This is a beautiful book. Teachers and parents can use this book to teach so many things... friendship, kindness, stewardship, character traits, inferencing...etc. I love using this book to spark discussions about enjoying nature as spring arrives.
For some lesson ideas:
https://www.shelsilverstein.com/learning-resources/

Happy Reading! ( )

A deeply moving book that teaches valuable lessons about love, selflessness, and gratitude.

This book would be good for primary students. I really liked how it touched on themes of giving, kindness through the friendship of a tree and a boy. Every time the boy needed something, the tree would give a part of itself to the boy throughout his life until he grew old when the only thing the tree could give was its stump as a seat. I think that this is an important book for students to read for them to understand what it means to be generous.

This book would be great for Primary and Intermediate levels.
It is about a child growing up and spending his time by the tree. It goes through different stages of life and societal importances within those stages
This would be helpful for children starting to read because there are not a ton of words on the pages, or could be used at an older age group to expand thinking on life.

This is tough because I've loved this book since I was little, but the adult me finds it a little disturbing. As a child I think I loved it so much because it reassured me that my parents loved me enough to do anything for me. I guess I didn't register the part about the boy never giving back to the tree, which is the part that now makes me cringe.

Still, it's a powerful little book. I think it's a good one to share with little kids if you have time to talk about it afterwards. ( )

I remember reading this story as a child, and feeling both happy for the tree at the end and puzzled about the tree's relationship to the boy. I disliked that selfish boy who seemed to only take and never feel the slightest gratitude for the tree's sacrifices. Re-reading this as an adult, I suppose I can understand the sort of helpless, unconditional love that would make up the Giving Tree, but I still heartily dislike that boy, and wish the tree would realize it could have give the boy its love without enabling him to be such a selfish a**hole. ( )

Reading level: grades 2-3
Awards: Publisher's Weekly All-Time Bestselling Children's Books.

Independent Reading Level: Grades 2-4 Awards/Honors: None

2nd- 3rd grade independant reading level.

Independent Reading Level: Grade 2-3
Awards: New York Times Outstanding Book Award (1974)

Independent Reading Level: 2-3
Awards: New York Times Outstanding Book Award winner, 1974

Independent Reading Level: Grade 2-3
Awards:Publisher's Weekly All-Time Bestselling Children's Books.
The National Education Association Kids' Top 100 Books for Children. #24.
The National Education Association Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children. #3. ( )

While presented as a children's book I only read it as an adult. To tell the truth I can't get through it aloud without crying. So I don't read it aloud. ( )

(New York Times Bestseller) This story describes the relationship between a young boy and a tree. The boy would spend his days playing with the tree until he became older and the boy's values shifted. The boy began to use the tree for his benefit until there was not quite anything else. ( )

Independent Reading Level: 1st Grade
Awards/Honors: None ( )

Ages 5-8
Grades Prek - 2
Awards: Publisher's Weekly All-Time Bestselling Children's Books.
The National Education Association Kids' Top 100 Books for Children. #24.
The National Education Association Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children. #3.

IRL: K-3rd grade
Publisher's Weekly All-Time Bestselling Children's Books.
The National Education Association Kids' Top 100 Books for Children. #24.
The National Education Association Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children. #3.

independant reading level: 2-8
awards:Publisher's Weekly All-Time Bestselling Children's Books.
The National Education Association Kids' Top 100 Books for Children. #24.
The National Education Association Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children. #3.

Independent Reading Level: Grades 1-3
Awards: Newbery Honor

Genre:
Classics
Subject headings:
Trees
Generosity
Insensitivity (Personal quality)

It's a little sweet on the surface, but after I thought about it, whether you interpret the story literally or representing parent-child bonds, I feel it conveys a bad message of selfishness. ( )

The book tells us a story where the boy takes everything the tree has, but we also can read that the tree overgives until it had nothing left. The boy grows old and after everything he has taken, he finally realizes the tree's worth. The tree was also very reliable because the boy kept going back. This book would be fun to have in a middle grades classroom because it shares the importance of giving and receiving. As teachers, we could tie this into a lesson about money or balancing equations, because we want students to learn to keep an equation balanced. ( )

In this story it explains that being greddy wont get you anywhere. When the tree gives the little boy everything she had she was left with nothing. The boy showed no empathy or sadness until the end when it was too late to apologize. ( )

The giving tree gives a boy an apple, and as he grows, the tree gives more and more until the now man gets everything the tree has got. Teaching the hard lesson that you can give so much, but never see anything in return.
Elementary grades 1-5

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