Our Classroom Tree

We are still studying trees.  I challenged Mrs. DeNier and Miss Moritz to create a 3D tree on our classroom wall.  (Truth:  I wanted the tree but didn't want to do it myself.)  They did a FABULOUS job.   Luckily we have die-cut machines in our school (spoiled!!), so we punched out a bunch of shapes from various colors of construction paper.  Then, I put out plates with blobs of tempera paint in fall colors and let the littles go to town painting their fall leaves.  We use vinyl floor tiles to contain our painting and playdough projects.  This works really well!!

Here is what our tree looked like with one lonely little leaf on it. 

After adding our painted leaves, the littles made ladybugs (one of the stories in our curriculum is The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle) to live in our tree.  They turned out so cute.

Here is our tree with ladybugs and fall leaves.  We will make some more leaves to add as well as some other creatures to live in the tree.  We're thinking about leaving the tree up all year.  After the leaves "fall", we can add snow to the branches for winter and maybe make some cardinals and chickadees to live in it.  We'll see.  Oh, the possibilities!!

The next photo shows our class owl, Hooty, hanging out in the tree.  I bought him at the Target Dollar Spot.  We LOVE him so much.  He is way cute, and really fun for the littles to push around in the shopping cart, 'cuz his legs stick out way long.  :-)

Can you spot Hooty in the tree?