Ora et labora
~St. Benedict

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Tree construction

Spring forth creativity from brown craft paper, plastic grocery bags, and packing bubbles! Hey, why not construct or shall I say "grow" a tree indoors? Let us make it floor to ceiling too.


Crumple with artistic ferocity.
 
 
 
 
 Staple happy and forming a grand tree trunk.
 
 
 
 
 
Not bad for a child who does not like heights very much...now start stuffing until you can not stuff anymore!
 
 
 
 
Branch making 101: do the twist!
 
 
 

Our lovely Giving Tree before leaves.



Monday, September 10, 2012

Give and take

Let us travel back to 1973...well, even though I was not born yet, I still appreciate this video of The Giving Tree, narrated by Shel Silverstein.  Little T thought it most curious too and watched in silence and contemplation.


I did not usher my opinion of the video, but waited too see what Little T thought.  He did quite a bit of thinking and we ended up talking about it for days. He was sad for the tree and upset at the greedy boy.  He also developed a sense of disbelief and respect for the tree.  Can a tree be a hero? There were some interesting questions twirling and whirring in his mind.  One thing was for sure, the character traits of the tree proved to be valuable to my 7 year old.

This video has inspired us to make our own tree in our school room...stay tuned!