The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is about a boy who visits a tree everyday. There the boy would eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk, and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave. This is a sweet story of how the tree gave all she had to they boy so that he could be happy, and it made her happy to continue to give. 

Guided Reading: Level N

Classroom Activities:

Students can write a letter to the tree as it gave all it had to the boy.

Give each student a leaf cutout and have them write something positive about another classmate. All of the trees can be put on a tree on the classroom door or bulletin board. Students can then write a journal entry about how they felt receiving the kind compliment from a classmate. 

The Giving Tree is a tale of unconditional love. The boy takes and takes from the tree without ever saying thank you, but the tree never seems to mind and is always willing to give more without a second thought. This book can help children of all ages understand the importance of being thankful and appreciative of what they have no matter how small. 

A great activity to go along with this book is to have students write a letter to the person, place or thing that gives them unconditional love. It can be a family member, friend, animal or toy it will completely be their choice. 

Another great message in this book is the environmental issue. The boy takes from the tree until there is nothing left but a stomp. This what we as humans do to the earth, we take from it without giving anything back sometimes. I would incorporate this book into "Green Week" and have students come up with ways we can give back to the earth. Depending on the grade level they could draw, write or use technology to display their ideas.

Lexile 530L

One of my top five elementary books as a child and as an adult. This incredible book symbolizes caring, sharing, and giving. It is centered around personification as the tree is seen with human characteristics. The beginning of the book the tree is happy to give and show love to the boy. At the end of the book the tree is still happy to help the old man in any way she could even with nothing else left but a stump. This is a great book for whole class read or even choral reading. This book will get your students excited during the Thanksgiving season as they tell what they are thankful for.

LEXILE: 530L

The Giving Tree is an awesome book about how we should treat others. There are lots of activities you could do with this book such as using it at Thanksgiving to help students to show what they are thankful for. You could read this book with any age, but I think it would have the most impact on third, fourth, and fifth graders.

5 Stars

Lexile: 530L

Review:

In this incredible story, everyday a little boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, climb her branches, and even take a nap under her shade. As the years go by the little boy comes by less often but each time he does come back he makes request. Each time he made a request she gave him whatever he asked for until she had nothing else left to give. As the boy got to old he eventually just needed somewhere to sit down and rest, so of course the tree offers him a place to sit on her stump. 

Leveling System:

Lexile 530L 

Classroom Activity:

I would use this book to create our own classroom giving tree. I will have the board decorated like a tree and each student will have one piece of green paper that is folded in half. I will Ask the students to think about the gift that they would most like to give and the person or people and to whom they would like to give it to. The firs try will be a sample copy that the teacher can read and approve so that way if one needs to be modified it can be addressed privately and without embarrassment.