The Giving Tree Lesson

Grade: 2nd
Standards: Reading: Literature Standard 2: Recount stories, including fables and
determine their central message, lesson, or moral. Reading: Literature Standard 3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. Visual Arts:
Strand: CREATE (2.V.CR.): Students will generate artistic work by conceptualizing,
organizing, and completing their artistic ideas. They will refine original work through
persistence, reflection and evaluation
Materials: Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, yellow paper, green paper, brown paper, red
paper, scissors, glue, pencils, writing prompt paper

Essential Questions: What is theme of The Giving Tree? How can we make connections
to the theme of the story? How does the giving tree respond to events on the book?
What have you given/received that was special?
Key Vocabulary: Connection, theme, giving, thankful, love
Adaptations for EL: Comprehensible input, scaffolding, partnering up to talk.
Adaptations for Students with Special Needs: Model of end product, learning
expectations explained, time reminders, sentence starters for those who are struggling.

Phase I:

 Ask students what it means to make a connection to a story and what it means to find a
theme of a story. If there is any confusion these key terms will be explained in further
detail.
 Read The Giving Tree aloud to the class
 Ask engaging meaningful questions throughout reading the book and call on students
to answer
o Why does the tree keep giving items to the boy?
o Why does the tree love the boy?
o What made the tree happy?
o Did the tree expect anything in return?
 Ask questions about connections and theme after reading the whole book in a think
pair share and then choose a few students to share
o What message was the author trying to tell us?
o Can you make a connection to your life about giving or receiving?
  As a class we will make a brainstorm list (on the whiteboard) of possible themes. I will
draw focus to giving and receiving. Ask students if they can think of a time they received
something that was special to them or gave someone something special.
 Think- pair-share items that have been given to us and items that we have given to
others. Tell students they will all get a chance to write about this soon.
 As a class we will brainstorm the main characteristics of the tree’s physical features and
I will tell students it is important because they will be making their own version of the
tree later.
Transition to Phase II:

 Review concepts from Phase I

 Explain directions for Phase II: Students will be asked to write about a time they have
received something meaningful from someone or something they could give that would
be meaningful. This will be their connection to the story. They will cut their sentence out
and glue it onto the yellow sheet of paper. Once they have finished their sentence, they
will be creating trees using paper that they cut out and glue onto the other side of the
yellow paper. I will demonstrate to students how this will look, and ideas of the tree’s
characteristics will be talked about in Phase I.
Phase II:

 Provide an exercise that requires students to practice applying the concepts developed
in Phase I (directions explained in transition): Write about a time they have
received/given something special and create a picture of the tree paying attention to
the tree’s physical characteristics using colorful paper, glue, and scissors.
 Release responsibility to each student to carry out their strategies and skills
 Scaffold in individual zpds as needed walking around the classroom to make sure
students are supported in the process of their creating and writing
 If feed back indicated class-wide confusion, back up to phase I and work with whole
class to further clarify concepts
 Describe engaging plans to early finishers. Early finishers will be asked to draw on the
back of their paper next to where they glue their writing piece a picture of what that
sentence would look like.
 At the end interactively review key points with the class by asking them questions to
reflect on their work and the story we read. I will also give them time to share with their
table partners the tree they created and the sentence they wrote.
Transition to Phase III: (this will not be done in placement, just for future reference this is what I
would have students do as homework)

 Review concepts taught in Phase II

  Explain expectations for Phase III. Students will now go home and use their library book
to find key theme and make a connection to that theme. They can bring back a written
sentence. If they want, they can also draw a picture to go along with it.
Phase III:

 Students will be assessed based on homework completion showing their understanding

of the theme of their book and making a connection to that theme.
 Name:_______________________________
1. Write your name
and answer the Making Connections to The Giving Tree
question.
2. Cut on the The giving tree taught us about how to
dotted lines. give to people we care about without
3. Glue your answer expecting anything in return.
onto the yellow
paper.
What is one thing you have given to
4. Flip the yellow someone or have received from someone
paper over and that was special?
come get
colorful paper ___________________________
from me.
5. Start working on
___________________________
your apple tree!
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