A Tree for All Seasons
By: Robin Bernard
When teaching nonfiction to early childhood students, the teacher must explain that nonfiction is information that is not made up. It is all true! That is why I think this book, "A Tree for All Seasons" is a great book to share with them. This is a book that National Geographic Society included in their magazine. This story is about different ways leaves look throughout different seasons. There are many illustrations to show this. For example, the teacher can point out the tree with the most leaves on it and tell them that, that tree would be a summer tree when the leaves do not fall off!
When I first thought about nonfiction, all I was thinking about was true stories about Rosa Parks, Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther King Jr., etc. Although these are all great stories that could be used to teach nonfiction in the classroom, I feel as if the tree could be used more so for a kindergarten, or preschool class. This is something that I believe students will relate more to. They will definitely share their experiences of which trees they have seen!
Following reading the book, the teacher could further their knowledge about the true statements of trees in different seasons by giving them a worksheet. The worksheet can have different pictures of trees that they can cut out and the words "Summer, Spring, Fall, Winter" below a blank square so they can glue the trees in order of the seasons, and how they will observe the trees.
You made some excellent points in your post. One I liked was how you acknowledged that most people think of people when they think of nonfiction, but it is really anything that goes on in our daily lives and in the world around us. The book was a great seasonally themed selection because students would be able to look outside and see some trees that are still green, some trees that are losing their leaves and the leaves are changing color, and some trees that have lost all their leaves. Good job.
ReplyDeleteI love how you explained how teachers can use this book, I also agree that the different seasons would be more benefiting for much younger children because they can relate to it more since we go through four season changes during certain times of a year. Overall, you've done a great job picking out a book for this grade level, and explaining it.
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