Students simply divided their papers into 4 and wrote the seasons down, drew their tree and began creating “talking bubbles”.

It was fascinating to see which kids just wrote very simple things and ones that seemed to empathize with the tree in cold and hot weather.  Kids did a gallery walk and saw everyone’s work in the end.

I was VERY impressed with their work!

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